jdx/mise · error

unable to determine version

Error message

unable to determine {} version

What it means

initialize runs `<preset binary> --version` to determine the major version used for the version marker file; if the command exits with a non-success status, mise cannot determine the binary's version and bails out.

Solutions

  1. Run `<binary> --version` manually to see the actual failure and fix the installation
  2. Reinstall the tool version providing the binary (e.g. `mise install postgres`)
  3. Fix PATH so a working binary is selected

Example fix

// before: broken install
$ postgres --version && echo ok  # exits non-zero
// after
mise install postgres@16 && mise daemon start
Defensive patterns

Strategy: try-catch

Validate before calling

# pre-check the binary works
"$HOME/.local/share/mise/installs/postgres/*/bin/postgres" --version || echo 'binary broken'

Try / catch

catch (e) { if (/unable to determine .* version/.test(e.message)) { reinstallTool(); } }

Prevention

When it happens

Trigger: The preset binary exists but `--version` exits non-zero (crash, bad install, missing libraries, permission problem) during daemon data initialization.

Common situations: Broken or partially installed postgres in the mise tool directory; binary fails due to missing shared libraries; wrong binary resolved on PATH.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of jdx/mise@533346cc37 (2026-09-17). Data as JSON: /api/errors/502c0d9d19956dd6. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at src/daemons/presets.rs:190

    }
    Ok(major.into())
}

pub(crate) fn initialize(preset_name: &str, data: &Path, database: &str) -> Result<()> {
    crate::config::Settings::get().ensure_experimental("daemon presets")?;
    crate::config::Settings::ensure_not_safe("initializing daemon data")?;
    if cfg!(windows) {
        bail!("daemon presets are not supported on Windows yet");
    }
    let preset = preset(preset_name)?;
    let parent = data
        .parent()
        .ok_or_else(|| eyre::eyre!("daemon data must have a parent directory"))?;
    std::fs::create_dir_all(parent)?;
    let _lock = crate::lock_file::LockFile::new(data).lock()?;
    let output = Command::new(&preset.binary).arg("--version").output()?;
    if !output.status.success() {
        bail!("unable to determine {} version", preset.binary);
    }
    let major = major(preset_name, &String::from_utf8(output.stdout)?)?;
    let marker = format!("{preset_name}:{major}\n");
    if data.exists() {
        let existing = std::fs::read_to_string(data.join(".mise-daemon-version"))
            .wrap_err("daemon data was not initialized completely; inspect it and migrate or reset it explicitly")?;
        if existing != marker {
            bail!(
                "incompatible {preset_name} data in {} (stored {}, current {}); migrate or reset it explicitly",
                data.display(),
                existing.trim(),
                marker.trim()
            );
        }
        if preset_name == "postgres"
            && std::fs::read_to_string(data.join("PG_VERSION"))
                .wrap_err("daemon data was not initialized completely; missing PG_VERSION")?
                .trim()

View on GitHub (pinned to 533346cc37)