hashicorp/packer · error

could not parse %s checksum: %s. Make sure the checksum file

Error message

could not parse %s checksum: %s. Make sure the checksum file contains the checksum and only the checksum

What it means

Plugin installation error from InstallLatest: a checksum entry's checksum field failed to parse — it must contain only the hex digest with no extra text. That entry is skipped; the multierror is returned if no valid checksum remains.

Source

Thrown at packer/plugin-getter/plugins.go:761

						errs = multierror.Append(errs, err)
						log.Printf("[TRACE] %s", err)
						continue
					}

					metaOpts := GetOptions{
						PluginRequirement:         pr,
						BinaryInstallationOptions: opts.BinaryInstallationOptions,
						version:                   version,
					}
					if err := getter.Validate(metaOpts, version.String(), opts.BinaryInstallationOptions, &entry); err != nil {
						continue
					}

					log.Printf("[TRACE] About to get: %s", entry.Filename)

					cs, err := checksummer.ParseChecksum(strings.NewReader(entry.Checksum))
					if err != nil {
						err := fmt.Errorf("could not parse %s checksum: %s. Make sure the checksum file contains the checksum and only the checksum", checksummer.Type, err)
						errs = multierror.Append(errs, err)
						log.Printf("[TRACE] %s", err)
						continue
					}

					checksum = &FileChecksum{
						Filename:    entry.Filename,
						Expected:    cs,
						Checksummer: checksummer,
					}

					expectedZipFilename := checksum.Filename
					expectedBinFilename := getter.ExpectedFileName(pr, version.String(), &entry, expectedZipFilename)
					expectedBinaryFilename := strings.TrimSuffix(expectedBinFilename, filepath.Ext(expectedBinFilename)) + opts.BinaryInstallationOptions.Ext
					outputFileName := filepath.Join(outputFolder, expectedBinaryFilename)

					for _, potentialChecksumer := range opts.Checksummers {
						// First check if a local checksum file is already here in the expected

View on GitHub (pinned to eb36e3c3e4)

Solutions

  1. Retry with another getter/mirror (handled automatically)
  2. Check the checksum file contents on the release for malformed lines
Defensive patterns

Strategy: fallback

When it happens

Trigger: Thrown at packer/plugin-getter/plugins.go:761 when the library encounters an invalid state.

Common situations: See trigger scenarios.

AI-assisted analysis of hashicorp/packer@eb36e3c3e4 (2026-09-05). Data as JSON: /api/errors/a1e4e93d0d7fb736. Report an issue: GitHub.