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

SystemResources

Error message

SystemResources

What it means

Installer error for ENOMEM-class failures: the kernel could not allocate resources (memory, kernel structures) needed by the install. It indicates environment pressure rather than a lockfile or code defect, and is often transient.

Source

Thrown at src/install/error.rs:15

#[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")]
    TarballHTTP403,
    #[error("TarballHTTP404")]
    TarballHTTP404,
    #[error("TarballHTTP4xx")]
    TarballHTTP4xx,
    #[error("TarballHTTP5xx")]
    TarballHTTP5xx,
    #[error("TarballFailedToExtract")]

View on GitHub (pinned to 8c5296ac45)

Solutions

1. Raise the container/cgroup memory limit or free memory and retry
2. Close competing memory-heavy processes during install
3. Retry after load drops — frequently transient
4. For very large trees, install workspace subsets separately to lower peak usage

Example fix

# before
docker run -m 512m --rm bun install   # -> SystemResources

# after
docker run -m 2g --rm bun install

import { freemem } from "node:os";

if (freemem() < 512 * 1024 * 1024) {
  console.error("low memory; free some before installing");
  process.exit(1);
}

for (let attempt = 0; attempt < 3; attempt++) {
  const p = Bun.spawnSync(["bun", "install"]);
  if (p.exitCode === 0) break;
  if (!p.stderr.toString().includes("SystemResources")) process.exit(p.exitCode ?? 1);
  await Bun.sleep(5000 * (attempt + 1));
}

When it happens

Trigger: Container/cgroup memory limits hit while extracting or buffering package data; system under heavy load; allocation failures during subprocess spawn or cache writes.

Common situations: Docker/Kubernetes memory limits too small for the dependency tree; oversubscribed CI agents; swap exhausted on the build host.

Related errors

• page-cache eviction failed for ${path}; results would be war
• size mismatch
• not called
• not 200
• not implemented right

AI-assisted analysis of oven-sh/bun@8c5296ac45 (2026-08-16). Data as JSON: /api/errors/7f68db4954b28855. Report an issue: GitHub.