paperclipai/paperclip · error

Daytona syncOut refusing unparseable hardlink entry: ${line}

Error message

Daytona syncOut refusing unparseable hardlink entry: ${line}

What it means

Thrown by assertTarballEntriesConfined when a hardlink entry in a sandbox-authored tar archive cannot be parsed. The function parses GNU `tar -tvf` verbose output and expects hardlink members (typeFlag 'h') to contain the literal substring ' link to ' separating the link name from its target. This guard exists because the tar is produced by an untrusted sandbox and any unparseable entry fails closed to prevent path-traversal during host-side extraction.

Source

Thrown at packages/plugins/sandbox-providers/daytona/src/file-sync.ts:215

  });
  const lines = stdout.split("\n").filter((line) => line.trim().length > 0);
  for (const line of lines) {
    // GNU tar -tvf: "<perms> <owner>/<group> <size> <date> <time> <name>[ -> target]".
    const match = line.match(/^(\S+)\s+\S+\s+\d+\s+\S+\s+\S+\s+(.*)$/);
    if (!match) {
      throw new Error(`Daytona syncOut refusing tarball with an unparseable entry listing: ${line}`);
    }
    const typeFlag = match[1][0];
    let name = match[2];
    let linkTarget: string | null = null;
    if (typeFlag === "l") {
      const idx = name.indexOf(" -> ");
      if (idx === -1) throw new Error(`Daytona syncOut refusing unparseable symlink entry: ${line}`);
      linkTarget = name.slice(idx + " -> ".length);
      name = name.slice(0, idx);
    } else if (typeFlag === "h") {
      const idx = name.indexOf(" link to ");
      if (idx === -1) throw new Error(`Daytona syncOut refusing unparseable hardlink entry: ${line}`);
      linkTarget = name.slice(idx + " link to ".length);
      name = name.slice(0, idx);
    }
    const cleanName = name.replace(/\/+$/, "");
    if (cleanName.length > 0 && posixPathEscapes(cleanName)) {
      throw new Error(`Daytona syncOut refusing tarball member that escapes the extraction dir: ${name}`);
    }
    if (linkTarget !== null) {
      const resolved = path.posix.join(path.posix.dirname(cleanName), linkTarget);
      if (path.posix.isAbsolute(linkTarget) || posixPathEscapes(resolved)) {
        throw new Error(
          `Daytona syncOut refusing tarball link whose target escapes the extraction dir: ${name} -> ${linkTarget}`,
        );
      }
    }
  }
}

View on GitHub (pinned to 67001ec6eb)

Solutions

1. Ensure the sandbox image provides GNU tar so `tar -tvf` emits the standard '<name> link to <target>' hardlink format.
2. Re-run the syncOut operation to regenerate the tarball in case of transient corruption.
3. Inspect the offending `line` value in the error message to identify which tar binary/format produced it and adjust the sandbox image accordingly.
4. Avoid placing hardlinks in the synced source directory if the sandbox tar cannot be standardized.

Example fix

// before: sandbox ships BSD tar producing 'hardlink' wording
// after: install GNU tar in the sandbox image Dockerfile
RUN apt-get update && apt-get install -y tar

function isGnuTarHardlinkLine(line: string): boolean {
  // typeFlag 'h' must carry ' link to ' separator after the name
  const m = line.match(/^(\S+)\s+\S+\s+\d+\s+\S+\s+\S+\s+(.*)$/);
  if (!m) return false;
  if (m[1][0] !== 'h') return true;
  return m[2].includes(' link to ');
}

try {
  await extractHostTarball({ archivePath, localDir });
} catch (e) {
  if (e instanceof Error && e.message.includes('unparseable hardlink entry')) {
    // sandbox tar format unsupported; rebuild archive with GNU tar
  }
  throw e;
}

When it happens

Trigger: A syncOut directory download produces a tarball where a hardlink line in `tar -tvf` output does not match the expected '<perms> ... <name> link to <target>' format, or the ' link to ' separator is missing. Also triggered if the sandbox tar binary emits a non-GNU verbose format (e.g. BSD tar) for hardlinks.

Common situations: The sandbox image uses a non-GNU tar (BSD/detect-tar) that formats hardlinks differently; a corrupted tarball from a partially-written sync; a tar version that localizes or alters the ' link to ' wording; locale settings changing tar's output format.

Related errors

• Daytona syncOut refusing tarball member that escapes the ext
• Daytona syncOut refusing tarball link whose target escapes t
• Daytona syncOut refusing tarball with an unparseable entry l
• Daytona syncOut refusing unparseable symlink entry: ${line}
• Daytona sync ${label} path is not a confined absolute path:

AI-assisted analysis of paperclipai/paperclip@67001ec6eb (2026-08-12). Data as JSON: /api/errors/0b30f4553a4cd1a3. Report an issue: GitHub.