golangci/golangci-lint · error

build process

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.

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
• context loading failed
• update plugin file
• a rule cannot be enabled and disabled at the same time
• analyzer doesn't have settings

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

Appendix: 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
}

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