bad config metadata option RequestAutoRemoveTimeout

Error message

bad config metadata option RequestAutoRemoveTimeout

What it means

Returned by ConfigFromMetadataOptions when time.ParseDuration fails on the consensus metadata's RequestAutoRemoveTimeout value. It means the SmartBFT option in the channel config's orderer consensus section is not a valid Go duration string (empty, wrong units, or non-numeric), so the SmartBFT config cannot be derived from the metadata.

Source

Thrown at orderer/consensus/smartbft/util/util.go:41

	if options == nil {
		return config, errors.New("config metadata options field is nil")
	}

	config.RequestBatchMaxCount = options.RequestBatchMaxCount
	config.RequestBatchMaxBytes = options.RequestBatchMaxBytes
	if config.RequestBatchMaxInterval, err = time.ParseDuration(options.RequestBatchMaxInterval); err != nil {
		return config, errors.Wrap(err, "bad config metadata option RequestBatchMaxInterval")
	}
	config.IncomingMessageBufferSize = options.IncomingMessageBufferSize
	config.RequestPoolSize = options.RequestPoolSize
	if config.RequestForwardTimeout, err = time.ParseDuration(options.RequestForwardTimeout); err != nil {
		return config, errors.Wrap(err, "bad config metadata option RequestForwardTimeout")
	}
	if config.RequestComplainTimeout, err = time.ParseDuration(options.RequestComplainTimeout); err != nil {
		return config, errors.Wrap(err, "bad config metadata option RequestComplainTimeout")
	}
	if config.RequestAutoRemoveTimeout, err = time.ParseDuration(options.RequestAutoRemoveTimeout); err != nil {
		return config, errors.Wrap(err, "bad config metadata option RequestAutoRemoveTimeout")
	}
	if config.ViewChangeResendInterval, err = time.ParseDuration(options.ViewChangeResendInterval); err != nil {
		return config, errors.Wrap(err, "bad config metadata option ViewChangeResendInterval")
	}
	if config.ViewChangeTimeout, err = time.ParseDuration(options.ViewChangeTimeout); err != nil {
		return config, errors.Wrap(err, "bad config metadata option ViewChangeTimeout")
	}
	if config.LeaderHeartbeatTimeout, err = time.ParseDuration(options.LeaderHeartbeatTimeout); err != nil {
		return config, errors.Wrap(err, "bad config metadata option LeaderHeartbeatTimeout")
	}
	config.LeaderHeartbeatCount = options.LeaderHeartbeatCount
	if config.CollectTimeout, err = time.ParseDuration(options.CollectTimeout); err != nil {
		return config, errors.Wrap(err, "bad config metadata option CollectTimeout")
	}
	config.SyncOnStart = options.SyncOnStart
	config.SpeedUpViewChange = options.SpeedUpViewChange

	if options.LeaderRotation != smartbft.Options_ROTATION_ON {

View on GitHub (pinned to 2736b63f8f)

Solutions

Set RequestAutoRemoveTimeout to a valid duration string
Fix the smartbft options in the channel config

Defensive patterns

Strategy: validation

When it happens

Trigger: Thrown at orderer/consensus/smartbft/util/util.go:41 when the library encounters an invalid state.

Common situations: See trigger scenarios.

Understand the failure class

Timeouts: ETIMEDOUT, deadlines, and hung requests — what actually expires when a request times out.

AI-assisted analysis of hyperledger/fabric@2736b63f8f (2026-09-04). Data as JSON: /api/errors/9116be50aa9e4574. Report an issue: GitHub.