[Bug]: Trying to start container after stop returns error

[afbjorklund]

I have done the following

• I have searched the existing issues
• If possible, I've reproduced the issue using the 'main' branch of this project

Steps to reproduce

It works the first time, but not the second.

This is the error output:

Error: internalError: "failed to start container" (cause: "internalError: "failed to start process (cause: "internal error (13): create managed process: Error Domain=NSCocoaErrorDomain Code=259 "The file isn’t in the correct format."")"")

Current behavior

I can't restart stopped container, have to remove and recreate it.

Expected behavior

I was hoping it would start again. Trying to run stop doesn't help.

Environment

- OS: 15.5
- Xcode: 16.4
- Container: 0.3.0

Relevant log output

2025-08-07T11:50:54+0000 debug vminitd : containerID=lima id=lima stderr=Port: 268435457 stdin=Port: 0 stdout=Port: 268435456 [vminitd] createProcess
2025-08-07T11:50:54+0000 error vminitd : containerID=lima error=Error Domain=NSCocoaErrorDomain Code=259 "The file isn’t in the correct format." id=lima [vminitd] createProcess

Code of Conduct

• I agree to follow this project's Code of Conduct

[afbjorklund]

Trying to run the start command multiple times sometimes results in different kinds of errors:

$ container start lima
Error: internalError: "failed to start container" (cause: "internalError: "failed to start process (cause: "internal error (13): create managed process: Error Domain=NSCocoaErrorDomain Code=259 "The file isn’t in the correct format."")"")
$ container start lima
Error: unknown: "Error Domain=VZErrorDomain Code=2 "The storage device attachment is invalid." UserInfo={NSLocalizedFailure=Invalid virtual machine configuration., NSLocalizedFailureReason=The storage device attachment is invalid.}"
$ container start lima
Error: invalidState: "ExitMonitor already setup for process lima"

[jglogan]

Thanks for the report! I'd hit that ExitMonitor error earlier and filed #400 but let's leave both these open for now.

Could you provide the output of the config file at ~/Library/Application\ Support/com.apple.container/containers/{container-name}/config.json?

[afbjorklund]

config.json

I don't see any difference between the old container and the new container, which works. "The file" is a bit vague?

[afbjorklund]

ExitMonitor already setup

Killing the libexec/container/plugins/container-runtime-linux/bin/container-runtime-linux process makes it go away

[afbjorklund]

The error seems to be related to the mount, since I didn't encounter it before I added the mount - and it seems like removing the mount makes the error go away. That is, without the volume mount the container seems to stop and start OK?

But only resetting "mounts" (to an empty array) in the config.json is not enough to make it start again. Even though that makes the config.json identical to the container created without the volume mount option. Still get error 259.

[afbjorklund]

We worked around this issue, by copying files with tar instead of mounting them as a volume.

This has some implication on startup time and disk usage, but at least it is working consistently.

[afbjorklund]

Problem seems to be gone in 0.4.1, at least I can't reproduce anymore - it works OK again now.