ipfs/kubo · error

option %q requires %q to be provided as well

Error message

option %q requires %q to be provided as well

What it means

`--mtime-nsecs` carries only the sub-second component of a modification time and requires `--mtime` (the seconds component) to be provided. Providing nsecs alone is rejected because it cannot represent a timestamp by itself.

Source

Thrown at core/commands/add.go:497

			options.Unixfs.Nocopy(nocopy),

			options.Unixfs.Progress(progress),
			options.Unixfs.Silent(silent),

			options.Unixfs.PreserveMode(preserveMode),
			options.Unixfs.PreserveMtime(preserveMtime),

			options.Unixfs.IncludeEmptyDirs(emptyDirs),
		}

		if mode != 0 {
			opts = append(opts, options.Unixfs.Mode(os.FileMode(mode)))
		}

		if mtime != 0 {
			opts = append(opts, options.Unixfs.Mtime(mtime, uint32(mtimeNsecs)))
		} else if mtimeNsecs != 0 {
			return fmt.Errorf("option %q requires %q to be provided as well", mtimeNsecsOptionName, mtimeOptionName)
		}

		if cidVerSet {
			opts = append(opts, options.Unixfs.CidVersion(cidVer))
		}

		if rbset {
			opts = append(opts, options.Unixfs.RawLeaves(rawblks))
		}

		if maxFileLinksSet {
			opts = append(opts, options.Unixfs.MaxFileLinks(maxFileLinks))
		}

		if maxDirectoryLinksSet {
			opts = append(opts, options.Unixfs.MaxDirectoryLinks(maxDirectoryLinks))
		}

View on GitHub (pinned to 329838acdf)

Solutions

1. Pass --mtime=<unix-seconds> together with --mtime-nsecs
2. Drop --mtime-nsecs if sub-second precision is not needed
3. In API clients, always send mtime and mtimeNsecs as a pair

Example fix

// before
ipfs add --mtime-nsecs=500 file.txt
// after
ipfs add --mtime=1690000000 --mtime-nsecs=500 file.txt

if mtimeNsecs != 0 && mtime == 0 {
  return errors.New("--mtime-nsecs requires --mtime to be set")
}

When it happens

Trigger: `ipfs add --mtime-nsecs=500 file`; RPC add with MtimeNsecs != 0 but Mtime == 0; a CLI builder that emits the nsecs flag without the base mtime flag.

Common situations: High-precision timestamp scripts computing nsecs but omitting the seconds component; hand-assembled API payloads where mtime is absent/0 while mtimeNsecs is set.

Related errors

• %s can't be used with UnixFS metadata like mode or modificat
• invalid configuration profile: %s
• Import.UnixFSFileMaxLinks must be positive, got %d
• Import.UnixFSDirectoryMaxLinks must be non-negative, got %d
• Import.UnixFSHAMTDirectoryMaxFanout must be a power of 2, be

AI-assisted analysis of ipfs/kubo@329838acdf (2026-09-03). Data as JSON: /api/errors/918dea420017a2df. Report an issue: GitHub.