zed-industries/zed · error

unknown uname: {uname:?}

Error message

unknown uname: {uname:?}

What it means

On connect, Zed runs `uname -sm` on the remote host and parse_platform takes the last line of its output (skipping shell-init noise) expecting exactly "<os> <arch>" (crates/remote/src/transport.rs:29). If that line contains no space - because uname printed an error, is missing, or something else emitted the last line - parsing bails with "unknown uname".

Source

Thrown at crates/remote/src/transport.rs:29

    channel::mpsc::{Sender, UnboundedReceiver, UnboundedSender},
};
use gpui::{AppContext as _, AsyncApp, Task};
use rpc::proto::Envelope;
use util::command::Child;

pub mod docker;
#[cfg(any(test, feature = "test-support"))]
pub mod mock;
pub mod ssh;
pub mod wsl;

/// Parses the output of `uname -sm` to determine the remote platform.
/// Takes the last line to skip possible shell initialization output.
fn parse_platform(output: &str) -> Result<RemotePlatform> {
    let output = output.trim();
    let uname = output.rsplit_once('\n').map_or(output, |(_, last)| last);
    let Some((os, arch)) = uname.split_once(" ") else {
        anyhow::bail!("unknown uname: {uname:?}")
    };

    let os = match os {
        "Darwin" => RemoteOs::MacOs,
        "Linux" => RemoteOs::Linux,
        _ => anyhow::bail!(
            "Prebuilt remote servers are not yet available for {os:?}. See https://zed.dev/docs/remote-development"
        ),
    };

    // exclude armv5,6,7 as they are 32-bit.
    let arch = if arch.starts_with("armv8")
        || arch.starts_with("armv9")
        || arch.starts_with("arm64")
        || arch.starts_with("aarch64")
    {
        RemoteArch::Aarch64
    } else if arch.starts_with("x86") {

View on GitHub (pinned to f4178619ac)

Solutions

1. SSH in manually and run `uname -sm` - the last line must look like `Linux x86_64`
2. Fix remote shell init files so non-interactive sessions produce no errors, and ensure `uname` resolves in the default PATH
3. On Windows remotes, connect to WSL instead of the native host

Example fix

# before
$ ssh user@host 'uname -sm'
uname: command not found

# after (fix PATH in shell init files)
$ ssh user@host 'uname -sm'
Linux x86_64

# pre-flight the exact command Zed runs before adding the remote:
ssh user@host 'uname -sm'
# the last output line must be exactly two tokens, e.g. 'Linux x86_64'

When it happens

Trigger: A remote login where the last line of `uname -sm` output is a single token: "uname: not found" from a restricted PATH, an error printed by broken shell rc files, or a non-POSIX shell on the remote host.

Common situations: Minimal or container hosts without coreutils in the non-interactive PATH; broken .bashrc/.zshrc printing errors; native Windows sshd without WSL; appliances with busybox in an unusual location.

Related errors

• build ids may only contain lowercase letters, numbers, '.',
• registry dataset requires a name
• cannot open repository on disconnected remote machine
• Prebuilt remote servers are not yet available for {os:?}. Se
• Prebuilt remote servers are not yet available for {arch:?}.

AI-assisted analysis of zed-industries/zed@f4178619ac (2026-08-20). Data as JSON: /api/errors/a2b0d5f1174ef8cc. Report an issue: GitHub.