hashicorp/packer · error

could not parse %s checksumfile: %v. Make sure the checksum

Error message

could not parse %s checksumfile: %v. Make sure the checksum file contains a checksum and a binary filename per line

What it means

Plugin installation error from InstallLatest: the downloaded checksum file could not be parsed — each line must contain exactly a checksum and a binary filename. Malformed entries are skipped; the error surfaces if no usable entries remain.

Source

Thrown at packer/plugin-getter/plugins.go:731

				checksumFile, err := getter.Get(checksummer.Type, GetOptions{
					PluginRequirement:         pr,
					BinaryInstallationOptions: opts.BinaryInstallationOptions,
					version:                   version,
				})
				if err != nil {
					if errors.Is(err, HTTPFailure) {
						return nil, err
					}
					err := fmt.Errorf("could not get %s checksum file for %s version %s. Is the file present on the release and correctly named ? %w", checksummer.Type, pr.Identifier, version, err)
					errs = multierror.Append(errs, err)
					log.Printf("[TRACE] %s", err)
					continue
				}

				entries, err := ParseChecksumFileEntries(checksumFile)
				_ = checksumFile.Close()
				if err != nil {
					err := fmt.Errorf("could not parse %s checksumfile: %v. Make sure the checksum file contains a checksum and a binary filename per line", checksummer.Type, err)
					errs = multierror.Append(errs, err)
					log.Printf("[TRACE] %s", err)
					continue
				}

				for _, entry := range entries {
					if filepath.Ext(entry.Filename) == JSONExtension {
						continue
					}
					if err := getter.Init(pr, &entry); err != nil {
						err := fmt.Errorf("could not parse checksum filename %s. Is it correctly formatted ? %s", entry.Filename, err)
						errs = multierror.Append(errs, err)
						log.Printf("[TRACE] %s", err)
						continue
					}

					metaOpts := GetOptions{
						PluginRequirement:         pr,

View on GitHub (pinned to eb36e3c3e4)

Solutions

1. Retry with a different mirror/getter (installation continues automatically)
2. Verify the release's checksum file format on the plugin's release page
3. Update Packer if the release uses a newer checksum format

When it happens

Trigger: Thrown at packer/plugin-getter/plugins.go:731 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/0c563408a83ad254. Report an issue: GitHub.