warpdotdev/warp · error · MergeError

config_unavailable

config_unavailable

Error message

config_unavailable

What it means

config_unavailable from the lstat except-OSError branch: the metadata call failed with something other than FileNotFoundError — classically EACCES (search-permission denied on a parent directory), ELOOP (a loop of symlinks; a plain symlink is caught earlier by the S_ISLNK check, so ELOOP here means link cycles), or another filesystem error. The message is deliberately sanitized with no path or errno detail.

Source

Thrown at resources/bundled/skills/tui-migrate-setup/scripts/merge_mcp_config.py:111

            child = {}
            current[segment] = child
        current = child
    if path:
        current[path[-1]] = value
    else:
        document.clear()
        document.update(value)


def _read_regular_file(path: Path, *, missing_ok: bool) -> tuple[bytes, int | None]:
    try:
        metadata = path.lstat()
    except FileNotFoundError:
        if missing_ok:
            return b"", None
        raise MergeError("source_config_unavailable")
    except OSError as error:
        raise MergeError("config_unavailable") from error

    if stat.S_ISLNK(metadata.st_mode):
        raise MergeError("config_symlink_rejected")
    if not stat.S_ISREG(metadata.st_mode):
        raise MergeError("config_not_regular_file")
    if metadata.st_size > MAX_CONFIG_BYTES:
        raise MergeError("config_too_large")

    flags = os.O_RDONLY
    if hasattr(os, "O_NOFOLLOW"):
        flags |= os.O_NOFOLLOW
    try:
        descriptor = os.open(path, flags)
        with os.fdopen(descriptor, "rb") as file:
            raw = file.read(MAX_CONFIG_BYTES + 1)
    except OSError as error:
        raise MergeError("config_unavailable") from error
    if len(raw) > MAX_CONFIG_BYTES:

View on GitHub (pinned to e72fd7aacb)

Solutions

  1. Walk the path with namei -l <path> (or ls -ld each parent) to find the first inaccessible component and relax permissions there
  2. Run the merge as the user who owns the config tree
  3. Resolve symlink cycles (readlink -f) and materialize a real file at the config path

Example fix

# before
chmod 700 /home/user/.config  # owned by another user; merge runs as service account
python merge_mcp_config.py ... # error: config_unavailable

# after
chmod o+x /home/user/.config  # or run the merge as the owning user
python merge_mcp_config.py ...
Defensive patterns

Strategy: try-catch

Validate before calling

import os

os.stat(source_path)  # surfaces EACCES/ELOOP on the path or its parents before the merge runs

Try / catch

if result.returncode != 0 and 'config_unavailable' in result.stderr:
    # walk parents with namei -l <path>; fix the first component that denies access, then retry
    ...

Prevention

When it happens

Trigger: A parent directory of the config is not searchable by the current user (mode without x); symlink cycles (a -> b -> a); exotic filesystems returning errors from stat.

Common situations: Configs under permission-hardened directories; containers/sandboxes denying stat; user mismatch between the launching environment and the file owner.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of warpdotdev/warp@e72fd7aacb (2026-08-16). Data as JSON: /api/errors/3889544821b931bf. Report an issue: GitHub.