hyperledger/fabric · error

failure opening codepackage gzip stream: %s

Error message

failure opening codepackage gzip stream: %s

What it means

Platform.ValidateCodePackage treats an install package as a gzip-compressed tar; it wraps gzip.NewReader failure with 'failure opening codepackage gzip stream: %s'. The submitted package bytes are not valid gzip, so validation fails before any tar inspection.

Source

Thrown at core/chaincode/platforms/golang/platform.go:80

	}

	// not a module
	if modInfo == nil {
		return rawPath, nil
	}

	return modInfo.ImportPath, nil
}

// ValidateCodePackage examines the chaincode archive to ensure it is valid.
//
// NOTE: this code is used in some transaction validation paths but can be changed
// post 2.0.
func (p *Platform) ValidateCodePackage(code []byte) error {
	is := bytes.NewReader(code)
	gr, err := gzip.NewReader(is)
	if err != nil {
		return fmt.Errorf("failure opening codepackage gzip stream: %s", err)
	}

	re := regexp.MustCompile(`^(src|META-INF)/`)
	tr := tar.NewReader(gr)
	for {
		header, err := tr.Next()
		if err == io.EOF {
			break
		}
		if err != nil {
			return err
		}

		// maintain check for conforming paths for validation
		if !re.MatchString(header.Name) {
			return fmt.Errorf("illegal file name in payload: %s", header.Name)
		}

View on GitHub (pinned to 2736b63f8f)

Solutions

1. Package the chaincode as gzip: 'tar czf code.tar.gz src/...' and resubmit
2. Verify the payload starts with gzip magic bytes 1f 8b before submitting
3. Check the client packaging code path — use the platform's GetDeploymentPayload rather than hand-rolled tars
4. If the package came from a transfer, re-download and compare hashes to rule out truncation

Example fix

// before
tar -cf code.tar src/
// after
tar -czf code.tar.gz src/

func isGzip(b []byte) bool { return len(b) > 2 && b[0] == 0x1f && b[1] == 0x8b }
if !isGzip(code) { return errors.New("package is not gzip") }
if _, err := gzip.NewReader(bytes.NewReader(code)); err != nil { return err }

func isGzip(b []byte) bool { return len(b) > 2 && b[0] == 0x1f && b[1] == 0x8b }

if err := platform.ValidateCodePackage(code); err != nil {
  if strings.Contains(err.Error(), "failure opening codepackage gzip stream") {
    return fmt.Errorf("repackage as tar.gz: %w", err)
  }
  return err
}

When it happens

Trigger: Calling ValidateCodePackage(code) (used in some transaction validation paths pre-2.0) with bytes that are not gzip: empty payload, raw tar, plain files, or truncated/corrupt gzip stream.

Common situations: Uploading an uncompressed .tar instead of .tar.gz; corrupted package over the network; client SDK packaging bug; Fabric 1.4-era validation path fed a 2.x-style (non-gzip-shaped) package.

Related errors

• %s is mandatory and cannot be empty
• enrollment certificate isn't a valid PEM block
• failed to decode PEM block from %s
• could not create channel %s sub-group config
• config ID illegal, cannot be empty

AI-assisted analysis of hyperledger/fabric@2736b63f8f (2026-09-04). Data as JSON: /api/errors/a5f83886b0eb9112. Report an issue: GitHub.