docker/cli · error

error reading from %s: data is empty

Error message

error reading from %s: data is empty

What it means

Error "error reading from %s: data is empty" thrown in docker/cli.

Source

Thrown at cli/command/config/create.go:141

	default:
		// Open file with [FILE_FLAG_SEQUENTIAL_SCAN] on Windows, which
		// prevents Windows from aggressively caching it. We expect this
		// file to be only read once. Given that this is expected to be
		// a small file, this may not be a significant optimization, so
		// we could choose to omit this, and use a regular [os.Open].
		//
		// [FILE_FLAG_SEQUENTIAL_SCAN]: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/win32/api/fileapi/nf-fileapi-createfilea#FILE_FLAG_SEQUENTIAL_SCAN
		f, err := sequential.Open(fileName)
		if err != nil {
			return nil, fmt.Errorf("error reading from %s: %w", fileName, err)
		}
		defer f.Close()
		data, err := io.ReadAll(io.LimitReader(f, 2*maxConfigSize))
		if err != nil {
			return nil, fmt.Errorf("error reading from %s: %w", fileName, err)
		}
		if len(data) == 0 {
			return nil, fmt.Errorf("error reading from %s: data is empty", fileName)
		}
		return data, nil
	}
}

View on GitHub (pinned to e9452d6e78)

When it happens

Trigger: Thrown at cli/command/config/create.go:141 when the library encounters an invalid state.

Common situations: See trigger scenarios.

AI-assisted analysis of docker/cli@e9452d6e78 (2026-08-01). Data as JSON: /data/errors/b1c2efb3f01576a8.json. Report an issue: GitHub.