dgraph-io/dgraph · error

while reading password

Error message

while reading password

What it means

When prompting for a password on the terminal, term.ReadPassword failed while reading the user's typed input. The underlying OS/terminal error is wrapped with the message 'while reading password', so the root cause is in the wrapped error.

Source

Thrown at x/x.go:1228

	closeFunc := func() {
		for _, c := range conns {
			if err := c.Close(); err != nil {
				glog.Warningf("Error closing connection to Dgraph client: %v", err)
			}
		}
	}
	return dg, closeFunc
}

// AskUserPassword prompts the user to enter the password for the given user ID.
func AskUserPassword(userid string, pwdType string, times int) (string, error) {
	AssertTrue(times == 1 || times == 2)
	AssertTrue(pwdType == "Current" || pwdType == "New")
	// ask for the user's password
	fmt.Printf("%s password for %v:", pwdType, userid)
	pd, err := term.ReadPassword(int(os.Stdin.Fd()))
	if err != nil {
		return "", errors.Wrapf(err, "while reading password")
	}
	fmt.Println()
	password := string(pd)

	if times == 2 {
		fmt.Printf("Retype %s password for %v:", strings.ToLower(pwdType), userid)
		pd2, err := term.ReadPassword(int(os.Stdin.Fd()))
		if err != nil {
			return "", errors.Wrapf(err, "while reading password")
		}
		fmt.Println()

		password2 := string(pd2)
		if password2 != password {
			return "", errors.Errorf("the two typed passwords do not match")
		}
	}
	return password, nil

View on GitHub (pinned to 759e242be6)

Solutions

1. Run the command in an interactive terminal so the password prompt can be read
2. Provide credentials non-interactively via the tool's supported flags/env instead of prompting
3. For CI, allocate a PTY or use a secrets-injection mechanism rather than typing at the prompt

Example fix

// before
cat file | myapp login # stdin piped, ReadPassword fails
// after
myapp login # run interactively, or set credentials via env/flags

if term.IsTerminal(int(os.Stdin.Fd())) {
    // safe to prompt
} else {
    // use non-interactive credential source
}

func stdinIsTTY() bool { return term.IsTerminal(int(os.Stdin.Fd())) }

pw, err := getPasswordFromUser(...)
if err != nil {
    if !term.IsTerminal(int(os.Stdin.Fd())) {
        return fmt.Errorf("password prompt requires a TTY; provide credentials via flags/env: %w", err)
    }
    return err
}

When it happens

Trigger: Calling GetPasswordFromUser (login flow) when stdin is not an interactive terminal — e.g. piped input, no TTY, or the terminal closed the read (EOF/interrupt).

Common situations: Running commands in CI/non-interactive shells where a password prompt cannot be read, running under sudo/su with redirected stdin, or ssh sessions without a PTY.

Related errors

• Password too short, i.e. should have at least 6 chars
• Invalid password/crypted string
• Schema change not allowed from %s to %s
• the two typed passwords do not match

AI-assisted analysis of dgraph-io/dgraph@759e242be6 (2026-09-01). Data as JSON: /api/errors/038d854ac2669626. Report an issue: GitHub.