wavetermdev/waveterm · error

error getting wave file: + resp.statusText

Error message

error getting wave file: + resp.statusText

What it means

After starting the conn controller, StartConnServer reads the first line of its output (the wsh version) via ReadLineWithTimeout with a 30-second budget. If no line arrives in time or the output stream errors, it cancels the context and returns this wrapped error. It signals the remote wsh connserver never produced its version banner, so the handshake cannot proceed.

Source

Thrown at frontend/app/store/global.ts:464

// when file is not found, returns {data: null, fileInfo: null}
async function fetchWaveFile(
    zoneId: string,
    fileName: string,
    offset?: number
): Promise<{ data: Uint8Array; fileInfo: WaveFile }> {
    const usp = new URLSearchParams();
    usp.set("zoneid", zoneId);
    usp.set("name", fileName);
    if (offset != null) {
        usp.set("offset", offset.toString());
    }
    const resp = await fetch(getWebServerEndpoint() + "/wave/file?" + usp.toString());
    if (!resp.ok) {
        if (resp.status === 404) {
            return { data: null, fileInfo: null };
        }
        throw new Error("error getting wave file: " + resp.statusText);
    }
    if (resp.status == 204) {
        return { data: null, fileInfo: null };
    }
    const fileInfo64 = resp.headers.get("X-ZoneFileInfo");
    if (fileInfo64 == null) {
        throw new Error(`missing zone file info for ${zoneId}:${fileName}`);
    }
    const fileInfo = JSON.parse(base64ToString(fileInfo64));
    const data = await resp.arrayBuffer();
    return { data: new Uint8Array(data), fileInfo };
}

function setNodeFocus(nodeId: string) {
    const layoutModel = getLayoutModelForStaticTab();
    layoutModel.focusNode(nodeId);
}

View on GitHub (pinned to a4447c1563)

Solutions

1. Run `wsh connserver version` (or check the wsh version) inside the WSL distro and update wsh (`wsh update`) if stale
2. Retry the connection — a slow WSL cold start can exceed the 30s window
3. Check the remote side manually: start wsh connserver inside the distro and observe its output/errors
4. Inspect the wrapped inner error (timeout vs read failure) to distinguish a hang from a crash

Example fix

// before
started, _, _, err := conn.StartConnServer(ctx, false) // times out after 30s
// after
// first, inside the WSL distro:
//   wsh conn version   -> confirm wsh installed and up to date
//   wsh update         -> upgrade old wsh that never emits version line
started, _, _, err := conn.StartConnServer(ctx, false)

out, _, err := genconn.RunSimpleCommand(ctx, shell, genconn.CommandSpec{Cmd: "wsh conn version"})
if err != nil || strings.TrimSpace(out) == "" {
    return fmt.Errorf("remote wsh not installed or too old: run 'wsh update' in the distro")
}

started, _, _, err := conn.StartConnServer(ctx, false)
if err != nil && strings.Contains(err.Error(), "error reading wsh version") {
    time.Sleep(5 * time.Second)
    started, _, _, err = conn.StartConnServer(ctx, false) // retry after slow WSL boot
}

When it happens

Trigger: tryEnableWsh calls StartConnServer and ReadLineWithTimeout times out (30s) or the pipe read fails — remote wsh hung, crashed immediately, or output was never written.

Common situations: Old/incompatible wsh version on the WSL side that doesn't emit the version line; wsh crashed on startup inside the distro; very slow WSL boot exceeding 30s; network/transport stall between client and WSL.

Related errors

• no webcontents found with blockid ${data.blockid}
• unable to obtain client info: %w
• timeout waiting for connserver to register
• context timeout
• No tab view found for the given webContents id

AI-assisted analysis of wavetermdev/waveterm@a4447c1563 (2026-09-01). Data as JSON: /api/errors/351fdb0d57209beb. Report an issue: GitHub.