flxzt/rnote · error

Failed to get file name from output-file

Error message

Failed to get file name from output-file "{}".

What it means

export_to_file failed to derive an export file name from the --output-file path. Path::file_name() returns None only when the path terminates in '..' or is the root, so the CLI refuses to guess a name for the exported document.

Solutions

1. Pass a concrete file path with a final component (e.g. 'out/doc.rnote'), not a path ending in '..' or '/'
2. Normalize the path in a wrapper script before invoking the CLI (realpath)
3. Check the output path with Path::file_name().is_some() before calling the export command

Example fix

// before
rnote-cli export doc --output-file out/..
// after
rnote-cli export doc --output-file out/doc.rnote

fn has_file_name(p: &Path) -> bool { p.file_name().is_some() }
if !has_file_name(output_file) { eprintln!("--output-file must end in a real file name"); std::process::exit(2); }

fn is_valid_output_path(p: &Path) -> bool {
    p.file_name().is_some() && !p.is_dir()
}

match export_result {
    Err(e) if e.to_string().contains("Failed to get file name") => {
        eprintln!("Invalid --output-file path; provide a path ending in a file name");
    }
    Err(e) => return Err(e),
    Ok(bytes) => { /* write bytes */ }
}

When it happens

Trigger: Running `rnote-cli export doc` with an output-file path ending in '..' (e.g. 'out/..') or pointing at the filesystem root, so Path::file_name() yields None.

Common situations: Shell-expanded paths like '--output-file $dir/..' meant to target a directory; scripts constructing paths by naive string concatenation that end with a trailing '..' or '/'.

Understand the failure class

Background: "Invalid ... format", "must be in format X", "does not look like a ..." — invalid argument format errors across CLI tools and libraries — this error's family across 17 libraries.

Related errors

• Failed to get file stem from rnote file
• Failed to get filename from the supplied file
• Failed to get file stem
• Failed to get filename from rnote_file
• Expected directory, found file

AI-assisted analysis of flxzt/rnote@bbc5354502 (2026-09-08). Data as JSON: /api/errors/6e7be0e4c94678e9. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at crates/rnote-cli/src/export.rs:571

            ..
        } => {
            select_strokes_for_selection_args(engine, selection, *selection_collision);
            let export_bytes = engine
                .export_selection(None)
                .await??
                .context("Exporting selection failed, no strokes selected.")?;
            cli::create_overwrite_file_w_bytes(&output_file, &export_bytes).await?;
            if open {
                cli::open_file_default_app(output_file)?;
            }
        }
        cli::ExportCommand::Doc { .. } => {
            let Some(export_file_name) = output_file
                .as_ref()
                .file_name()
                .map(|s| s.to_string_lossy().to_string())
            else {
                return Err(anyhow::anyhow!(
                    "Failed to get file name from output-file \"{}\".",
                    output_file.as_ref().display()
                ));
            };
            let export_bytes = engine.export_doc(export_file_name, None).await??;
            cli::create_overwrite_file_w_bytes(&output_file, &export_bytes).await?;
            if open {
                cli::open_file_default_app(output_file)?;
            }
        }
        cli::ExportCommand::DocPages {
            output_dir,
            output_file_stem,
            export_format: output_format,
            ..
        } => {
            validators::path_is_dir(output_dir)?;
            // The output file cannot be set with this subcommand

View on GitHub (pinned to bbc5354502)