hyperledger/fabric · error

'%s' not equal <newest|oldest|config|(number)>

Error message

'%s' not equal <newest|oldest|config|(number)>

What it means

osnadmin's fetch command only accepts --channelID block specifiers of 'newest', 'oldest', 'config', or a decimal number. Any other string fails the strconv.Atoi fallback and produces this error before any network call.

Source

Thrown at cmd/osnadmin/main.go:155

	switch command {
	case join.FullCommand():
		resp, err = osnadmin.Join(osnURL, marshaledConfigBlock, caCertPool, tlsClientCert)
	case list.FullCommand():
		if *listChannelID != "" {
			resp, err = osnadmin.ListSingleChannel(osnURL, *listChannelID, caCertPool, tlsClientCert)
			break
		}
		resp, err = osnadmin.ListAllChannels(osnURL, caCertPool, tlsClientCert)
	case remove.FullCommand():
		resp, err = osnadmin.Remove(osnURL, *removeChannelID, caCertPool, tlsClientCert)
	case update.FullCommand():
		resp, err = osnadmin.Update(osnURL, marshaledConfigEnvelope, caCertPool, tlsClientCert, *tlsHandshakeTimeShift)
	case fetch.FullCommand():
		if *fetchBlockID != "newest" && *fetchBlockID != "oldest" && *fetchBlockID != "config" {
			_, err = strconv.Atoi(*fetchBlockID)
			if err != nil {
				return "", 1, fmt.Errorf("'%s' not equal <newest|oldest|config|(number)>", *fetchBlockID)
			}
		}
		resp, err = osnadmin.Fetch(osnURL, *fetchChannelID, *fetchBlockID, caCertPool, tlsClientCert, *tlsHandshakeTimeShift1)
	}
	if err != nil {
		return errorOutput(err), 1, nil
	}

	bodyBytes, err := readBodyBytes(resp.Body)
	if err != nil {
		return errorOutput(err), 1, nil
	}

	output, err = responseOutput(!*noStatus, resp.StatusCode, bodyBytes, *fetchOutputFile)
	if err != nil {
		return errorOutput(err), 1, nil
	}

View on GitHub (pinned to 2736b63f8f)

Solutions

1. Use one of the exact keywords: newest, oldest, or config.
2. Provide a plain decimal block number (e.g. 5).
3. Trim whitespace/quotes from the flag value.
4. Check `osnadmin channel fetch --help` for accepted values.

Example fix

// before
osnadmin channel fetch latest --channelID mychannel -o orderer:9443
// after
osnadmin channel fetch newest --channelID mychannel -o orderer:9443

func validFetchTarget(v string) bool {
    switch v {
    case "newest", "oldest", "config":
        return true
    }
    _, err := strconv.Atoi(v)
    return err == nil
}
// call before: if !validFetchTarget(fetchBlockID) { ... }

func isFetchKeyword(v string) bool {
    return v == "newest" || v == "oldest" || v == "config"
}

if err := runOsnadmin(); err != nil {
    if strings.Contains(err.Error(), "not equal <newest|oldest|config|(number)>") {
        log.Fatalf("invalid fetch target %q: use newest|oldest|config|number", err)
    }
}

When it happens

Trigger: `osnadmin channel fetch` invoked with --channelID values like 'latest', '0x5', '5 ', or a non-numeric block height string.

Common situations: Users familiar with 'latest' from other tools type 'latest' instead of 'newest'; whitespace or quotes accidentally included in the flag value.

Understand the failure class

Background: "must be a positive integer", "cannot be empty", "invalid argument": how invalid-argument errors work across open-source libraries — this error's family across 33 libraries.

Related errors

• Must supply channel ID
• chaincode path must be specified
• chaincode language must be specified
• output file must be specified
• package label must be specified

AI-assisted analysis of hyperledger/fabric@2736b63f8f (2026-09-04). Data as JSON: /api/errors/a08e209fb5aace2f. Report an issue: GitHub.