slimtoolkit/slim · error

findSymlinks - could not convert fileInfo to Stat_t for %s

Error message

findSymlinks - could not convert fileInfo to Stat_t for %s

What it means

findSymlinks walks the filesystem collecting symlinks and filters entries by the device they live on. It asserts that each dirent's Sys() value is a *syscall.Stat_t; on Linux this always succeeds, but on other platforms Sys() returns a different type. When the assertion fails the walk aborts with this error, stopping symlink discovery entirely.

Source

Thrown at pkg/app/sensor/artifact/artifact.go:3446

					}
					return nil
				}
			}

			if err != nil {
				log.Debugf("findSymlinks: error accessing %q: %v\n", fullName, err)
				//just ignore the error and keep going
				return nil
			}

			if fileInfo.Sys() == nil {
				log.Debugf("findSymlinks: fileInfo.Sys() is nil (ignoring)")
				return nil
			}

			sysStatInfo, ok := fileInfo.Sys().(*syscall.Stat_t)
			if !ok {
				return fmt.Errorf("findSymlinks - could not convert fileInfo to Stat_t for %s", fullName)
			}

			if _, ok := devices[uint64(sysStatInfo.Dev)]; !ok {
				log.Debugf("findSymlinks: ignoring %v (by device id - %v)", fullName, sysStatInfo.Dev)
				//NOTE:
				//don't return filepath.SkipDir for everything
				//because we might still need other files in the dir
				//return filepath.SkipDir
				//example: "/etc/hostname" Docker mounts from another device
				//NOTE:
				//can move the checks for /dev, /sys and /proc here too
				return nil
			}

			if fileInfo.Mode()&os.ModeSymlink != 0 {
				checkPathSymlinks(fullName)

				if info, err := getFileSysStats(fullName); err == nil {

View on GitHub (pinned to 81940d17fa)

Solutions

1. Build/run the sensor only on Linux targets where Sys() is guaranteed to be *syscall.Stat_t
2. Mirror the nil-Sys() handling above: log and skip entries whose Sys() cannot be converted instead of failing the whole walk
3. Use a portable stat conversion (e.g. fileInfo.Sys() with platform-specific assertions per GOOS)

Example fix

// before
sysStatInfo, ok := fileInfo.Sys().(*syscall.Stat_t)
if !ok {
	return fmt.Errorf("findSymlinks - could not convert fileInfo to Stat_t for %s", fullName)
}
// after
sysStatInfo, ok := fileInfo.Sys().(*syscall.Stat_t)
if !ok {
	log.Debugf("findSymlinks: cannot convert to Stat_t (ignoring): %s", fullName)
	return nil
}

if fi, err := os.Lstat(path); err == nil {
	if _, ok := fi.Sys().(*syscall.Stat_t); !ok {
		log.Printf("non-Stat_t filesystem: %s", path)
	}
}

func asStatT(fi os.FileInfo) (*syscall.Stat_t, bool) {
	s, ok := fi.Sys().(*syscall.Stat_t)
	return s, ok
}

if err := walkErr; err != nil {
	var convErr *fmt.Errorf
	if strings.Contains(err.Error(), "could not convert fileInfo to Stat_t") {
		// degrade gracefully: skip symlink device filtering
	} else {
		return err
	}
}

When it happens

Trigger: Running the artifact scanner on a non-Linux platform (or a filesystem layer whose os.FileInfo.Sys() is not *syscall.Stat_t) while findSymlinks processes a directory entry.

Common situations: Cross-compiling or porting the sensor to darwin/Windows where FileInfo.Sys() carries a different stat type; FUSE or exotic filesystems returning nil/alternative Sys() payloads.

Related errors

• failed to get system stat info for %s
• failed to enumerate current paths: %w
• sensor received unepxected command: %#+v
• failed to prepare artifacts env: %w
• failed to enumerate current paths: %w

AI-assisted analysis of slimtoolkit/slim@81940d17fa (2026-08-31). Data as JSON: /api/errors/054c6cdf0d254049. Report an issue: GitHub.