vectordotdev/vector · error

{}

Error message

{}

What it means

vdev's check_output runs a command capturing stdout and expects a zero exit status, returning stdout as a String. When the command exits non-zero, it bails with the formatted command error (including a "Command: {self:?}" dump of the invocation). The message body is generic ({}), so the actual failure detail comes from format_command_error.

Solutions

1. Read the formatted error output (it echoes "Command: ...") and run that command manually to see the raw failure.
2. Install or fix the missing/failing tool (ensure cargo, git, docker/podman are on PATH and functional).
3. Re-run with a clean environment / correct working directory, since vdev commands are directory-sensitive.
4. If the command is expected to fail sometimes, switch the call site to non-checking output() handling instead of exec().

Example fix

// before: vdev exec("cargo metadata ...") fails because toolchain missing
rustup update stable && cargo --version
// after: rerun the vdev command once the tool answers on PATH

# Pre-flight check for tools vdev will invoke
cargo --version >/dev/null 2>&1 || { echo "cargo missing"; exit 1; }
git --version >/dev/null 2>&1 || { echo "git missing"; exit 1; }

// Catch vdev command failures and re-run the underlying command for detail
match vdev_exec(cmd) {
  Err(e) => {
    eprintln!("vdev exec failed: {e}; re-running command verbosely");
    run_verbose(cmd)?;
  }
  ok => ok?,
}

When it happens

Trigger: Any vdev code path calling exec()/check_output on an external command (cargo, git, docker, etc.) that exits with a non-zero status; also reachable from retains_state_between_requests when an underlying invocation fails.

Common situations: Missing tools on PATH during vdev runs (e.g. cargo feature not installed); docker/podman not running for integration tasks; git operations failing in CI; disk/permission errors in build scripts invoked by vdev.

Related errors

• command: failed with exit code
• Invalid config file name
• test name is required
• test name is required
• already exists

AI-assisted analysis of vectordotdev/vector@bdb87aeaa4 (2026-09-16). Data as JSON: /api/errors/e209e278e702a286. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at vdev/src/app.rs:118

        }
    }

    /// Set the command's working directory to the repository directory.
    fn in_repo(&mut self) -> &mut Self {
        self.current_dir(path())
    }

    /// Run the command and capture its output.
    fn check_output(&mut self) -> Result<String> {
        self.pre_exec();

        let output = self.output()?;

        if output.status.success() {
            // If the command exits successfully, return stdout as a string
            Ok(String::from_utf8(output.stdout)?)
        } else {
            bail!(
                "{}",
                format_command_error(&output, Some(&format!("Command: {self:?}")))
            )
        }
    }

    /// Run the command and catch its exit code.
    fn run(&mut self) -> Result<ExitStatus> {
        self.pre_exec();
        self.status().map_err(Into::into)
    }

    fn check_run(&mut self) -> Result<()> {
        let status = self.run()?;
        if status.success() {
            Ok(())
        } else {
            let exit = status.code().unwrap();

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