goreleaser/goreleaser · error

failed to close archive file %s: %w

Error message

failed to close archive file %s: %w

What it means

After writing archive contents, goreleaser wraps the archive file Close() call; if closing fails (and no earlier error occurred) it rewrites the error with this message. Close failures indicate buffered data could not be fully flushed to disk.

Source

Thrown at internal/pipe/archive/archive.go:199

	archivePath := filepath.Join(ctx.Config.Dist, folder+"."+format)
	lock.Lock()
	if err := os.MkdirAll(filepath.Dir(archivePath), 0o755|os.ModeDir); err != nil {
		lock.Unlock()
		return err
	}
	if _, err = os.Stat(archivePath); !errors.Is(err, fs.ErrNotExist) {
		lock.Unlock()
		return fmt.Errorf("archive named %s already exists. Check your archive name template", archivePath)
	}
	archiveFile, err := os.Create(archivePath)
	if err != nil {
		lock.Unlock()
		return fmt.Errorf("failed to create directory %s: %w", archivePath, err)
	}
	lock.Unlock()
	defer func() {
		if closeErr := archiveFile.Close(); err == nil && closeErr != nil {
			err = fmt.Errorf("failed to close archive file %s: %w", archivePath, closeErr)
		}
	}()

	log := log.WithField("name", archivePath)
	log.Info("archiving")

	wrap, err := template.Apply(wrapFolder(arch))
	if err != nil {
		return err
	}
	a, err := archive.New(archiveFile, format)
	if err != nil {
		return err
	}
	a = NewEnhancedArchive(a, wrap)
	defer func() {
		if closeErr := a.Close(); err == nil && closeErr != nil {
			err = fmt.Errorf("failed to close archive %s: %w", archivePath, closeErr)

View on GitHub (pinned to f5edd73956)

Solutions

1. Free disk space and re-run with --clean
2. Archive to a local disk instead of a network mount for dist/
3. Check ulimit -n / file descriptor limits when archiving many artifacts
4. Re-run the release; transient I/O errors usually do not recur

Example fix

// before (CI)
runs-on: macos-latest  # small disk, large archives
// after (CI)
# free space or pick a runner with more disk before running goreleaser

df -h . | awk 'NR==2 {print $4}'   # require adequate free space
ulimit -n   # check descriptor limits

if strings.Contains(err.Error(), "failed to close archive") {
    // free disk space, then re-run the release
    return retryRelease()
}

When it happens

Trigger: The underlying archive/archiveg writer returns an error on Close — typically ENOSPC while flushing the gzip/zip buffer, I/O error on the file descriptor, or an EnhancedArchive wrapper Close error.

Common situations: Disk filling up mid-release on CI runners; NFS/network filesystems dropping during large archives; file descriptor exhaustion (EMFILE) after many archives in one run.

Related errors

• could not close package file: %w
• node: write sea-config.json: %w
• archive named %s already exists. Check your archive name tem
• failed to create directory %s: %w
• failed to close archive %s: %w

AI-assisted analysis of goreleaser/goreleaser@f5edd73956 (2026-09-05). Data as JSON: /api/errors/a62d2a872858602b. Report an issue: GitHub.