wasmerio/wasmer · error

{}

Error message

{}

What it means

Same code path as the previous error in `wasmer init`'s `target_file`: when a target directory `Some(s)` is supplied and `create_dir_all` fails, the CLI attaches the directory path itself as the anyhow context, so the reported message is just the path (`{}` for `s.display()`). It is the contextual layer over the mkdir OS error, shown as `path: <os error>`.

Source

Thrown at lib/cli/src/commands/init.rs:219

                let current_dir = std::env::current_dir()?;
                let package_name = self
                    .package_name
                    .clone()
                    .or_else(|| {
                        current_dir
                            .canonicalize()
                            .ok()?
                            .file_stem()
                            .and_then(|s| s.to_str())
                            .map(|s| s.to_string())
                    })
                    .ok_or_else(|| anyhow::anyhow!("no current dir name"))?;
                Ok((package_name, current_dir.join(WASMER_TOML_NAME)))
            }
            Some(s) => {
                std::fs::create_dir_all(s)
                    .map_err(|e| anyhow::anyhow!("{e}"))
                    .with_context(|| anyhow::anyhow!("{}", s.display()))?;
                let package_name = self
                    .package_name
                    .clone()
                    .or_else(|| {
                        s.canonicalize()
                            .ok()?
                            .file_stem()
                            .and_then(|s| s.to_str())
                            .map(|s| s.to_string())
                    })
                    .ok_or_else(|| anyhow::anyhow!("no dir name"))?;
                Ok((package_name, s.join(WASMER_TOML_NAME)))
            }
        }
    }

    fn get_filesystem_mapping(include: &[String]) -> impl Iterator<Item = (String, PathBuf)> + '_ {
        include.iter().map(|path| {

View on GitHub (pinned to 8c4b9ee9d3)

Solutions

1. Inspect the path shown in the error and confirm each component is valid and doesn't collide with an existing file.
2. Ensure the nearest existing ancestor of the path is writable by the current user.
3. Choose a different target directory under your home or project root.
4. Retry after fixing permissions, or run `wasmer init` without a target to use the current directory.

Example fix

// before
wasmer init /etc/wasmer-app  // /etc/wasmer-app: Permission denied
// after
wasmer init ~/wasmer-app

fn validate_target(p: &Path) -> Result<(), String> {
    let mut anc = p.ancestors().skip(1);
    while let Some(a) = anc.next() {
        if a.exists() && !a.is_dir() {
            return Err(format!("{} exists and is not a directory", a.display()));
        }
    }
    Ok(())
}

match init_in(dir).await {
    Err(e) => {
        // message is the path with the OS error as source
        eprintln!("Failed creating target {}: {e}", dir.display());
    }
    Ok(v) => v,
}

When it happens

Trigger: Running `wasmer init <dir>` where `std::fs::create_dir_all(s)` fails for the displayed path: parent not writable, a path component is an existing regular file, invalid path characters, or read-only filesystem.

Common situations: Same as the underlying mkdir failure — bad target paths, permission-restricted locations, file-vs-directory conflicts, read-only CI containers.

Understand the failure class

Background: mkdir permission denied (EACCES): failed to create directory errors explained — this error's family across 32 libraries.

Related errors

• no current dir name
• {e}
• no dir name
• Stopping as the directory is not empty
• Cannot pre-open the current directory twice: '--volume=.' mu

AI-assisted analysis of wasmerio/wasmer@8c4b9ee9d3 (2026-09-01). Data as JSON: /api/errors/1bcf1971c81354db. Report an issue: GitHub.