What causes "Failed to download: HTTP {}" in spacedriveapp/spacedrive?

Retry 'sd update' so fresh release metadata is fetched

spacedriveapp/spacedrive · error · anyhow::Error

Failed to download: HTTP {}

Error message

Failed to download: HTTP {}

What it means

download_file() streams the asset's browser_download_url and rejects non-2xx responses. Unlike the API call, this hits GitHub's asset CDN; failures are usually 404 (asset deleted/renamed after the release metadata was fetched), 403, or proxy-generated error codes.

Source

Thrown at apps/cli/src/domains/update/mod.rs:151

		return Err(anyhow::anyhow!(
			"Failed to fetch releases: HTTP {}",
			response.status()
		));
	}

	let release: GitHubRelease = response.json().await?;
	Ok(release)
}

async fn download_file(url: &str, expected_size: u64) -> Result<Vec<u8>> {
	let client = reqwest::Client::builder()
		.user_agent("spacedrive-cli")
		.build()?;

	let response = client.get(url).send().await?;

	if !response.status().is_success() {
		return Err(anyhow::anyhow!(
			"Failed to download: HTTP {}",
			response.status()
		));
	}

	let bytes = response.bytes().await?;

	if bytes.len() as u64 != expected_size {
		return Err(anyhow::anyhow!(
			"Downloaded file size mismatch: expected {}, got {}",
			expected_size,
			bytes.len()
		));
	}

	Ok(bytes.to_vec())
}

View on GitHub (pinned to 6dfeccf211)

Solutions

Retry 'sd update' so fresh release metadata is fetched
Open the printed download URL in a browser/curl to see the exact status
Bypass the proxy or download the artifact manually

Defensive patterns

Strategy: retry

Validate before calling

#!/usr/bin/env bash
url=$(curl -s https://api.github.com/repos/spacedrive/spacedrive/releases/latest | jq -r '.assets[0].browser_download_url')
status=$(curl -s -L -o /dev/null -w '%{http_code}' "$url")
[ "$status" = 200 ] || { echo "Asset URL returned $status"; exit 2; }

Try / catch

for attempt in 1..=3 {
    match download_file(&asset.browser_download_url, asset.size).await {
        Ok(bytes) => return Ok(bytes),
        Err(e) if attempt < 3 => {
            tracing::warn!(%e, attempt, "download failed, refetching metadata and retrying");
            latest_release = fetch_latest_release(repo).await?; // asset URL may have changed
        }
        Err(e) => return Err(e),
    }
}

Prevention

Refetch release metadata before each retry so you never use a stale download URL
Follow redirects (-L / reqwest default) when fetching asset URLs
Surface the HTTP status and asset name in the error for quick diagnosis

When it happens

Trigger: An asset was removed or re-uploaded between the releases/latest call and the download; expired signed URL behind a cache; proxy blocking the CDN host.

Common situations: Long-lived daemon processes caching release metadata; release edits happening concurrently with updates; restrictive egress filters.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of spacedriveapp/spacedrive@6dfeccf211 (2026-08-16). Data as JSON: /api/errors/f515fc1fc66df670. Report an issue: GitHub.