nodejs/node · error

%s: could not open input file %s\n

Error message

%s: could not open input file %s\n

What it means

convert() opens the input file with std::ifstream::open and checks is_open(). If opening fails (missing path, no read permission, or directory), it prints this message, calls cleanup() to delete any stale output, and returns 1. This guards against silently producing output from a nonexistent input.

Source

Thrown at deps/icu-small/source/tools/escapesrc/escapesrc.cpp:375

  //fprintf(stderr, "%d - fixed\n", no);
  return false;
}

/**
 * Convert a whole file
 * @param infile
 * @param outfile
 * @return 1 on err, 0 otherwise
 */
int convert(const std::string &infile, const std::string &outfile) {
  fprintf(stderr, "escapesrc: %s -> %s\n", infile.c_str(), outfile.c_str());

  std::ifstream inf;
  
  inf.open(infile.c_str(), std::ios::in);

  if(!inf.is_open()) {
    fprintf(stderr, "%s: could not open input file %s\n", prog.c_str(), infile.c_str());
    cleanup(outfile);
    return 1;
  }

  std::ofstream outf;

  outf.open(outfile.c_str(), std::ios::out);

  if(!outf.is_open()) {
    fprintf(stderr, "%s: could not open output file %s\n", prog.c_str(), outfile.c_str());
    return 1;
  }

  // TODO: any platform variations of #line?
  outf << "#line 1 \"" << infile << "\"" << '\n';

  int no = 0;
  std::string linestr;

View on GitHub (pinned to 1b2de5e052)

Solutions

1. Verify the input path exists and is readable: check the path printed in the message, resolve it relative to escapesrc's cwd.
2. Fix the build dependency so the input file is generated before escapesrc runs.
3. Correct file permissions or ownership if access is denied.

import os
if not os.path.isfile(infile) or not os.access(infile, os.R_OK):
    raise FileNotFoundError(f'escapesrc input not readable: {infile}')

When it happens

Trigger: inf.open(infile) fails: the path does not exist, points to a directory rather than a file, lacks read permission, or contains a typo. is_open() returns false in all these cases.

Common situations: Wrong relative path because the tool's working directory differs from the build rule's expectation; a generated input that an earlier build step failed to produce; permission/ownership mismatch in a CI container; a make/ninja dependency edge missing so the input is not yet built.

Related errors

• %s: could not open output file %s\n
• Unable to create map file: %s.\n
• U_FILE_ACCESS_ERROR
• T_FileStream_remove failed to delete %s\n
• T_FileStream_open failed to open %s for writing\n

AI-assisted analysis of nodejs/node@1b2de5e052 (2026-08-13). Data as JSON: /api/errors/e7ec3cf12d707edb. Report an issue: GitHub.