hyperledger/fabric · error

Error executing build: %s "%s"

Error message

Error executing build: %s "%s"

What it means

DockerBuild starts an ephemeral builder container whose Cmd compiles chaincode inside the builder image. When docker's ContainerStart API itself fails (container cannot be started, e.g. bad entrypoint/cmd or image problem), the function reads whatever the container emitted on its attached stdout/stderr and wraps both the docker error and that buffer into this error. It indicates the build process never got to run, as opposed to a build that ran and returned a non-zero exit code.

Source

Thrown at core/chaincode/platforms/util/utils.go:138

	// -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
	cw, err := client.ContainerAttach(context.Background(), container.ID, dcli.ContainerAttachOptions{
		Stream: true,
		Stdout: true,
		Stderr: true,
		Logs:   true,
	})
	if err != nil {
		return fmt.Errorf("Error attaching to container: %s", err)
	}

	// -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
	// Launch the actual build, realizing the Env/Cmd specified at container creation
	// -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
	_, err = client.ContainerStart(context.Background(), container.ID, dcli.ContainerStartOptions{})
	if err != nil {
		buff, _ := io.ReadAll(cw.Reader)
		cw.Close()
		return fmt.Errorf("Error executing build: %s \"%s\"", err, string(buff))
	}

	// -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
	// Wait for the build to complete and gather the return value
	// -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
	resWait := client.ContainerWait(context.Background(), container.ID, dcli.ContainerWaitOptions{})
	var res dcontainer.WaitResponse
	select {
	case res = <-resWait.Result:
	case err = <-resWait.Error:
		cw.Close()
		return fmt.Errorf("Error waiting for container to complete: %s", err)
	}

	// Wait for stream copying to complete before accessing stdout.
	defer cw.Close()
	buff, _ := io.ReadAll(cw.Reader)
	if res.StatusCode > 0 {

View on GitHub (pinned to 2736b63f8f)

Solutions

1. Inspect the quoted output buffer in the message: it contains the container's stdout/stderr, usually showing 'exec: /bin/sh: not found' or an OCI runtime error
2. Use a builder image that includes /bin/sh (e.g. a standard golang/node ccenv image) since the Cmd is always wrapped as ['/bin/sh','-c',opts.Cmd]
3. Verify the image matches the daemon architecture (docker image inspect <image>) and that it is present locally or pullable
4. Check docker daemon health (docker info / journalctl -u docker) for runtime or resource errors and restart it if needed

Example fix

// before: minimal image without a shell
opts := DockerBuildOptions{Image: "scratch-based-builder", Cmd: "go build"}
// after: use an image with /bin/sh so the '/bin/sh -c' wrapper can run
opts := DockerBuildOptions{Image: "hyperledger/fabric-ccenv:latest", Cmd: "go build"}

// Verify the builder image exists and contains /bin/sh before building
img, err := client.ImageInspect(ctx, opts.Image)
if err != nil { return fmt.Errorf("builder image %s missing: %w", opts.Image, err) }
// optionally: docker run --rm --entrypoint /bin/sh <img> -c 'echo ok'

if err := util.DockerBuild(opts, client); err != nil {
    if strings.Contains(err.Error(), "Error executing build") {
        // parse quoted output; check for exec/sh errors and image/runtime problems
        logger.Errorf("builder container failed to start: %v", err)
    }
    return err
}

When it happens

Trigger: client.ContainerStart returns an error: the builder image lacks /bin/sh or the entrypoint cannot exec, the image was removed between pull and start, the docker daemon rejects the start (e.g. runtime/OCI error), or the container ID is invalid after a failed create path.

Common situations: Using a minimal/slim builder image that has no shell (/bin/sh) so the wrapping command `['/bin/sh','-c',cmd]` cannot exec; broken or incompatible builder image for the host architecture (e.g. arm64 image on amd64 daemon); Docker daemon restarted or out of resources mid-build; misconfigured 'chaincode.builder' core.yaml property pointing at a non-runnable image.

Related errors

• Error returned from build: %d "%s"
• platform builder failed
• Error waiting for container to complete: %s
• Error downloading output: %s
• docker image build failed

AI-assisted analysis of hyperledger/fabric@2736b63f8f (2026-09-04). Data as JSON: /api/errors/5e7c608c0bd10085. Report an issue: GitHub.