hashicorp/packer · error

Process check error: %s

Error message

Process check error: %s

What it means

Runtime failure from checkProcess: gopsutil's process.NewProcess could not construct a handle for the current PID, so the process object cannot be inspected at all. The underlying %s is the OS-level cause (e.g. the process vanished or /proc is unreadable).

Source

Thrown at background_check.go:18

// Copyright IBM Corp. 2024, 2025
// SPDX-License-Identifier: BUSL-1.1

//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. Check that /proc is mounted and readable when running in a container
2. Ensure the binary has permission to read process metadata for its own PID

When it happens

Trigger: Thrown at background_check.go:18 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/00103efcbb64f44a. Report an issue: GitHub.