coreybutler/nvm-windows · error

error reading HTTP request body: %v

Error message

error reading HTTP request body: %v

What it means

After a 200 response, GetRemoteTextFile reads the full body with ioutil.ReadAll. This error means the body stream failed mid-read — the connection was reset, the server/CDN closed early, a proxy timed out, or the declared Content-Length could not be fulfilled. Connectivity was fine at request time; the transfer broke afterwards.

Source

Thrown at src/web/web.go:365

		return false
	}
}

func GetRemoteTextFile(url string) (string, error) {
	response, httperr := client.Get(url)
	if httperr != nil {
		return "", fmt.Errorf("Could not retrieve %v: %v", url, httperr)
	}

	if response.StatusCode != 200 {
		return "", fmt.Errorf("Error retrieving \"%s\": HTTP Status %v\n", url, response.StatusCode)
	}

	defer response.Body.Close()

	contents, readerr := ioutil.ReadAll(response.Body)
	if readerr != nil {
		return "", fmt.Errorf("error reading HTTP request body: %v", readerr)
	}

	return string(contents), nil
}

func IsNode64bitAvailable(v string) bool {
	if v == "latest" {
		return true
	}

	// Anything below version 8 doesn't have a 64 bit version
	vers := strings.Fields(strings.Replace(v, ".", " ", -1))
	main, _ := strconv.ParseInt(vers[0], 0, 0)
	minor, _ := strconv.ParseInt(vers[1], 0, 0)
	if main == 0 && minor < 8 {
		return false
	}

View on GitHub (pinned to 5b18223ca1)

Solutions

1. Retry the nvm command — transient resets are the most common cause.
2. Switch to a closer/faster mirror to shorten transfer time (npmmirror etc.).
3. If behind a proxy, check its body/idle timeout settings or bypass it for the mirror domain.
4. Stabilize the underlying network (VPN, DNS, Wi-Fi) before large downloads.

var body string
var err error
for i := 0; i < 3; i++ {
    body, err = web.GetRemoteTextFile(url)
    if err == nil || !strings.Contains(err.Error(), "reading HTTP request body") { break }
    time.Sleep(time.Duration(i+1) * time.Second)
}

When it happens

Trigger: GET succeeds but the connection drops while streaming the index JSON or file body: flaky Wi-Fi/VPN, aggressive proxy idle timeouts, server closing keep-alive connections early, or very large bodies over unreliable links.

Common situations: Slow networks fetching node's index.json; corporate proxies with short body timeouts; mobile/tethered connections resetting mid-transfer; CDN edge nodes dropping long transfers.

Related errors

• error: received status code %d
• Could not retrieve %v: %v
• Error retrieving "%s": HTTP Status %v
• failed to download v%v arm 64-bit executable
• Failed to extract npm: %v

AI-assisted analysis of coreybutler/nvm-windows@5b18223ca1 (2026-08-15). Data as JSON: /api/errors/5cdc420eb3cb69cd. Report an issue: GitHub.