What causes "no embedded dependency information" in ipfs/kubo?

Rebuild the binary from source with the standard toolchain: make build (which uses go build)

no embedded dependency information

Error message

no embedded dependency information

What it means

The 'ipfs version deps' command reads Go module dependency info embedded in the binary via debug.ReadBuildInfo(). If the runtime cannot provide build info, this error is returned. Build info is only embedded when the binary was built with the Go toolchain (go build); it is absent for binaries built by other means or manipulated afterwards.

Source

Thrown at core/commands/version.go:110

	Version    string
	ReplacedBy string
	Sum        string
}

const pkgVersionFmt = "%s@%s"

var depsVersionCommand = &cmds.Command{
	Helptext: cmds.HelpText{
		Tagline: "Shows information about dependencies used for build.",
		ShortDescription: `
Print out all dependencies and their versions.`,
	},
	Type: Dependency{},

	Run: func(req *cmds.Request, res cmds.ResponseEmitter, env cmds.Environment) error {
		info, ok := debug.ReadBuildInfo()
		if !ok {
			return errors.New("no embedded dependency information")
		}
		toDependency := func(mod *debug.Module) (dep Dependency) {
			dep.Path = mod.Path
			dep.Version = mod.Version
			dep.Sum = mod.Sum
			if repl := mod.Replace; repl != nil {
				dep.ReplacedBy = fmt.Sprintf(pkgVersionFmt, repl.Path, repl.Version)
			}
			return
		}
		if err := res.Emit(toDependency(&info.Main)); err != nil {
			return err
		}
		for _, dep := range info.Deps {
			if err := res.Emit(toDependency(dep)); err != nil {
				return err
			}
		}

View on GitHub (pinned to 329838acdf)

Solutions

Rebuild the binary from source with the standard toolchain: make build (which uses go build)
Verify the binary is an official release artifact and not a repackaged/stripped one
If you need dependency info without build info, run 'go version -m ./ipfs' against the binary or check the source go.mod

Example fix

// before
info, ok := debug.ReadBuildInfo()
if !ok {
    return errors.New("no embedded dependency information")
}
// after (caller-side mitigation)
out, err := exec.Command("go", "version", "-m", ipfsBinaryPath).Output()

Defensive patterns

Strategy: fallback

Validate before calling

if info, ok := debug.ReadBuildInfo(); !ok || len(info.Deps) == 0 {
    // fall back to 'go version -m <binary>' or packaged metadata
}

Try / catch

deps, err := runVersionDeps()
if err != nil && strings.Contains(err.Error(), "no embedded dependency information") {
    out, exeErr := exec.Command("go", "version", "-m", ipfsBin).Output()
    if exeErr == nil { fmt.Println(string(out)); return nil }
}
return err

Prevention

Build with the standard go toolchain (make build)
Don't repackage or strip binaries in ways that drop build info
Document in your packaging pipeline that 'ipfs version deps' needs go-embedded build info

When it happens

Trigger: Running 'ipfs version deps' on a binary that was not built with the standard Go toolchain — e.g. built with -trimpath oddities is fine, but stripped/patched binaries, binaries produced by alternative toolchains, or test harnesses that don't embed build info will return ok=false.

Common situations: Distributing a binary built with a non-Go builder or heavily stripped packaging pipeline; running the command in a sandbox that replaced the ipfs binary; using a binary compiled from a modified build script that bypasses the go command.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of ipfs/kubo@329838acdf (2026-09-03). Data as JSON: /api/errors/92018862bc4fc3af. Report an issue: GitHub.