hashicorp/packer · error

binary reported version

Error message

binary reported version (%q) is different from the expected %q, skipping

What it means

checkVersion compares the core (major.minor.patch) version the binary reports via `describe` against the version being installed; on mismatch it returns this ContinuableInstallError and InstallLatest skips to the next version. This guards against binaries that don't match the release they were downloaded from.

Solutions

1. Delete the mismatching binary from ~/.packer.d/plugins and re-run `packer init` for a fresh download
2. Check the plugin repo's release assets — the maintainer may have published a stale build; report/upgrade when fixed
3. Pin the required_plugins constraint to a version whose asset matches its tag
4. If using a mirror, verify it serves the original release assets

Example fix

// before
rm ~/.packer.d/plugins/github.com/acme/acme-plugin*  # stale/mismatched binary
// after
packer init .  # re-downloads matching release

// before install, compare expected tag vs binary's self-reported version
out, _ := exec.Command(binPath, "describe").Output()
var desc SetDescription
json.Unmarshal(out, &desc)
if semver(desc.Version).Core() != semver(expectedVersion).Core() {
    return fmt.Errorf("stale asset: binary says %s, release is %s", desc.Version, expectedVersion)
}

When it happens

Trigger: descVersion.Core().Compare(version.Core()) != 0 during InstallLatest — the downloaded release asset's self-reported version differs from the GitHub tag version being installed.

Common situations: Plugin maintainer tagged a release but built/published an asset from a different commit (stale CI artifact); manually placed binaries in the plugin dir shadowing expectations; mirrored/proxied releases serving wrong assets.

Related errors

• could not find a local nor a remote checksum for plugin
• failed to checksum binary file
• failed to write local binary checksum file
• Checksum: failed to open file for checksum
• could not install any compatible version of plugin

AI-assisted analysis of hashicorp/packer@eb36e3c3e4 (2026-09-05). Data as JSON: /api/errors/8bf080a048844048. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at packer/plugin-getter/plugins.go:993

	return desc, err
}

// checkVersion checks the described version of a plugin binary against the requested version constriant.
// A ContinuableInstallError is returned upon a version mismatch to indicate that the caller should try the next
// available version. A PrereleaseInstallError is returned to indicate an unsupported version install.
func checkVersion(binPath string, identifier string, version *goversion.Version) error {
	desc, err := GetPluginDescription(binPath)
	if err != nil {
		err := fmt.Errorf("failed to describe plugin binary %q: %s", binPath, err)
		return &ContinuableInstallError{Err: err}
	}
	descVersion, err := goversion.NewSemver(desc.Version)
	if err != nil {
		err := fmt.Errorf("invalid self-reported version %q: %s", desc.Version, err)
		return &ContinuableInstallError{Err: err}
	}
	if descVersion.Core().Compare(version.Core()) != 0 {
		err := fmt.Errorf("binary reported version (%q) is different from the expected %q, skipping", desc.Version, version.String())
		return &ContinuableInstallError{Err: err}
	}
	if version.Prerelease() != "" {
		return &PrereleaseInstallError{
			PluginSrc: identifier,
			Err:       errors.New("binary reported a pre-release version of " + version.String()),
		}
	}
	// Since only final releases can be installed remotely, a non-empty prerelease version
	// means something's not right on the release, as it should report a final version.
	//
	// Therefore to avoid surprises (and avoid being able to install a version that
	// cannot be loaded), we error here, and advise users to manually install the plugin if they
	// need it.
	if descVersion.Prerelease() != "" {
		return &PrereleaseInstallError{
			PluginSrc: identifier,
			Err:       errors.New("binary reported a pre-release version of " + descVersion.String()),

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