kubernetes/kops · error

error downloading HTTP content from %q: %v

Error message

error downloading HTTP content from %q: %v

What it means

Thrown in the default branch of downloadURLToWriter while streaming a plain HTTP(S) URL into the hash writer: io.Copy from the opened response failed mid-transfer. The request was already opened successfully, so this is a transfer-time failure — connection reset, timeout, or truncated body from the remote server.

Source

Thrown at upup/pkg/fi/http.go:126

		if err != nil {
			return nil, fmt.Errorf("building path for %q: %w", desturl, err)
		}
		cloudPath, ok := p.(vfs.WriterToWithContext)
		if !ok {
			return nil, fmt.Errorf("path type %T for %q does not implement WriteToWithContext", p, desturl)
		}
		if _, err := cloudPath.WriteToWithContext(ctx, writer); err != nil {
			return nil, fmt.Errorf("error downloading content from %q: %w", desturl, err)
		}
	default:
		reader, err := OpenURL(desturl)
		if err != nil {
			return nil, err
		}
		defer reader.Close()

		if _, err := io.Copy(writer, reader); err != nil {
			return nil, fmt.Errorf("error downloading HTTP content from %q: %v", desturl, err)
		}
	}

	actual := &hashing.Hash{
		Algorithm: algorithm,
		HashValue: hasher.Sum(nil),
	}
	if hash != nil && !actual.Equal(hash) {
		return nil, fmt.Errorf("downloaded from %q but hash did not match expected %q", desturl, hash)
	}
	return actual, nil
}

// OpenURL opens a hardened HTTP GET stream for url.
func OpenURL(url string) (io.ReadCloser, error) {
	httpClient := newDownloadHTTPClient()

	ctx, cancel := context.WithTimeout(context.Background(), downloadTimeout)

View on GitHub (pinned to 4c8573c808)

Solutions

1. Retry the download — transient network failures commonly cause mid-stream errors
2. Verify the URL serves stable, complete content (check with curl)
3. If it persists, fetch from a mirror or pin a different hash/source for the artifact

When it happens

Trigger: Thrown at upup/pkg/fi/http.go:126 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/c5bc72d78dfd0ded. Report an issue: GitHub.