elastic/elasticsearch · error · RuntimeException

git command failed with exit code {} command: {} output: {}

Error message

git command failed with exit code {}
command: {}
output:
{}

What it means

RuntimeException from TransportVersionResourcesService when a git invocation (run with -C pointing at the transport-resources dir) exits with a non-zero code. The message includes the exit code, the full command, and git's combined stdout/stderr so the underlying git error is visible.

Source

Thrown at build-tools-internal/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/gradle/internal/transport/TransportVersionResourcesService.java:489

    }

    // run a git command, relative to the transport version resources directory
    private String gitCommand(String... args) {
        ByteArrayOutputStream stdout = new ByteArrayOutputStream();

        List<String> command = new ArrayList<>();
        Collections.addAll(command, "git", "-C", getTransportResourcesDir().toString());
        Collections.addAll(command, args);

        ExecResult result = getExecOperations().exec(spec -> {
            spec.setCommandLine(command);
            spec.setStandardOutput(stdout);
            spec.setErrorOutput(stdout);
            spec.setIgnoreExitValue(true);
        });

        if (result.getExitValue() != 0) {
            throw new RuntimeException(
                "git command failed with exit code "
                    + result.getExitValue()
                    + System.lineSeparator()
                    + "command: "
                    + String.join(" ", command)
                    + System.lineSeparator()
                    + "output:"
                    + System.lineSeparator()
                    + stdout.toString(StandardCharsets.UTF_8)
            );
        }

        return stdout.toString(StandardCharsets.UTF_8);
    }

    /** Read the alternate (non-serverless) upper bound from the working tree. */
    public TransportVersionUpperBound getAlternateUpperBound(Path file) throws IOException {
        String contents = Files.readString(file, StandardCharsets.UTF_8).strip();

View on GitHub (pinned to db6a809a66)

Solutions

1. Read the embedded git stderr in the message - it states the precise git-level failure.
2. Ensure the transport-resources directory is a valid git repo and git is on PATH for the Gradle JVM.
3. If the failure is about a missing object/revision, fetch from the remote and retry.
4. For a corrupted index, run git -C <dir> reset/--hard or re-clone the resources dir.

// Pre-flight: ensure the resources dir is a git repo and git is available
File dir = getTransportResourcesDir();
if (!new File(dir, ".git").exists() && !isInsideWorkTree(dir)) {
    throw new IllegalStateException(dir + " is not a git repository");
}

try {
    runGit(args);
} catch (RuntimeException e) {
    if (e.getMessage().startsWith("git command failed")) {
        // surface exit code + stderr already embedded; optionally retry once after fetch
        getLogger().error("git failure:\n{}", e.getMessage());
    }
    throw e;
}

When it happens

Trigger: Any git command the service runs (log, show, cat-file, checkout of resource files, status) fails - e.g. the resources dir is not a git repo, the requested revision/object is missing, git is not on PATH, or there are unrecoverable index conflicts.

Common situations: The transport-resources directory is not initialized as a git repo; running offline without the objects git would fetch; a corrupted .git; git not installed or not on PATH in the build JVM's environment; referencing a sha that does not exist locally.

Related errors

• Missing upper bound {} for release version {}
• Missing upper bound {} for stack version {}
• Invalid increment {}, must be a positive integer
• Invalid increment {}, must be no larger than 1000
• Could not find base id: {}

AI-assisted analysis of elastic/elasticsearch@db6a809a66 (2026-08-12). Data as JSON: /api/errors/70838d41da652ded. Report an issue: GitHub.