hashicorp/packer · error

Process background check error: %s

Error message

Process background check error: %s

What it means

Runtime failure from checkProcess: the process handle was created, but querying Background() (whether the process is in a background process group) returned an error. Typically happens when the terminal/session state cannot be determined, e.g. no controlling TTY or an unsupported environment.

Source

Thrown at background_check.go:22

//go:build !openbsd
// +build !openbsd

package main

import (
	"fmt"

	"github.com/shirou/gopsutil/v3/process"
)

func checkProcess(currentPID int) (bool, error) {
	myProc, err := process.NewProcess(int32(currentPID))
	if err != nil {
		return false, fmt.Errorf("Process check error: %s", err)
	}
	bg, err := myProc.Background()
	if err != nil {
		return bg, fmt.Errorf("Process background check error: %s", err)
	}

	return bg, nil
}

View on GitHub (pinned to eb36e3c3e4)

Solutions

1. Run the tool from an interactive shell or a properly set up CI terminal session
2. If the check is optional, treat the error as non-fatal and continue without background detection

When it happens

Trigger: Thrown at background_check.go:22 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/367d818c053ecc73. Report an issue: GitHub.