jordansissel/fpm · error · FPM::Util::ProcessFailed

#{program} failed (exit code #{exit_code}). Full command was

Error message

#{program} failed (exit code #{exit_code}). Full command was:#{args.inspect}

What it means

FPM::Util.safesystem runs a child process and raises FPM::Util::ProcessFailed when the exit code is non-zero; the message includes the exit code and the full Ruby args array. The real cause was already printed by the failing tool on stderr — this exception is fpm's way of propagating that failure.

Source

Thrown at lib/fpm/util.rb:194

  # Run a command safely in a way that gets reports useful errors.
  def safesystem(*args)
    # ChildProcess isn't smart enough to run a $SHELL if there's
    # spaces in the first arg and there's only 1 arg.
    if args.size == 1
      args = [ default_shell, "-c", args[0] ]
    end

    if args[0].kind_of?(Hash)
      env = args.shift()
      exit_code = execmd(env, args)
    else
      exit_code = execmd(args)
    end
    program = args[0]
    success = (exit_code == 0)

    if !success
      raise ProcessFailed.new("#{program} failed (exit code #{exit_code})" \
                              ". Full command was:#{args.inspect}")
    end
    return success
  end # def safesystem

  # Run a command safely in a way that captures output and status.
  def safesystemout(*args)
    if args.size == 1
      args = [ ENV["SHELL"], "-c", args[0] ]
    end
    program = args[0]

    if !program.include?("/") and !program_in_path?(program)
      raise ExecutableNotFound.new(program)
    end

    stdout_r_str = nil
    exit_code = execmd(args, :stdin=>false, :stderr=>false) do |stdout|

View on GitHub (pinned to b6d77ba72a)

Solutions

1. Re-run with --log debug (or --verbose) to see the exact command, then run that command by hand to read the tool's real error
2. Fix the metadata the tool complains about (classic: RPM-illegal characters in version/iteration)
3. Install or upgrade the build tool for the target format in the build image
4. Check disk space and permissions on the output and TMP directories

Example fix

# before: '-' is illegal in an RPM version, rpmbuild exits non-zero
fpm -s dir -t rpm -v 1.0-beta2 -n app ./app

# after
fpm -s dir -t rpm -v 1.0.beta2 -n app ./app

begin
  pkg.output(path)
rescue FPM::Util::ProcessFailed => e
  warn e.message  # contains exit code and full args; run that command manually for the real error
  raise
end

When it happens

Trigger: rpmbuild rejecting invalid metadata (e.g. a version containing '-'); dpkg-deb failing on unreadable control files; gem build rejecting a malformed gemspec; ar/tar flag incompatibilities on old platforms; the child being killed by a signal.

Common situations: Missing or too-old build tools for the target type; --version/--iteration/--depends values that the target tool validates more strictly than fpm; filenames with spaces tripping downstream tools; disk exhaustion during package compression.

Related errors

• '#{editor}' failed (exit code #{$?.exitstatus}) Full command
• #{program}
• #{self.class.name} does not yet support reading #{self.type}
• #{self.class.name} does not yet support creating #{self.type
• Parent directory does not exist: #{File.dirname(output_path)

AI-assisted analysis of jordansissel/fpm@b6d77ba72a (2026-08-21). Data as JSON: /api/errors/76a35e01d91e2fd7. Report an issue: GitHub.