twpayne/chezmoi · error

%s:%d: %w

Error message

%s:%d: %w

What it means

When reading an ignore-file style pattern list (e.g. .chezmoiignore), each line must be a valid relative path. NewUntrustedRelPath rejected the line, and the error is wrapped with the source file and line number so the offending pattern can be located.

Source

Thrown at internal/chezmoi/sourcestate.go:1540

	dir, err := sourceRelPath.Dir().TargetRelPath("")
	if err != nil {
		return err
	}
	lineNumber := 0
	for line := range bytes.Lines(data) {
		lineNumber++
		line = commentRx.ReplaceAll(line, nil)
		line = bytes.TrimSpace(line)
		if len(line) == 0 {
			continue
		}
		include := PatternSetInclude
		line, ok := bytes.CutPrefix(line, []byte{'!'})
		if ok {
			include = PatternSetExclude
		}
		if _, err := NewUntrustedRelPath(string(line)); err != nil {
			return fmt.Errorf("%s:%d: %w", sourceAbsPath, lineNumber, err)
		}
		pattern := dir.JoinString(string(line)).String()
		if err := patternSet.Add(pattern, include); err != nil {
			return fmt.Errorf("%s:%d: %w", sourceAbsPath, lineNumber, err)
		}
	}
	return nil
}

// addTemplateData adds all template data in sourceAbsPath to s.
func (s *SourceState) addTemplateData(sourceAbsPath AbsPath) error {
	format, err := FormatFromAbsPath(sourceAbsPath)
	if err != nil {
		return err
	}
	data, err := s.system.ReadFile(sourceAbsPath)
	if err != nil {
		return fmt.Errorf("%s: %w", sourceAbsPath, err)

View on GitHub (pinned to f901167e46)

Solutions

1. Fix the offending line at the reported line number to be a plain relative path or glob
2. Remove absolute paths from the ignore file and use target-relative patterns
3. Trim stray whitespace/empty entries from pattern lines

Example fix

# before (.chezmoiignore line 3)
/tmp/cache
# after
.cache/tmp

for i, line := range strings.Split(ignoreFile, "\n") {
    if _, err := NewUntrustedRelPath(strings.TrimPrefix(line, "!")); err != nil {
        fmt.Printf("invalid pattern at line %d: %v\n", i+1, err)
    }
}

When it happens

Trigger: A line in .chezmoiignore (or a pattern set file) is not a valid untrusted relative path — e.g. absolute path, empty line content after '!' prefix handling, or illegal path characters — at sourceAbsPath:lineNumber.

Common situations: Accidentally adding an absolute pattern like "/tmp/foo", patterns with invalid characters, or OS-illegal names (e.g. "con:" on Windows) into .chezmoiignore.

Related errors

• expected a string, got a %T
• %s: invalid pattern
• %s: %s: empty relative path
• %s: %s: relative path outside target directory

AI-assisted analysis of twpayne/chezmoi@f901167e46 (2026-09-01). Data as JSON: /api/errors/482fdc2e6ad0f803. Report an issue: GitHub.