crowdsecurity/crowdsec · error

unable to create directory '%s': %w

Error message

unable to create directory '%s': %w

What it means

createDirs ensures all configured test directories exist via os.MkdirAll; if creation fails the path and cause are wrapped in this error. It is called when installing parsers, scenarios, postoverflows, appsec rules, and by Run, so it usually fails during test-environment setup.

Source

Thrown at pkg/hubtest/hubtest_item.go:453

			err = t.ImprovedLogDisplay(crowdsecLogFile)
			if err != nil {
				log.Errorf("unable to read crowdsec log file '%s': %s", crowdsecLogFile, err)
			}
		}
	}

	if err := crowdsecDaemon.Process.Kill(); err != nil {
		return fmt.Errorf("terminating crowdsec daemon: %w", err)
	}

	return nil
}

func createDirs(dirs []string) error {
	for _, dir := range dirs {
		if err := os.MkdirAll(dir, os.ModePerm); err != nil {
			return fmt.Errorf("unable to create directory '%s': %w", dir, err)
		}
	}

	return nil
}

func (t *HubTestItem) RunWithLogFile(ctx context.Context) error {
	testPath := filepath.Join(t.HubTestPath, t.Name)
	if _, err := os.Stat(testPath); os.IsNotExist(err) {
		return fmt.Errorf("test '%s' doesn't exist in '%s', exiting", t.Name, t.HubTestPath)
	}

	logFile := filepath.Join(testPath, t.Config.LogFile)
	logType := t.Config.LogType
	dsn := "file://" + logFile

	logFileStat, err := os.Stat(logFile)
	if err != nil {

View on GitHub (pinned to 909b515798)

Solutions

1. Check permissions on the parent of the reported directory (ls -ld) and chown/chmod or run as the right user
2. Remove any regular file that exists at the reported path so the directory can be created
3. Point the test runtime dirs (TESTDIR/DATADIR) at a writable location
4. Clean stale test state from a previous run (make clean / rm -rf test runtime dirs)

Example fix

// before
os.MkdirAll(dir, os.ModePerm) // fails if parent unwritable
// after
// run harness with writable dirs:
TESTDIR=/tmp/crowdsec-hubtest ./tests/run.sh

for _, dir := range dirs {
	if parent := filepath.Dir(dir); _, err := os.Stat(parent); err != nil {
		return fmt.Errorf("parent %s not accessible: %w", parent, err)
	}
}

When it happens

Trigger: os.MkdirAll(dir) fails for any configured dir: parent path not writable, path exists as a file, or disk/permission problems.

Common situations: Running tests as a user without write access to the runtime/hub test directories; a previous run left a file where a directory is expected; read-only container filesystem; TESTDIR/DATADIR pointing into a protected location.

Understand the failure class

Background: mkdir permission denied (EACCES): failed to create directory errors explained — this error's family across 32 libraries.

Related errors

• while creating directories for %s: %w
• while creating %s: %w
• while creating %s: %w
• unable to create folder '%s': %w
• while creating data dir: %w

AI-assisted analysis of crowdsecurity/crowdsec@909b515798 (2026-09-06). Data as JSON: /api/errors/868fbd60d01f6938. Report an issue: GitHub.