uutils/coreutils · error

Failed to sync renamed file

Error message

Failed to sync renamed file

What it means

Error "Failed to sync renamed file" thrown in uutils/coreutils.

Source

Thrown at src/uu/shred/src/shred.rs:827

            }
            match fs::rename(&last_path, &new_path) {
                Ok(()) => {
                    if verbose {
                        show_error!(
                            "{}: {} {}",
                            last_path.maybe_quote().to_string(),
                            translate!("shred-renamed-to"),
                            new_path.display().to_string()
                        );
                    }

                    if remove_method == RemoveMethod::WipeSync {
                        // Sync every file rename
                        let new_file = OpenOptions::new()
                            .write(true)
                            .open(new_path.clone())
                            .expect("Failed to open renamed file for syncing");
                        new_file.sync_all().expect("Failed to sync renamed file");
                    }

                    last_path = new_path;
                    break;
                }
                Err(e) => {
                    let msg = translate!("shred-couldnt-rename", "file" => last_path.maybe_quote(), "new_name" => new_path.quote(), "error" => e);
                    show_error!("{msg}");
                    // TODO: replace with our error management
                    std::process::exit(1);
                }
            }
        }
    }

    last_path
}

View on GitHub (pinned to 8b8cbfd51b)

Solutions

1. Check that the filesystem supports fsync on the renamed file and the file handle is valid.
2. Free disk space and verify the device is healthy, since sync failures often indicate I/O errors.

When it happens

Trigger: Occurs when shred fails to fsync a renamed file during the wiping process.

Common situations: I/O errors on the underlying device or filesystems not supporting sync during shred's rename phase.

AI-assisted analysis of uutils/coreutils@8b8cbfd51b (2026-08-19). Data as JSON: /api/errors/133804131e71b3ac. Report an issue: GitHub.