hyperledger/fabric · error

incorrect number of arguments

Error message

incorrect number of arguments

What it means

ApplyDatabaseSecurity() serializes the databaseSecurity struct with json.Marshal before PUTting it to the database's _security endpoint. If marshalling fails the error is wrapped (with a slightly misleading 'unmarshalling' wording) as 'error unmarshalling json data' and the security update is aborted. json.Marshal only fails for unsupported types (channels, funcs, cyclic structures), so this almost always indicates a bug in the constructed databaseSecurity value rather than a server problem.

Source

Thrown at ccaas_builder/cmd/release/main.go:51

	ClientAuth  bool   `json:"client_auth_required"`
	RootCert    string `json:"root_cert"`
	ClientKey   string `json:"client_key"`
	ClientCert  string `json:"client_cert"`
}

func main() {
	logger.Println("::Release")

	if err := run(); err != nil {
		logger.Printf("::Error: %v\n", err)
		os.Exit(1)
	}
	logger.Printf("::Release phase completed")
}

func run() error {
	if len(os.Args) < 3 {
		return errors.New("incorrect number of arguments")
	}

	builderOutputDir, releaseDir := os.Args[1], os.Args[2]
	connectionSrcFile := filepath.Join(builderOutputDir, "/connection.json")

	connectionDir := filepath.Join(releaseDir, "chaincode/server/")
	connectionDestFile := filepath.Join(releaseDir, "chaincode/server/connection.json")

	metadataDir := filepath.Join(builderOutputDir, "META-INF/statedb")
	metadataDestDir := filepath.Join(releaseDir, "statedb")
	if _, err := os.Stat(metadataDir); !os.IsNotExist(err) {
		if err := copy.Copy(metadataDir, metadataDestDir); err != nil {
			return fmt.Errorf("failed to copy metadataDir directory folder: %s", err)
		}
	}

	// Process and update the connections file
	_, err := os.Stat(connectionSrcFile)

View on GitHub (pinned to 2736b63f8f)

Solutions

1. Inspect the databaseSecurity value passed in; remove any channel, func, or cyclic reference
2. Ensure Admins/Members Names/Roles are plain []string slices
3. Reproduce with json.Marshal(databaseSecurity) in isolation to see the underlying unsupported-type error
4. If extending the struct, add custom MarshalJSON for unsupported fields
5. Report as a Fabric bug if it occurs with stock code — stock structs should never fail to marshal

Example fix

// before
type databaseSecurity struct {
    Admins admins `json:"admins"`
    Conn   net.Conn `json:"-"` // func/channel-like field breaks Marshal
}
// after
type databaseSecurity struct {
    Admins admins `json:"admins"`
    // drop non-serializable fields entirely
}

if _, err := json.Marshal(databaseSecurity); err != nil {
    return fmt.Errorf("security struct not marshallable: %w", err)
}

err := db.ApplyDatabaseSecurity(sec)
if err != nil && strings.Contains(err.Error(), "json data") {
    return fmt.Errorf("invalid security struct (check for channels/funcs/cycles): %w", err)
}

When it happens

Trigger: Calling ApplyDatabaseSecurity() with a databaseSecurity struct that contains a value json.Marshal cannot encode — e.g. cyclic pointer references, a channel/func field, or NaN/infinite float values inside the struct.

Common situations: Custom code building security structs with non-serializable fields; plugins or chaincode-injected values with cycles; Go version/type changes introducing unsupported types.

Understand the failure class

Background: json.Marshal / "failed to marshal" errors in Go: why "unsupported type" happens and how to fix it — this error's family across 22 libraries.

Related errors

• connection.json not found in source folder: %s
• failed to marshal config
• too few arguments
• Failed opening file %s: %v
• config isn't valid

AI-assisted analysis of hyperledger/fabric@2736b63f8f (2026-09-04). Data as JSON: /api/errors/322c5b824b00224e. Report an issue: GitHub.