%s already exists in %s. Choose a different location or remo

Error message

%s already exists in %s. Choose a different location or remove the existing results. Aborting identifytxs

What it means

IdentifyTxs writes results into a directory named '<ledgerid>_identified_transactions' under the given output location. CreateDirIfMissing reports whether the directory already existed and was non-empty; if it does, the tool refuses to overwrite prior results and returns this error.

Source

Thrown at internal/ledgerutil/identifytxs/identifytxs.go:60

	var records *models.DiffRecordList
	records, err := jsonrw.LoadRecords(recPath)
	if err != nil {
		return 0, 0, err
	}
	if len(records.DiffRecords) == 0 {
		return 0, 0, errors.Errorf("no records were read. JSON record list is either empty or not properly formatted. Aborting identifytxs")
	}

	// Output directory creation
	outputDirName := fmt.Sprintf("%s_identified_transactions", records.Ledgerid)
	outputDirPath := filepath.Join(outputDirLoc, outputDirName)

	empty, err := fileutil.CreateDirIfMissing(outputDirPath)
	if err != nil {
		return 0, 0, err
	}
	if !empty {
		return 0, 0, errors.Errorf("%s already exists in %s. Choose a different location or remove the existing results. Aborting identifytxs", outputDirName, outputDirLoc)
	}

	// Get recordsMap from json
	inputKeyMapWrapper, err := generateRecordsMap(records.DiffRecords, outputDirPath)
	if err != nil {
		return 0, 0, err
	}

	// Set up block store and block iterator in preparation for traversal
	blockStoreProvider, err := getBlockStoreProvider(fsPath)
	if err != nil {
		return 0, 0, err
	}
	defer blockStoreProvider.Close()

	blockStoreExists, err := blockStoreProvider.Exists(records.Ledgerid)
	if err != nil {
		return 0, 0, err

View on GitHub (pinned to 2736b63f8f)

Solutions

Remove or move the existing '<ledgerid>_identified_transactions' directory, then rerun
Pass a different outputDirLoc on the command line
If it's leftovers from a failed run, verify contents then delete before retrying

Example fix

// before
ledgerutil identifytxs ./diff.json ./out
// after (previous run present)
rm -rf ./out/myledger_identified_transactions
ledgerutil identifytxs ./diff.json ./out

Defensive patterns

Strategy: validation

Validate before calling

// Go: ensure the output dir does not already exist (non-empty) before running
outputDir := filepath.Join(outputDirLoc, ledgerid+"_identified_transactions")
if entries, err := os.ReadDir(outputDir); err == nil && len(entries) > 0 {
    return fmt.Errorf("output directory %s already exists and is not empty", outputDir)
}

Try / catch

if _, _, err := ledgerutil.IdentifyTxs(recPath, outDir); err != nil {
    if strings.Contains(err.Error(), "already exists") {
        return fmt.Errorf("move/remove %s or choose a new output dir: %w", err, err)
    }
    return err
}

Prevention

Use a timestamped or unique output directory per run
Clean up results from failed runs before rerunning
Script the removal of <ledgerid>_identified_transactions before automated reruns

When it happens

Trigger: Running ledgerutil identifytxs twice with the same output directory location and the same ledger id, without clearing or renaming the previous results directory.

Common situations: Re-running the tool after a failed/partial run; scripted reruns with identical outputDirLoc; two runs targeting the same ledger name in the same output directory.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of hyperledger/fabric@2736b63f8f (2026-09-04). Data as JSON: /api/errors/cf9296b2ea459694. Report an issue: GitHub.