lima-vm/lima · warning

failed to write rsync stats to pager: %w

Error message

failed to write rsync stats to pager: %w

What it means

limactl writes the rsync dry-run statistics and headers into the pager's stdin pipe before streaming the diff. If that write fails — typically because the pager exited early and closed the read end, producing EPIPE — this error is returned. The guest synced workdir remains preserved.

Source

Thrown at cmd/limactl/shell.go:678

			// Write rsync dry-run output first
			if stats != nil {
				rsyncHead := fmt.Sprintf("%s--- rsync dry-run statistics ---%s", colorGray, colorNone)
				diffHead := fmt.Sprintf("%s--- detailed diff --- %s", colorGray, colorNone)
				if diffCmd == nil {
					diffHead = fmt.Sprintf("%s--- detailed diff unavailable (`diff` not found) --- %s", colorGray, colorNone)
				}
				combinedOutput := fmt.Sprintf(
					"%s\n%s\n\n%s\n\n\n%s\n",
					rsyncHead,
					stats.String(),
					rawOutput,
					diffHead,
				)

				if _, err := fmt.Fprint(pipeIn, combinedOutput); err != nil {
					_ = pipeIn.Close()
					return fmt.Errorf("failed to write rsync stats to pager: %w", err)
				}
			}

			if diffCmd != nil {
				if err := diffCmd.Run(); err != nil {
					// Command `diff` returns exit code 1 when files differ.
					var exitErr *exec.ExitError
					if errors.As(err, &exitErr) && exitErr.ExitCode() >= 2 {
						_ = pipeIn.Close()
						return fmt.Errorf("failed to run diff command: %w", err)
					}
				}
			}

			_ = pipeIn.Close()

			if err := lessCmd.Wait(); err != nil {
				return fmt.Errorf("failed to wait for less command: %w", err)

View on GitHub (pinned to dd909d0973)

Solutions

1. Retry the preview and keep the pager open until output finishes (don't press q while it's writing).
2. Unset or fix PAGER (use `less -R`) if your pager wrapper exits early.
3. Choose Yes/No at the prompt instead of the preview to complete the flow.
4. Verify large rsync stats output isn't triggering a pager buffer/crash; test with `PAGER=less limactl shell`.

Example fix

// before
export PAGER="custom-pager --quick"  # exits early, breaks the pipe
// after
export PAGER="less -R"

case "${PAGER:-less}" in *less*) echo 'standard pager, pipe-safe' ;; *) echo "custom PAGER '${PAGER}' may exit early and break the pipe" ;; esac

// if the preview write fails, just answer the prompt without preview
limactl shell default || true   # rerun and choose Yes/No directly

When it happens

Trigger: Viewing changed contents when the pager terminates before/while the stats text is written: user quits `less` immediately (q), the pager crashes on the input, or the pipe is broken between StdinPipe creation and the Fprint.

Common situations: User pressing 'q' very quickly in less; PAGER set to a program that exits immediately (e.g. `cat` variants that fail, or a pager incompatible with the piped input); SIGPIPE handling differences in odd pager wrappers.

Related errors

• failed to create pipe for less: %w
• failed to start less: %w
• failed to wait for less command: %w

AI-assisted analysis of lima-vm/lima@dd909d0973 (2026-09-01). Data as JSON: /api/errors/37d6f95bb08a011a. Report an issue: GitHub.