jdx/mise · error · RuntimeError

cannot install #{src}: does not exist

Error message

cannot install #{src}: does not exist

What it means

install_one is a private helper in the brew shim that moves a built file from its source path to the install destination. It raises when the source path neither exists nor is a symlink, meaning the formula's build stage never produced the artifact the install step expects to move.

Source

Thrown at src/system/packages/brew/shim.rb:239

end

# Pathname extensions mirroring brew's
class Pathname
  def install(*sources)
    mkpath
    sources.flatten.each do |src|
      case src
      when Hash
        src.each { |from, to| install_one(from, self + to) }
      else
        install_one(src, self + Pathname.new(src.to_s).basename)
      end
    end
  end

  def install_one(src, dest)
    src = Pathname.new(src.to_s)
    raise "cannot install #{src}: does not exist" unless src.exist? || src.symlink?
    dest.dirname.mkpath
    FileUtils.mv src.to_s, dest.to_s
  end
  private :install_one

  def install_symlink(*sources)
    mkpath
    sources.flatten.each do |src|
      case src
      when Hash
        src.each { |from, to| make_relative_symlink(Pathname.new(from.to_s), self + to) }
      else
        src = Pathname.new(src.to_s)
        make_relative_symlink(src, self + src.basename)
      end
    end
  end

View on GitHub (pinned to afd2eddd3a)

Solutions

1. Verify the source path exists in the stage directory before install (ls the stage dir)
2. Check the formula's install blocks reference the actual built artifact names
3. Re-run the build step and confirm it succeeds before install
4. Ensure the stage directory wasn't cleaned between build and install

Example fix

# before
install_one "#{buildpath}/bin/mytool", bin
# after
binary = "#{buildpath}/bin/mytool"
raise "build did not produce #{binary}" unless File.exist?(binary)
install_one binary, bin

raise "missing install source" unless File.exist?(src) || File.symlink?(src)

When it happens

Trigger: Calling install (or install_symlink) with a src path that was never created by the build step — e.g. the binary name in the formula doesn't match what the build system actually produced, or the build silently failed earlier.

Common situations: Formulae pinned to old versions where upstream renamed the output binary; build systems writing artifacts to a different directory (build/ vs release/); partially cleaned stage directories after an interrupted install.

Understand the failure class

Background: "File not found" and ENOENT errors: why libraries can't find a file that should exist — this error's family across 50 libraries.

Related errors

• Ruby engine '{}' is not supported on Windows. Only standard
• no precompiled ruby found for {tv} on {platform}
• no precompiled ruby is available for this platform
• {}@{requested} is not installed{resolved} hint: run `mise in
• no precompiled ruby is available for this platform To compil

AI-assisted analysis of jdx/mise@afd2eddd3a (2026-09-09). Data as JSON: /api/errors/772c7fa249bc1231. Report an issue: GitHub.