jordansissel/fpm · error · FPM::Package::InvalidArgument

deb compression value of '#{value}' is invalid. Must be one

Error message

deb compression value of '#{value}' is invalid. Must be one of #{COMPRESSION_TYPES.join(", ")}

What it means

The --deb-compression option accepts only the values in FPM::Package::Deb::COMPRESSION_TYPES: gz, bzip2, xz, zst, none. The option block validates the value at parse time and raises FPM::Package::InvalidArgument with this message for anything else, before any packaging work starts.

Source

Thrown at lib/fpm/package/deb.rb:76

            "version. Default is to be specific. This option allows the same " \
            "version of a package but any iteration is permitted"

  option "--build-depends", "DEPENDENCY",
    "Add DEPENDENCY as a Build-Depends" do |dep|
    @build_depends ||= []
    @build_depends << dep
  end

  option "--pre-depends", "DEPENDENCY",
    "Add DEPENDENCY as a Pre-Depends" do |dep|
    @pre_depends ||= []
    @pre_depends << dep
  end

  option "--compression", "COMPRESSION", "The compression type to use, must " \
    "be one of #{COMPRESSION_TYPES.join(", ")}.", :default => "gz" do |value|
    if !COMPRESSION_TYPES.include?(value)
      raise FPM::Package::InvalidArgument, "deb compression value of '#{value}' is invalid. " \
        "Must be one of #{COMPRESSION_TYPES.join(", ")}"
    end
    value
  end

  option "--compression-level", "[0-9]", "Select a compression level. 0 is none or minimal. 9 is max compression.",
    # Specify which compression level to use on the compressor backend, when building a package
    :default => nil do |value|
    valint = value.to_i
    # if self.attributes[:deb_compression].nil?
    #   raise "Can't specify a compression level with compression disabled"
    # end
    unless value =~ /^\d$/ && valint >= 0 && valint <= 9
      raise "Invalid compression level '#{value}'. Valid values are integers between 0 and 9 inclusive."
    end
    valint
  end

View on GitHub (pinned to b6d77ba72a)

Solutions

1. Use one of the allowed values: gz, bzip2, xz, zst, none
2. Check for typos and surrounding whitespace/shell quoting in the value
3. If you need a different compressor, build with 'none' and compress the data.tar member yourself afterwards

Example fix

# before
fpm -s dir -t deb -n foo --deb-compression zstd .

# after
fpm -s dir -t deb -n foo --deb-compression zst .

ALLOWED = FPM::Package::Deb::COMPRESSION_TYPES   # ['gz','bzip2','xz','zst','none']
abort "bad --deb-compression '#{value}'; use one of #{ALLOWED.join(', ')}" unless ALLOWED.include?(value)

def valid_deb_compression?(value)
  FPM::Package::Deb::COMPRESSION_TYPES.include?(value)
end

begin
  pkg.output(out)
rescue FPM::Package::InvalidArgument => e
  abort "compression rejected: #{e.message}"   # fix the flag/attribute value and rerun
end

When it happens

Trigger: Passing an unsupported compression name on the CLI or via the deb_compression attribute: --deb-compression zstd (dpkg's name), gzip, bz2, lzma, lz4, or misspellings like 'none ' with whitespace. Note the exact spellings: 'bzip2' not 'bz2', 'zst' not 'zstd'.

Common situations: Copy-pasting dpkg-deb or tar flag names into fpm; scripts written for other fpm target types (pacman uses 'zstd'); CI configs parameterizing compression from a variable that drifts from the allowed set.

Related errors

• Unknown compression type '#{compression}' for control.tar in
• Unknown compression type '#{compression}' for data.tar in de
• Unknown compression type '#{self.attributes[:deb_compression
• The version looks invalid for Debian packages. Debian versio
• Missing control.tar in deb source package #{package}

AI-assisted analysis of jordansissel/fpm@b6d77ba72a (2026-08-21). Data as JSON: /api/errors/fbf078114270770c. Report an issue: GitHub.