stanfordnlp/CoreNLP · error · RuntimeException

Output path does not exist

Error message

Output path ${file} does not exist

What it means

FileSystem.checkExistsOrFail(file) throws RuntimeException if the given file does not exist, logging 'Output path <file> does not exist'. It is a fail-fast precondition for reading or reusing an expected file.

Solutions

1. Verify the path exists from the shell (ls -l) with the same user and working directory as the Java process.
2. Use absolute paths or resolve against an explicit base directory.
3. Ensure the producing step completed before this check (ordering/synchronization).
4. Check case sensitivity and symlink targets on the filesystem.

Example fix

// before
FileSystem.checkExistsOrFail(new File("model.ser.gz"));
// after
File f = new File("model.ser.gz").getAbsoluteFile();
System.err.println("Looking for " + f);
FileSystem.checkExistsOrFail(f);

File f = file.getAbsoluteFile();
if (!f.exists()) throw new FileNotFoundException("Expected output missing: " + f);

try {
  FileSystem.checkExistsOrFail(file);
} catch (RuntimeException e) {
  log.severe("Missing path: " + e.getMessage() + " cwd=" + new File(".").getAbsolutePath());
}

When it happens

Trigger: Calling checkExistsOrFail on a path that is missing: wrong relative path for current working directory, file not yet generated, deleted by a cleanup step, or case-mismatch on case-sensitive filesystems.

Common situations: Pipeline assumes a prior stage's output; models/JARs resource paths typed incorrectly; running from a different directory than during development; NAS mount not mounted.

Understand the failure class

Background: "File not found" and ENOENT errors: why libraries can't find a file that should exist — this error's family across 50 libraries.

Related errors

• File doesn't exist
• can't open file
• Cannot find or open + sentFileName
• Cannot initialize logger!
• Collection elements must be Files or Strings

AI-assisted analysis of stanfordnlp/CoreNLP@1b7edd19c4 (2026-09-10). Data as JSON: /api/errors/70a49930987b4451. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at src/edu/stanford/nlp/io/FileSystem.java:135

    mkdirOrFail(new File(dir));
  }

  /**
   * Make the given directory or throw a RuntimeException
   */
  public static void mkdirOrFail(File dir) {
    if (!dir.mkdirs()) {
      String error = "Could not create " + dir;
      log.info(error);
      throw new RuntimeException(error);
    }
  }

  public static void checkExistsOrFail(File file) {
    if (!file.exists()) {
      String error = "Output path " + file + " does not exist";
      log.info(error);
      throw new RuntimeException(error);
    }
  }

  public static void checkNotExistsOrFail(File file) {
    if (file.exists()) {
      String error = "Output path " + file + " already exists";
      log.info(error);
      throw new RuntimeException(error);
    }
  }

  /**
   * Unit test code
   */
  public static void main(String[] args) {
    String testDirName = "FileSystemTest";
    String testFileName = "Pair.java";
    

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