gastownhall/beads · error

failed to write issue %s: %w

Error message

failed to write issue %s: %w

What it means

After marshaling, backupPollutedIssues writes each JSONL line to the backup file with file.WriteString. If the write fails — disk full, I/O error, file closed, or device error — this wrapped error naming the issue ID is returned, aborting the remainder of the backup.

Source

Thrown at cmd/bd/detect_pollution.go:116

func backupPollutedIssues(polluted []pollutionResult, path string) error {
	// Create backup file
	// nolint:gosec // G304: path is provided by user as explicit backup location
	file, err := os.Create(path)
	if err != nil {
		return fmt.Errorf("failed to create backup file: %w", err)
	}
	defer file.Close()

	// Write each issue as JSONL
	for _, p := range polluted {
		data, err := json.Marshal(p.issue)
		if err != nil {
			return fmt.Errorf("failed to marshal issue %s: %w", p.issue.ID, err)
		}

		if _, err := file.WriteString(string(data) + "\n"); err != nil {
			return fmt.Errorf("failed to write issue %s: %w", p.issue.ID, err)
		}
	}

	return nil
}

View on GitHub (pinned to 71377f2769)

Solutions

1. Check free disk space (df -h) and quota, then free space or choose another volume.
2. Retry the backup after confirming the target filesystem is writable and healthy.
3. Back up to a local, reliable path instead of network/removable storage.
4. Verify partial backup contents and re-run; the file is recreated by os.Create on retry.

Example fix

null

if st, err := os.Stat(filepath.Dir(backupPath)); err != nil || !st.IsDir() {
    return fmt.Errorf("backup target unavailable")
}
// check free space
if us, err := diskusage(filepath.Dir(backupPath)); err == nil && us.Free < minRequired {
    return fmt.Errorf("insufficient disk space for backup")
}

if err := backupPollutedIssues(polluted, path); err != nil {
    alt := filepath.Join(os.TempDir(), "beads-backup.jsonl")
    log.Printf("primary backup failed (%v); retrying at %s", err, alt)
    return backupPollutedIssues(polluted, alt)
}

When it happens

Trigger: os.Create and json.Marshal succeeded, but file.WriteString fails mid-loop: ENOSPC (disk full), I/O error on the filesystem, or the underlying file handle became invalid.

Common situations: Disk quota exceeded or full volume during backup; network-attached storage disconnected mid-write; backing up to a failing/removable device; permission revocation mid-operation.

Related errors

• failed to read backup state: %w
• failed to create backup dir in git-repo: %w
• failed to create backup directory: %w
• failed to write temp file: %w
• failed to sync temp file: %w

AI-assisted analysis of gastownhall/beads@71377f2769 (2026-08-30). Data as JSON: /api/errors/f04344fe19b8b04f. Report an issue: GitHub.