docker/compose · error

newWatcher: %w

Error message

newWatcher: %w

What it means

On the naive watcher path, newWatcher records each (possibly EncompassingPaths-merged) path as absolute before building the notifyList. filepath.Abs fails only when the process working directory is gone or unreadable, exactly like the darwin variant — relative paths cannot be resolved without a valid cwd. The newWatcher prefix marks the construction site.

Source

Thrown at pkg/watch/watcher_naive.go:323

				"Run 'sysctl fs.inotify.max_user_instances' to check your inotify limits.\n" +
				"To raise them, run 'sudo sysctl fs.inotify.max_user_instances=1024'")
		}
		return nil, fmt.Errorf("creating file watcher: %w", err)
	}
	MaybeIncreaseBufferSize(fsw)

	err = fsw.SetRecursive()
	isWatcherRecursive := err == nil

	wrappedEvents := make(chan FileEvent)
	notifyList := make(map[string]bool, len(paths))
	if isWatcherRecursive {
		paths = pathutil.EncompassingPaths(paths)
	}
	for _, path := range paths {
		path, err := filepath.Abs(path)
		if err != nil {
			return nil, fmt.Errorf("newWatcher: %w", err)
		}
		notifyList[path] = true
	}

	wmw := &naiveNotify{
		notifyList:         notifyList,
		watcher:            fsw,
		events:             fsw.Events,
		wrappedEvents:      wrappedEvents,
		errors:             fsw.Errors,
		isWatcherRecursive: isWatcherRecursive,
	}
	wmw.addWatch = wmw.add

	return wmw, nil
}

var _ Notify = &naiveNotify{}

View on GitHub (pinned to ddc4b044b6)

Solutions

1. Change back to an existing directory (`cd ~/project`) and rerun the command.
2. Make clean targets delete directory contents, never the watched directory itself.
3. Recreate the deleted directory if the workflow depends on watching it from inside.

// fail fast when cwd is gone (same check the watcher needs)
wd, err := os.Getwd()
if err != nil { return err }
if _, err := os.Lstat(wd); err != nil {
    return fmt.Errorf("current directory %q disappeared; cd back into the project", wd)
}

When it happens

Trigger: newWatcher(paths) on Linux/other platforms where isWatcherRecursive collapsed paths via EncompassingPaths, one is relative, and getwd() fails because the cwd was deleted (common when the watched project directory is removed by a clean step while the shell still sits in it).

Common situations: `make clean`/`git clean -xfd` removing the directory the terminal was in; temp-dir-based CI jobs purged mid-run; scripts cd-ing into soon-deleted build output dirs before starting compose watch.

Related errors

• newWatcher: %w
• cannot watch root directory
• os.Stat(%q): %w
• notify.Add(%q): %w
• watcher.Add(%q): %w

AI-assisted analysis of docker/compose@ddc4b044b6 (2026-08-15). Data as JSON: /api/errors/a28b43c263622c11. Report an issue: GitHub.