jdx/mise · error

unsupported archive format

Error message

unsupported archive format

What it means

For `web/OWNER/REPO/archive/...` requests, the relay rewrites the download to the corresponding GitHub API `tarball`/`zipball` endpoint. The final path segment must end in `.tar.gz` (mapped to `tarball`) or `.zip` (mapped to `zipball`); any other archive suffix is rejected. This ensures the relay only proxies the two archive formats GitHub's API provides.

Solutions

1. Use `.tar.gz` for a tarball or `.zip` for a zipball at the end of the archive path
2. Replace `.tgz` with `.tar.gz` (GitHub web archive URLs use `.tar.gz`, not `.tgz`)
3. If you need another format, download the `.tar.gz`/`.zip` and convert locally

Example fix

// before
GET /web/org/repo/archive/refs/tags/v1.0.tgz
// after
GET /web/org/repo/archive/refs/tags/v1.0.tar.gz

fn archive_kind(url_path: &str) -> Option<&'static str> {
    if url_path.ends_with(".tar.gz") { Some("tarball") }
    else if url_path.ends_with(".zip") { Some("zipball") }
    else { None }
}
assert_eq!(archive_kind("/web/o/r/archive/v1.0.tar.gz"), Some("tarball"));

match authorize(&scope, method, path, query) {
    Err(e) if e.to_string().contains("unsupported archive format") => {
        eprintln!("use .tar.gz or .zip suffix for archive downloads");
    }
    Ok(t) => forward(t),
    Err(e) => return Err(e),
}

When it happens

Trigger: A client requests an archive URL ending in something other than `.tar.gz` or `.zip`, e.g. `/web/org/repo/archive/refs/tags/v1.0.tar.bz2`, `.tgz`, `.7z`, or no extension at all (`/archive/refs/tags/v1.0`).

Common situations: Tools defaulting to GitHub's codeload `.tgz` naming; users hand-writing archive URLs with `.tar` or `.zip.gz`; templated URLs that append the wrong extension for the chosen format.

Understand the failure class

Background: UnsupportedOperationException and "is not supported" errors: when a library deliberately refuses a call — this error's family across 30 libraries.

Related errors

• missing archive reference
• GitHub relay permits read-only repository operations only
• repository is outside the approved relay scope
• unsupported GitHub operation
• unsupported query parameter

AI-assisted analysis of jdx/mise@533346cc37 (2026-09-17). Data as JSON: /api/errors/6c3394e7c4c9a3ae. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at src/github_relay.rs:254

        }
    }
    let host = if p[0] == "api" {
        "api.github.com"
    } else {
        "github.com"
    };
    let suffix = path.split_once('/').expect("validated path").1;
    let mut url = format!("https://{host}/{suffix}");
    let archive_repo = match p.as_slice() {
        ["api", "repos", _, _, "tarball" | "zipball", ..] => Some(name.clone()),
        ["web", _, _, "archive", rest @ ..] => {
            let reference = rest.join("/");
            let (kind, reference) = if let Some(reference) = reference.strip_suffix(".tar.gz") {
                ("tarball", reference)
            } else if let Some(reference) = reference.strip_suffix(".zip") {
                ("zipball", reference)
            } else {
                bail!("unsupported archive format");
            };
            if reference.is_empty() {
                bail!("missing archive reference");
            }
            // The API supplies short-lived private archive links; credentials
            // remain at the API origin and are never attached to that redirect.
            url = format!("https://api.github.com/repos/{name}/{kind}/{reference}");
            Some(name)
        }
        _ => None,
    };
    if let Some(query) = query {
        url.push('?');
        url.push_str(query);
    }
    Ok(Target {
        url,
        git,

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