kubernetes/kops · error

error creating output directory %q: %v

Error message

error creating output directory %q: %v

What it means

During TerraformTarget.Finish, kOps writes all accumulated file payloads into the Terraform output directory, creating parent directories first. If os.MkdirAll cannot create the directory for a file, this error wraps the OS cause. It means the output tree cannot be materialized on disk.

Source

Thrown at upup/pkg/fi/cloudup/terraform/target.go:98

func tfGetFilesProviderExtraConfig(c *kops.TargetSpec) map[string]string {
	if c != nil &&
		c.Terraform != nil {
		return c.Terraform.FilesProviderExtraConfig
	}
	return nil
}

func (t *TerraformTarget) Finish(taskMap map[string]fi.CloudupTask) error {
	if err := t.finishHCL2(); err != nil {
		return err
	}

	for relativePath, contents := range t.Files {
		p := path.Join(t.outDir, relativePath)

		err := os.MkdirAll(path.Dir(p), os.FileMode(0o755))
		if err != nil {
			return fmt.Errorf("error creating output directory %q: %v", path.Dir(p), err)
		}

		err = os.WriteFile(p, contents, os.FileMode(0o644))
		if err != nil {
			return fmt.Errorf("error writing terraform data to output file %q: %v", p, err)
		}
	}
	klog.Infof("Terraform output is in %s", t.outDir)

	return nil
}

View on GitHub (pinned to 4c8573c808)

Solutions

1. Fix permissions on the --out directory (e.g. `sudo chown -R $(whoami) out/`) or pick a writable directory.
2. Check whether a regular file exists at the path where a directory must be created and remove it.
3. Check disk space (`df -h`) on the target filesystem.
4. Avoid reserved/invalid characters or overly long paths in the out path (especially on limited filesystems).

Example fix

// before (permissions)
drwxr-xr-x root out/
// after
sudo chown -R $(whoami) out/ && kops update cluster --out out/

outDir := "/home/user/out"
if fi, err := os.Stat(outDir); err == nil && !fi.IsDir() {
    return fmt.Errorf("%s exists and is not a directory", outDir)
}
if err := os.MkdirAll(outDir, 0o755); err != nil {
    return fmt.Errorf("cannot prepare out dir %s: %w", outDir, err)
}

err := target.Finish(taskMap) // kops internal
if err != nil && strings.Contains(err.Error(), "error creating output directory") {
    // check permissions/disk and retry after fixing out dir
}

When it happens

Trigger: os.MkdirAll fails on path.Dir(outDir/relativePath) — e.g. outDir points inside a read-only path, a file already exists where a directory is needed, disk full, or permission denied on the parent directory.

Common situations: Running kops with --out to a directory without write permissions; a stale file named like a required directory inside the out dir; NFS/CI volumes with permission restrictions; SELinux denying writes.

Related errors

• unable to read snippet: %s, error: %s
• unable to read template: %s, error: %s
• creating directory %q: %w
• creating file %q: %w
• error writing terraform data to output file %q: %v

AI-assisted analysis of kubernetes/kops@4c8573c808 (2026-09-05). Data as JSON: /api/errors/76e35b1c5b766cab. Report an issue: GitHub.