dgraph-io/dgraph · error

readManifest failed to read the file:

Error message

readManifest failed to read the file: 

What it means

readManifest reads the raw bytes of a per-backup manifest file via the URI handler. This error wraps any transport-level read failure (file not found, permission denied, network/object-store error), distinct from JSON parsing failures.

Source

Thrown at worker/backup_manifest.go:216

				ns_attr, err := x.AttrFrom2103(op.DropValue)
				if err != nil {
					return errors.Errorf("while parsing the drop operation %+v got: %q",
						op, err)
				}
				op.DropValue = ns_attr
			}
		}
	case 2105:
		// pass
	}
	return nil
}

func readManifest(h UriHandler, path string) (*Manifest, error) {
	var m Manifest
	b, err := h.Read(path)
	if err != nil {
		return &m, errors.Wrap(err, "readManifest failed to read the file: ")
	}
	if err := json.Unmarshal(b, &m); err != nil {
		return &m, errors.Wrap(err, "readManifest failed to unmarshal: ")
	}
	return &m, nil
}

func GetLatestManifest(h UriHandler, uri *url.URL) (*Manifest, error) {
	manifest, err := GetManifest(h, uri)
	if err != nil {
		return &Manifest{}, errors.Wrap(err, "failed to get the manifest: ")
	}
	if len(manifest.Manifests) == 0 {
		return &Manifest{}, nil
	}
	return manifest.Manifests[len(manifest.Manifests)-1], nil
}

View on GitHub (pinned to 759e242be6)

Solutions

1. Confirm the manifest file exists at the given path in the backup URI.
2. Verify storage credentials and endpoint configuration (minio/S3 access keys).
3. Re-list the backup location and retry to clear stale paths.
4. Check network connectivity/proxy settings to the storage backend.

Example fix

// before
dgraph backup --dst s3://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/bucket --access_key=wrong
// after: use valid credentials
AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID=... AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY=... dgraph backup --dst s3://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/bucket

if !h.FileExists(path) {
    return fmt.Errorf("manifest missing before read: %s", path)
}

m, err := readManifest(h, path)
if err != nil && strings.Contains(err.Error(), "failed to read the file") {
    // check credentials/endpoint, refresh listing, then retry once
    if err2 := checkStorageAccess(h); err2 == nil {
        m, err = readManifest(h, path)
    }
}

When it happens

Trigger: getConsolidatedManifest calls readManifest for a path and h.Read(path) returns an error — missing file, wrong credentials, network failure, malformed URI handler configuration (bad minio/S3 endpoint).

Common situations: Wrong access keys or endpoint in minio config; deleted backup directory listed then read fails; DNS/proxy issues to S3; local filesystem path typos.

Related errors

• failed to read master manifest:
• while Getting latest manifest:
• cannot read manifests at location %s
• complete backup failed
• failed to lazy-load GraphQL schema

AI-assisted analysis of dgraph-io/dgraph@759e242be6 (2026-09-01). Data as JSON: /api/errors/76dc666059db4876. Report an issue: GitHub.