oraios/serena · error · SolidLSPException

dotnet executable not found at {dotnet_exe} after installati

Error message

dotnet executable not found at {dotnet_exe} after installation

What it means

After running the official dotnet-install script, install_dotnet_with_script checks that the expected dotnet executable actually exists at the target path; if not it raises SolidLSPException. This catches silent script failures where the process exits 0 but nothing was installed.

Source

Thrown at src/serena/util/dotnet.py:146

                cmd = [
                    "bash",
                    str(script_path),
                    "--version",
                    version,
                    "--install-dir",
                    str(dotnet_dir),
                    "--runtime",
                    "dotnet",
                    "--no-path",
                ]

            # Run the install script
            log.info("Running .NET install script: %s", cmd)
            result = subprocess_run(cmd, capture_output=True, text=True, check=True)
            log.debug(f"Install script output: {result.stdout}")

            if not dotnet_exe.exists():
                raise SolidLSPException(f"dotnet executable not found at {dotnet_exe} after installation")

            log.info(f"Successfully installed .NET {version} runtime to {dotnet_exe}")
            return str(dotnet_exe)

        except subprocess.CalledProcessError as e:
            raise SolidLSPException(f"Failed to install .NET {version} runtime using install script: {e.stderr if e.stderr else e}") from e
        except Exception as e:
            message = f"Failed to install .NET {version} runtime: {e}"
            if is_windows and isinstance(e, FileNotFoundError):
                message += "; pwsh, i.e. PowerShell 7+, is required to install .NET runtime. Make sure pwsh is available on your system."
            raise SolidLSPException(message) from e

View on GitHub (pinned to 7fcbca7e62)

Solutions

Re-run the install with verbose logging and inspect the script's stdout for skipped-download reasons
Check free disk space and write permissions for the install directory
Manually download the runtime tarball/zip from Microsoft and extract dotnet to the expected path
Pin a known-good dotnet-install script version or set DOTNET_ROOT explicitly

Example fix

// before
cmd = [install_script, '--channel', '8.0']
// after
cmd = [install_script, '--channel', '8.0', '--verbose']
# then inspect stdout and verify: test -f "$DOTNET_ROOT/dotnet"

Defensive patterns

Strategy: validation

Validate before calling

dotnet_exe = Path(install_dir) / "dotnet"
result = subprocess_run(cmd, capture_output=True, text=True)
if not dotnet_exe.exists():
    print(result.stdout, result.stderr)
    raise RuntimeError("install script did not produce a dotnet binary")

Try / catch

try:
    path = util.install_dotnet_with_script(version)
except SolidLSPException as e:
    log.error("dotnet install failed: %s", e)
    # fall back to manual install instructions

Prevention

Verify disk space and write permissions on the install dir before installing
Check install script stdout for silent skip reasons (wrong arch/OS flags)
Prefer pre-installing dotnet in the image over runtime downloads

When it happens

Trigger: The install script completes without raising (exit 0) but the dotnet binary is not present at dotnet_exe — e.g. wrong architecture/channel download, install dir mismatch, script skipped download due to disk/network issues that still exit 0.

Common situations: Restricted filesystems or read-only install directories; proxy/CDN serving an error page saved where the binary should be; mismatched OS/arch parameter passed to the install script.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of oraios/serena@7fcbca7e62 (2026-08-29). Data as JSON: /api/errors/450d334cf235b859. Report an issue: GitHub.