ipfs/kubo · error

old style datatstore config detected

Error message

old style datatstore config detected

What it means

Repo open guard: the config still carries the pre-0.5 'Datastore.Type'/'Datastore.Path' top-level fields, which were replaced by the Datastore.Spec map. Kubo refuses to guess how to open such an old-style datastore.

Source

Thrown at repo/fsrepo/fsrepo.go:490

	return err
}

func (r *FSRepo) openKeystore() error {
	ksp := filepath.Join(r.path, "keystore")
	ks, err := keystore.NewFSKeystore(ksp)
	if err != nil {
		return err
	}

	r.keystore = ks

	return nil
}

// openDatastore returns an error if the config file is not present.
func (r *FSRepo) openDatastore() error {
	if r.config.Datastore.Type != "" || r.config.Datastore.Path != "" {
		return fmt.Errorf("old style datatstore config detected")
	} else if r.config.Datastore.Spec == nil {
		return fmt.Errorf("required Datastore.Spec entry missing from config file")
	}
	if r.config.Datastore.NoSync {
		log.Warn("NoSync is now deprecated in favor of datastore specific settings. If you want to disable fsync on flatfs set 'sync' to false. See https://github.com/ipfs/kubo/blob/master/docs/datastores.md#flatfs.")
	}

	dsc, err := AnyDatastoreConfig(r.config.Datastore.Spec)
	if err != nil {
		return err
	}
	spec := dsc.DiskSpec()

	oldSpec, err := r.readSpec()
	if err != nil {
		return err
	}
	if oldSpec != spec.String() {

View on GitHub (pinned to 329838acdf)

Solutions

1. Run the repo migrations to convert the config to the Datastore.Spec format
2. Or re-init the repo and re-add content if starting over is acceptable
3. Reference: docs/datastores.md for the Spec format

When it happens

Trigger: Thrown at repo/fsrepo/fsrepo.go:490 when the library encounters an invalid state.

Common situations: See trigger scenarios.

AI-assisted analysis of ipfs/kubo@329838acdf (2026-09-03). Data as JSON: /api/errors/708cc371fe2e4ff2. Report an issue: GitHub.