golangci/golangci-lint · error

build process: %w

Error message

build process: %w

What it means

The custom binary builder (runE of the 'custom' command) clones golangci-lint and compiles it with plugins. If internal.NewBuilder(...).Build() returns any error, it is wrapped as "build process: %w". It means one of the build steps (clone, plugin file update, go.mod edits, go build) failed while creating the custom golangci-lint binary.

Source

Thrown at pkg/commands/custom.go:103

func (c *customCommand) runE(cmd *cobra.Command, _ []string) error {
	tmp, err := os.MkdirTemp(os.TempDir(), "custom-gcl")
	if err != nil {
		return fmt.Errorf("create temporary directory: %w", err)
	}

	defer func() {
		if os.Getenv(envKeepTempFiles) != "" {
			log.Printf("WARN: The env var %s has been detected: the temporary directory is preserved: %s", envKeepTempFiles, tmp)

			return
		}

		_ = os.RemoveAll(tmp)
	}()

	err = internal.NewBuilder(c.log, c.cfg, tmp).Build(cmd.Context())
	if err != nil {
		return fmt.Errorf("build process: %w", err)
	}

	return nil
}

View on GitHub (pinned to ed7a235d2d)

Solutions

1. Read the wrapped cause at the end of the message and fix that specific step (clone, plugin file, go.mod, or compile error).
2. Check network/proxy settings and that the golangci-lint version specified exists and can be cloned.
3. Verify each plugin entry in .custom-gcl.yml points to a valid module path/version and the Go toolchain is installed and up to date.
4. Re-run with debug logging to see which build phase failed.

Example fix

// before
version: v1.61.0 // typo/nonexistent tag
// after
version: v1.61.0 // verify tag exists: git ls-remote https://github.com/golangci/golangci-lint vX.Y.Z

if _, err := exec.LookPath("git"); err != nil { return fmt.Errorf("git required: %w", err) }
if _, err := exec.LookPath("go"); err != nil { return fmt.Errorf("go toolchain required: %w", err) }
// verify version exists before invoking the custom build
if err := exec.Command("git", "ls-remote", "--exit-code",
  "https://github.com/golangci/golangci-lint", "refs/tags/"+version).Run(); err != nil {
  return fmt.Errorf("version %s does not exist", version)
}

if err := customCmd.Run(); err != nil {
  var buildErr *BuildError
  if errors.As(err, &buildErr) { log.Fatalf("custom build failed: %v", errors.Unwrap(err)) }
}

When it happens

Trigger: Running `golangci-lint custom` where Builder.Build fails: git clone of the target golangci-lint version fails, updatePluginsFile or addToGoMod fails, or the final `go build` of the custom binary errors.

Common situations: Bad/unknown golangci-lint version in .custom-gcl.yml; no network access or corporate proxy blocking GitHub; invalid plugin repo URLs; Go toolchain missing or too old for the target version; build flags referencing nonexistent packages.

Related errors

• clone golangci-lint: %w
• update plugin file: %w
• context loading failed: %w
• the configuration contains invalid elements
• unsupported configuration format

AI-assisted analysis of golangci/golangci-lint@ed7a235d2d (2026-09-02). Data as JSON: /api/errors/f9de56cb7b409527. Report an issue: GitHub.