oraios/serena · error · RuntimeError

LanguageServer.jl installation timed out. Please install man

Error message

LanguageServer.jl installation timed out. Please install manually: julia -e 'using Pkg; Pkg.add("LanguageServer")'

What it means

Raised when the LanguageServer.jl installation subprocess exceeds the 300-second timeout, caught from `subprocess.TimeoutExpired` and re-raised with manual-install instructions. Serena deliberately fails fast instead of hanging language-server startup on a stuck download or Pkg resolve.

Source

Thrown at src/solidlsp/language_servers/julia_server.py:112

            JuliaLanguageServer._install_language_server(julia_path)

        return julia_path

    @staticmethod
    def _install_language_server(julia_path: str) -> None:
        """Install LanguageServer.jl package."""
        log.info("LanguageServer.jl not found. Installing... (this may take a minute)")

        install_cmd = [julia_path, "-e", 'using Pkg; Pkg.add("LanguageServer")']

        try:
            result = subprocess_run(install_cmd, check=False, capture_output=True, text=True, timeout=300)  # 5 minutes for installation

            if result.returncode == 0:
                log.info("LanguageServer.jl installed successfully!")
            else:
                raise RuntimeError(f"Failed to install LanguageServer.jl: {result.stderr}")
        except subprocess.TimeoutExpired:
            raise RuntimeError(
                "LanguageServer.jl installation timed out. Please install manually: julia -e 'using Pkg; Pkg.add(\"LanguageServer\")'"
            )

    @override
    def is_ignored_dirname(self, dirname: str) -> bool:
        """Define language-specific directories to ignore for Julia projects."""
        return super().is_ignored_dirname(dirname) or dirname in [".julia", "build", "dist"]

    @override
    def _supports_pull_diagnostics(self) -> bool:
        # LanguageServer.jl raises an unhandled error on textDocument/diagnostic which crashes
        # the server process. Force the published-diagnostics path instead.
        return False

    @override
    def _get_published_diagnostics_wait_timeout(self, pull_diagnostics_failed: bool) -> float:
        # LanguageServer.jl needs significant warm-up after init before it emits the first

View on GitHub (pinned to 7fcbca7e62)

Solutions

1. Install manually ahead of time: `julia -e 'using Pkg; Pkg.add("LanguageServer")'` so Serena's step becomes a no-op fast pass
2. Pre-warm the Julia depot before starting Serena (run Pkg.update/add once interactively)
3. Check network throughput/proxy; retry on a faster connection
4. Re-run setup — Pkg caches partial progress, so the second attempt is usually much faster
5. If hangs persist, inspect `julia` CPU/network state for a stuck process

Example fix

// before: fails on cold depot in CI
RuntimeError: LanguageServer.jl installation timed out.
// after: pre-cache dependencies in a CI step with a longer window
- run: julia -e 'using Pkg; Pkg.add("LanguageServer")'
  timeout-minutes: 30
# then start Serena; the install step completes instantly

import subprocess, time
start = time.time()
subprocess.run(["julia","-e","using Pkg; Pkg.add('LanguageServer')"], check=True)  # if this takes minutes interactively, expect Serena's 300s timeout

try:
    server = SolidLSP(JuliaConfig())
except RuntimeError as e:
    if "timed out" in str(e) and "LanguageServer.jl" in str(e):
        time.sleep(2); retry_setup(max_attempts=3)  # Pkg caches progress; retries usually succeed
    else:
        raise

When it happens

Trigger: `_install_language_server` calls `subprocess_run(install_cmd, ..., timeout=300)`; if the `julia` Pkg process takes longer than 5 minutes (slow network, huge dependency resolution, registry update), `subprocess.TimeoutExpired` is caught and this RuntimeError is raised.

Common situations: First install over a slow/unstable connection; registry server slowness; large transitive dependency resolution on cold depot; hung network mount; low-resource CI runners.

Understand the failure class

• Timeouts: ETIMEDOUT, deadlines, and hung requests — what actually expires when a request times out.

Related errors

• Failed to install LanguageServer.jl: {result.stderr}
• Failed to install .NET {version} runtime using install scrip
• Request to {url} timed out: {e}
• Memory maintenance template not found at {template_path}
• Tool timeout must be at least 10 seconds, but is {tool_timeo

AI-assisted analysis of oraios/serena@7fcbca7e62 (2026-08-29). Data as JSON: /api/errors/61a190f3f0eebd10. Report an issue: GitHub.