vitessio/vitess · error

INVALID_ARGUMENT

INVALID_ARGUMENT

Error message

empty binlog list in ReadBinlogFilesTimestampsRequest

What it means

ReadBinlogFilesTimestamps validates its request before doing any work: the request must name at least one binlog file. A nil response with INVALID_ARGUMENT is returned when req.BinlogFileNames is empty, because there is nothing to scan with `mysqlbinlog`.

Source

Thrown at go/vt/mysqlctl/mysqld.go:2207

		return nil
	}
	if err := mysqlbinlogCmd.Start(); err != nil { // Start() is nonblockig
		return firstMatchedTime, lastMatchedTime, err
	}
	defer mysqlbinlogCmd.Process.Kill()
	if err := scan(); err != nil { // We must first exhaust reading the command's output, before calling cmd.Wait()
		return firstMatchedTime, lastMatchedTime, vterrors.Wrapf(err, "scanning mysqlbinlog output in ReadBinlogFilesTimestamps")
	}
	if err := mysqlbinlogCmd.Wait(); err != nil {
		return firstMatchedTime, lastMatchedTime, vterrors.Wrapf(err, "waiting on mysqlbinlog command in ReadBinlogFilesTimestamps")
	}
	return firstMatchedTime, lastMatchedTime, nil
}

// ReadBinlogFilesTimestamps reads all given binlog files via `mysqlbinlog` command and returns the first and last  found transaction timestamps
func (mysqld *Mysqld) ReadBinlogFilesTimestamps(ctx context.Context, req *mysqlctlpb.ReadBinlogFilesTimestampsRequest) (*mysqlctlpb.ReadBinlogFilesTimestampsResponse, error) {
	if len(req.BinlogFileNames) == 0 {
		return nil, vterrors.Errorf(vtrpcpb.Code_INVALID_ARGUMENT, "empty binlog list in ReadBinlogFilesTimestampsRequest")
	}
	if socketFile != "" {
		log.Info(fmt.Sprintf("executing Mysqld.ReadBinlogFilesTimestamps() remotely via mysqlctld server: %v", socketFile))
		client, err := mysqlctlclient.New(ctx, "unix", socketFile)
		if err != nil {
			return nil, fmt.Errorf("can't dial mysqlctld: %v", err)
		}
		defer client.Close()
		return client.ReadBinlogFilesTimestamps(ctx, req)
	}
	dir, err := vtenv.VtMysqlRoot()
	if err != nil {
		return nil, err
	}
	env, err := buildLdPaths()
	if err != nil {
		return nil, err
	}

View on GitHub (pinned to 01a25a7d17)

Solutions

1. Populate BinlogFileNames with the binlog files you want timestamps for before calling.
2. Guard the call site with a length check and skip the operation entirely when no files exist.
3. If an empty directory is legitimate, treat this error as a no-op signal rather than retrying.

Example fix

// before
res, err := mysqld.ReadBinlogFilesTimestamps(ctx, &mysqlctlpb.ReadBinlogFilesTimestampsRequest{
	BinlogFileNames: files,
})
// after
if len(files) == 0 {
	return nil // nothing to inspect
}
res, err := mysqld.ReadBinlogFilesTimestamps(ctx, &mysqlctlpb.ReadBinlogFilesTimestampsRequest{
	BinlogFileNames: files,
})

if len(req.GetBinlogFileNames()) == 0 {
	return fmt.Errorf("refusing to call ReadBinlogFilesTimestamps with no binlog files")
}

func hasBinlogFiles(req *mysqlctlpb.ReadBinlogFilesTimestampsRequest) bool {
	return req != nil && len(req.BinlogFileNames) > 0
}

if !hasBinlogFiles(req) {
	// skip timestamps collection entirely; nothing to do
} else if _, err := mysqld.ReadBinlogFilesTimestamps(ctx, req); err != nil {
	return err
}

When it happens

Trigger: Calling Mysqld.ReadBinlogFilesTimestamps(ctx, &mysqlctlpb.ReadBinlogFilesTimestampsRequest{}) or with BinlogFileNames: [] (zero-length list), either directly or via the mysqlctld RPC path.

Common situations: A backup/restore helper enumerating binlog files from an empty binlog directory; filtering logic that removes all files before building the request; new code paths constructing the request programmatically without checking length.

Understand the failure class

Background: "must be a positive integer", "cannot be empty", "invalid argument": how invalid-argument errors work across open-source libraries — this error's family across 33 libraries.

Related errors

• GetPreviousGTIDs: previous GTIDs not found
• ErrPartSize
• BeforeSchema differs
• AfterSchema differs
• UUID values must be unique

AI-assisted analysis of vitessio/vitess@01a25a7d17 (2026-09-01). Data as JSON: /api/errors/beff30051db3aa12. Report an issue: GitHub.