ipfs/kubo · error

path cannot be empty

Error message

%s path cannot be empty

What it means

checkFusePath validates a configured mount path before FUSE mounting. If the path is an empty string, it returns "%s path cannot be empty" where %s is the config name (Mounts.IPFS, Mounts.IPNS, or Mounts.MFS). This catches mount points left unset in the configuration, since FUSE cannot mount at an empty path.

Solutions

1. Set the mount points in config: `ipfs config Mounts.IPFS /ipfs`, `ipfs config Mounts.IPNS /ipns`, `ipfs config Mounts.MFS /mfs`
2. Or pass the paths on the command line: `ipfs daemon --mount --mount-ipfs=/ipfs --mount-ipns=/ipns`
3. Inspect current values with `ipfs config Mounts.IPFS` (and IPNS/MFS) to find which one is empty

Example fix

// before (config)
"Mounts": {"IPFS": "", "IPNS": "/ipns", "MFS": "/mfs"}
// after
"Mounts": {"IPFS": "/ipfs", "IPNS": "/ipns", "MFS": "/mfs"}

for name, p := range map[string]string{"Mounts.IPFS": cfg.Mounts.IPFS, "Mounts.IPNS": cfg.Mounts.IPNS, "Mounts.MFS": cfg.Mounts.MFS} {
	if p == "" {
		return fmt.Errorf("%s must be set before --mount", name)
	}
}

When it happens

Trigger: Running `ipfs daemon --mount` (or `ipfs mount`) with cfg.Mounts.IPFS, cfg.Mounts.IPNS, or cfg.Mounts.MFS empty in the repo config and no corresponding CLI flag (--mount-ipfs / --mount-ipns / --mount-mfs) supplied.

Common situations: Fresh repo where Mounts.* were never set; a config migration or manual edit cleared the values; scripted daemon startup passing empty strings for the mount keywords.

Related errors

• mountFuse: GetConfig() failed
• mountFuse: ConstructNode() failed
• path ( ) does not exist
• expected map for mountpoint
• 'mounts' field is missing or not an array

AI-assisted analysis of ipfs/kubo@329838acdf (2026-09-03). Data as JSON: /api/errors/f05e2461a77c0d24. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at cmd/ipfs/kubo/daemon.go:1285

	if err != nil {
		return fmt.Errorf("mountFuse: ConstructNode() failed: %s", err)
	}

	err = nodeMount.Mount(node, fsdir, nsdir, mfsdir)
	if err != nil {
		return err
	}
	// Extra space after "MFS" so "mounted at:" lines up with IPFS and
	// IPNS in the column above. Matches MountCmd's output formatter.
	fmt.Printf("IPFS mounted at: %s\n", fsdir)
	fmt.Printf("IPNS mounted at: %s\n", nsdir)
	fmt.Printf("MFS  mounted at: %s\n", mfsdir)
	return nil
}

func checkFusePath(name, path string) error {
	if path == "" {
		return fmt.Errorf("%s path cannot be empty", name)
	}

	fileInfo, err := os.Stat(path)
	if err != nil {
		if os.IsNotExist(err) {
			return fmt.Errorf("%s path (%q) does not exist: %w", name, path, err)
		}
		return fmt.Errorf("error while inspecting %s path (%q): %w", name, path, err)
	}

	if !fileInfo.IsDir() {
		return fmt.Errorf("%s path (%q) is not a directory", name, path)
	}

	return nil
}

func maybeRunGC(req *cmds.Request, node *core.IpfsNode) (<-chan error, error) {

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