podman-container-tools/podman · error

internal error: namespace path too long

Error message

internal error: namespace path too long

What it means

open_namespace() formats '/proc/<pid>/ns/<name>' into a char ns_path[PATH_MAX] and treats a snprintf return of PATH_MAX as overflow (pkg/rootless/rootless_linux.c:700-705). Both inputs are bounded (pid is an int, ns names are fixed 'user'/'mnt'), so the formatted string cannot legitimately approach 4096 characters. This is an internal assertion that indicates a corrupted or non-standard build rather than a user-reachable condition.

Source

Thrown at pkg/rootless/rootless_linux.c:703

check_stale_pause_pid (long pid, const char *path)
{
  if (!is_pause_process (pid))
    {
      fprintf (stderr, "pause.pid file refers to PID %ld which is not a pause process, the process may have exited and the PID been recycled. Removing %s\n", pid, path);
      unlink (path);
    }
}

static int
open_namespace (int pid_to_join, const char *ns_file)
{
  char ns_path[PATH_MAX];
  int ret;

  ret = snprintf (ns_path, PATH_MAX, "/proc/%d/ns/%s", pid_to_join, ns_file);
  if (ret == PATH_MAX)
    {
      fprintf (stderr, "internal error: namespace path too long\n");
      return -1;
    }

  return open (ns_path, O_CLOEXEC | O_RDONLY);
}

int
is_fd_inherited(int fd)
{
  if (open_files_set == NULL || fd > open_files_max_fd || fd < 0)
    return 0;

  return FD_ISSET(fd % FD_SETSIZE, &(open_files_set[fd / FD_SETSIZE])) ? 1 : 0;
}

static void __attribute__((constructor)) init()
{
  const char *xdg_runtime_dir;

View on GitHub (pinned to a2409076ef)

Solutions

1. Verify the podman binary: re-install the package or rebuild from source and compare checksums
2. Check machine memory health (memtest) if corruption is suspected
3. Report upstream with the exact binary version and how the process was invoked

When it happens

Trigger: Not reachable through any supported API surface - would require an absurdly long ns_file string, i.e. patched source, stack/memory corruption, or a hostile interposer modifying the process.

Common situations: Essentially never in the wild; if seen, assume binary corruption, an incompatible binary/ABI patch, or memory damage.

Related errors

• internal error: path too long
• invalid value for XDG_RUNTIME_DIR: %m
• error opening namespace handles: %m
• cannot chdir to %s: %m

AI-assisted analysis of podman-container-tools/podman@a2409076ef (2026-08-15). Data as JSON: /api/errors/126dbffd510602ed. Report an issue: GitHub.