kubernetes/kops · error

cannot parse file mode %q

Error message

cannot parse file mode %q

What it means

Thrown by ParseFileMode when the provided string is non-empty but not a valid octal number (parsed with strconv.ParseUint base 8). The mode string is typically user-supplied config, e.g. a file mode like "0644"; values like "644 " (non-octal chars), "0999" (invalid octal digit), or "rw-r--r--" trigger this.

Source

Thrown at upup/pkg/fi/files.go:149

			return false, nil
		}
		return false, err
	}

	if actual.Equal(expected) {
		klog.V(2).Infof("Hash matched for %q: %v", f, expected)
		return true, nil
	}
	klog.V(2).Infof("Hash did not match for %q: actual=%v vs expected=%v", f, actual, expected)
	return false, nil
}

func ParseFileMode(s string, defaultMode os.FileMode) (os.FileMode, error) {
	fileMode := defaultMode
	if s != "" {
		v, err := strconv.ParseUint(s, 8, 32)
		if err != nil {
			return fileMode, fmt.Errorf("cannot parse file mode %q", s)
		}
		fileMode = os.FileMode(v)
	}
	return fileMode, nil
}

func FileModeToString(mode os.FileMode) string {
	return "0" + strconv.FormatUint(uint64(mode), 8)
}

func SafeClose(r io.Reader) {
	if r == nil {
		return
	}
	closer, ok := r.(io.Closer)
	if !ok {
		return
	}

View on GitHub (pinned to 4c8573c808)

Solutions

1. Use a valid octal mode string such as "0644" or "0755"
2. Remove stray characters, spaces, or symbolic notation like rw-r--r-- from the mode value
3. Locate the config field (e.g. file mode in the spec or asset config) that carried the bad string

When it happens

Trigger: Thrown at upup/pkg/fi/files.go:149 when the library encounters an invalid state.

Common situations: See trigger scenarios.

AI-assisted analysis of kubernetes/kops@4c8573c808 (2026-09-05). Data as JSON: /api/errors/57dd6cddc11a71b2. Report an issue: GitHub.