wavetermdev/waveterm · error

getting file info: %w

Error message

getting file info: %w

What it means

If os.Stat fails with an error other than fs.ErrNotExist (permission denied, I/O error, too many symlinks, etc.), editorRun wraps it as "getting file info". This distinguishes general stat failures from the plain not-exist case.

Source

Thrown at cmd/wsh/cmd/wshcmd-editor.go:55

	if len(args) == 0 {
		OutputHelpMessage(cmd)
		return fmt.Errorf("no arguments.  wsh editor requires a file or URL as an argument argument")
	}
	if len(args) > 1 {
		OutputHelpMessage(cmd)
		return fmt.Errorf("too many arguments.  wsh editor requires exactly one argument")
	}
	fileArg := args[0]
	absFile, err := filepath.Abs(fileArg)
	if err != nil {
		return fmt.Errorf("getting absolute path: %w", err)
	}
	_, err = os.Stat(absFile)
	if err == fs.ErrNotExist {
		return fmt.Errorf("file does not exist: %q", absFile)
	}
	if err != nil {
		return fmt.Errorf("getting file info: %w", err)
	}

	tabId := getTabIdFromEnv()
	if tabId == "" {
		return fmt.Errorf("no WAVETERM_TABID env var set")
	}

	wshCmd := wshrpc.CommandCreateBlockData{
		TabId: tabId,
		BlockDef: &waveobj.BlockDef{
			Meta: map[string]any{
				waveobj.MetaKey_View: "preview",
				waveobj.MetaKey_File: absFile,
				waveobj.MetaKey_Edit: true,
			},
		},
		Magnified: editMagnified,
		Focused:   true,

View on GitHub (pinned to a4447c1563)

Solutions

1. Check permissions on the file and each parent directory (`ls -ld`)
2. Inspect the wrapped inner error for the exact errno
3. Resolve symlink loops with `readlink -f`
4. Ensure the volume/mount holding the file is available

Example fix

// before
wsh editor /root/secret.txt  # permission denied
// after
chmod o+rx /root && wsh editor /root/secret.txt  # or use an accessible path

if _, err := os.Stat(path); err != nil && !errors.Is(err, fs.ErrNotExist) {
    return fmt.Errorf("cannot access %q: %v", path, err)
}

if err := wsh.Editor(path); err != nil {
    var perr *fs.PathError
    if errors.As(err, &perr) {
        log.Printf("stat failed on %s: %v", perr.Path, perr.Err)
        // fix permissions/symlinks based on perr.Err
    }
}

When it happens

Trigger: os.Stat returning e.g. EACCES on a parent directory, ELOOP from symlink cycles, or device/IO errors while stating the path.

Common situations: File inside a directory the user cannot traverse; broken symlink loops; files on unmounted or failing volumes.

Related errors

• getting file info: %w
• accessing file %s: %w
• reading directory %s: %w
• reading file %s: %w
• error creating listener at %v: %v

AI-assisted analysis of wavetermdev/waveterm@a4447c1563 (2026-09-01). Data as JSON: /api/errors/3634b903d6f8758b. Report an issue: GitHub.