oven-sh/bun · error · bun_install::Error

NotDir

Error message

NotDir

What it means

Installer error matching ENOTDIR: a path component that must be a directory is actually a regular file, so traversal, scoped-package layout, or bin-link creation inside the install tree fails.

Source

Thrown at src/install/error.rs:7

#[derive(Debug, Clone, Copy, PartialEq, Eq, thiserror::Error)]
pub enum Error {
    #[error("FileNotFound")]
    FileNotFound,
    #[error("AccessDenied")]
    AccessDenied,
    #[error("NotDir")]
    NotDir,
    #[error("NameTooLong")]
    NameTooLong,
    #[error("SymLinkLoop")]
    SymLinkLoop,
    #[error("SystemFdQuotaExceeded")]
    SystemFdQuotaExceeded,
    #[error("SystemResources")]
    SystemResources,
    #[error("DeviceBusy")]
    DeviceBusy,
    #[error("TarballHTTP400")]
    TarballHTTP400,
    #[error("TarballHTTP401")]
    TarballHTTP401,
    #[error("TarballHTTP402")]
    TarballHTTP402,
    #[error("TarballHTTP403")]

View on GitHub (pinned to 8c5296ac45)

Solutions

1. Inspect the path named in the error output and remove the offending file
2. rm -rf node_modules && bun install to rebuild the tree
3. Avoid creating files yourself anywhere under node_modules

Example fix

# before
node_modules/@scope   # a stray file
bun install           # -> NotDir

# after
rm node_modules/@scope
bun install

import { statSync } from "node:fs";

for (const p of ["node_modules/@types", "node_modules/@my-scope"]) {
  try {
    if (!statSync(p).isDirectory()) {
      console.error(p, "is a file; remove it before install");
      process.exit(1);
    }
  } catch {
    // absent is fine
  }
}

When it happens

Trigger: node_modules/@scope exists as a file instead of a directory; a file sits where the installer wants to mkdir (cache layout, bin dir); a lockfile path embeds a file where a folder is expected.

Common situations: Stray file created inside node_modules by a script or editor; partially cleaned node_modules; flat-file tools writing placeholder files with directory-shaped names; case-collision leftovers on case-insensitive filesystems.

Related errors

• not implemented right
• blob.text() failed
• Your package manager doesn't seem to support bun. To use bun
• FileNotFound
• AccessDenied

AI-assisted analysis of oven-sh/bun@8c5296ac45 (2026-08-16). Data as JSON: /api/errors/d4aa1962d7c21c4c. Report an issue: GitHub.