phacility/phabricator · error · PhutilArgumentUsageException

Failed to create directory "%s" for specified log file (with

Error message

Failed to create directory "%s" for specified log file (with index "%s"). You should manually create this directory or choose a different logfile location. %s

What it means

Thrown when Filesystem::createDirectory() fails while trying to create the parent directory of a log file path listed under 'logs' in the Aphlict config. The caught FilesystemException message is appended, so the real OS-level cause (usually permissions) appears after the template text.

Source

Thrown at src/applications/aphlict/management/PhabricatorAphlictManagementWorkflow.php:214

    }

    $logs = idx($data, 'logs', array());
    foreach ($logs as $index => $log) {
      PhutilTypeSpec::checkMap(
        $log,
        array(
          'path' => 'string',
        ));

      $path = $log['path'];

      try {
        $dir = dirname($path);
        if (!Filesystem::pathExists($dir)) {
          Filesystem::createDirectory($dir, 0755, true);
        }
      } catch (FilesystemException $ex) {
        throw new PhutilArgumentUsageException(
          pht(
            'Failed to create directory "%s" for specified log file (with '.
            'index "%s"). You should manually create this directory or '.
            'choose a different logfile location. %s',
            $dir,
            $index,
            $ex->getMessage()));
      }
    }

    $peer_map = array();

    $cluster = idx($data, 'cluster', array());
    foreach ($cluster as $index => $peer) {
      PhutilTypeSpec::checkMap(
        $peer,
        array(
          'host' => 'string',

View on GitHub (pinned to 5720a38cfe)

Solutions

1. Pre-create the directory with correct ownership: sudo mkdir -p /var/log/aphlict && sudo chown <aphlict-user> /var/log/aphlict
2. Or point "path" at a writable location such as /var/tmp/aphlict.log or the Phabricator log directory
3. Check the appended OS message for SELinux/AppArmor or read-only-filesystem causes and adjust policy accordingly

Example fix

# before: config path /var/log/aphlict/aphlict.log, dir missing, run as user 'aphlict'
sudo mkdir -p /var/log/aphlict
sudo chown aphlict:aphlict /var/log/aphlict
# after: bin/aphlict start succeeds

$path = $log['path'];
$dir = dirname($path);
if (!Filesystem::pathExists($dir) && !is_writable(dirname($dir))) {
  throw new InvalidArgumentException("Cannot create log directory {$dir}: check permissions");
}

try {
  Filesystem::createDirectory($dir, 0755, true);
} catch (FilesystemException $ex) {
  // Read $ex->getMessage() for EACCES/EROFS and fix ownership or path.
}

When it happens

Trigger: A "logs" entry like {"path": "/var/log/aphlict/aphlict.log"} where /var/log/aphlict does not exist and the invoking user cannot create it (EACCES), or a path under a read-only filesystem.

Common situations: Running aphlict as a non-root service user but pointing logs into /var/log owned by root; SELinux denying writes; typo'd path like /varr/log.

Related errors

• Failed to create directory "%s" for specified PID file. You
• Configuration file "%s" exists, but could not be read.
• Failed to open output file "%s" for writing.
• Unable to change ownership of an identity file to daemon use
• Specify a user to notify with "--user".

AI-assisted analysis of phacility/phabricator@5720a38cfe (2026-08-21). Data as JSON: /api/errors/07675462cb041b9c. Report an issue: GitHub.