lima-vm/lima · error

failed to read boot scripts directory %#q: %w

Error message

failed to read boot scripts directory %#q: %w

What it means

runBootScripts enumerates per-once and per-boot script directories (cloud-init style, e.g. /var/lib/cloud/scripts/per-boot) with os.ReadDir. If a directory cannot be read, provisioning fails with this wrapped error instead of continuing. This typically means the directory is missing or unreadable.

Source

Thrown at pkg/guestagent/fakecloudinit/fakecloudinit_darwin.go:386

	// FIXME: avoid hardcoding the primary network name
	const primaryNetwork = "Ethernet"
	cmd := exec.CommandContext(ctx, "networksetup", append([]string{"-setdnsservers", primaryNetwork}, resolvConf.Nameservers...)...)
	logrus.Infof("Executing command: %v", cmd.Args)
	if output, err := cmd.CombinedOutput(); err != nil {
		return fmt.Errorf("failed to execute command %v: %w (output=%#q)", cmd.Args, err, output)
	}
	return nil
}

func runBootScripts(ctx context.Context) error {
	dirs := []string{
		"/var/lib/cloud/scripts/per-boot",
	}
	var errs []error
	for _, dir := range dirs {
		dirEntries, err := os.ReadDir(dir)
		if err != nil {
			return fmt.Errorf("failed to read boot scripts directory %#q: %w", dir, err)
		}
		for _, entry := range dirEntries {
			if entry.IsDir() {
				continue
			}
			scriptPath := filepath.Join(dir, entry.Name())
			// entry.Type().Mode() does not seem to contain permission bits
			entryInfo, err := entry.Info()
			if err != nil {
				logrus.Warnf("Skipping boot script %#q due to stat error: %v", scriptPath, err)
				continue
			}
			if entryInfo.Mode().Perm()&0o111 == 0 {
				logrus.Warnf("Skipping non-executable boot script %#q (%v)", scriptPath, entryInfo.Mode().Perm())
				continue
			}
			cmd := exec.CommandContext(ctx, scriptPath)
			cmd.Stdout = os.Stdout

View on GitHub (pinned to dd909d0973)

Solutions

1. Create the missing directory in the guest (e.g. `sudo mkdir -p /var/lib/cloud/scripts/per-boot`).
2. Make provisioning create the directories (os.MkdirAll) before runBootScripts reads them, or treat ENOENT as empty.
3. Check the wrapped error: ENOENT means missing dir; EACCES means permission problem - fix ownership accordingly.
4. Ensure no earlier user-data step removes or replaces /var/lib/cloud.

Example fix

// before
dirEntries, err := os.ReadDir(dir)
// after
if err := os.MkdirAll(dir, 0o755); err != nil { ... }
dirEntries, err := os.ReadDir(dir)

for _, dir := range []string{"/var/lib/cloud/scripts/per-once", "/var/lib/cloud/scripts/per-boot"} {
    if fi, err := os.Stat(dir); err != nil || !fi.IsDir() {
        os.MkdirAll(dir, 0o755)
    }
}

if err := runBootScripts(ctx); err != nil {
    var pe *fs.PathError
    if errors.As(err, &pe) && errors.Is(pe.Err, syscall.ENOENT) {
        // directory missing: create it or treat as no scripts
    }
}

When it happens

Trigger: One of the boot-script directories (per-once or /var/lib/cloud/scripts/per-boot) does not exist on the macOS guest, is a file instead of a directory, or the process lacks read permission for it.

Common situations: Fresh macOS guest where the cloud-init directory layout was never created; a previous provisioning step deleted the directory; mounting a volume over /var/lib/cloud that hides the scripts dir.

Related errors

• failed to write file for path %#q: %w
• failed to create symlink from %#q to %#q: %w
• failed to write password file for user %#q: %w
• failed to create parent directory for path %#q: %w
• failed to create temp file: %w

AI-assisted analysis of lima-vm/lima@dd909d0973 (2026-09-01). Data as JSON: /api/errors/4d270a68bd23c8cf. Report an issue: GitHub.