Yocto Bitbake "do_fetch" failed in CI

By Daniel Zoghalchali·Latchkey

The do_fetch task downloads a recipe's sources from the URLs in SRC_URI. It failed because a URL is unreachable, a mirror is down, or a checksum did not match. The fetch happens before any compilation.

What this error means

A bitbake run fails with "ERROR: <recipe> do_fetch: Fetcher failure" and a message about an unreachable URL or a mismatched checksum.

ERROR: my-app-1.0-r0 do_fetch: Fetcher failure for URL: 'https://example.com/my-app-1.0.tar.gz'.
Unable to fetch URL from any source.
ERROR: Task (.../my-app.bb:do_fetch) failed with exit code '1'

Common causes

An unreachable or moved source URL

The SRC_URI host is down, the path moved, or the CI network cannot reach it, so the fetcher exhausts all sources.

A checksum mismatch on the downloaded source

The fetched archive does not match the SRC_URI checksums, so do_fetch rejects it as corrupted or changed.

How to fix it

Fix the URL or use a premirror

1. Confirm the SRC_URI resolves from the CI network.
2. Point at a stable mirror or set a premirror for reliability.
3. Re-run the fetch.

SRC_URI = "https://downloads.example.com/my-app-${PV}.tar.gz"

Update the checksum when the source legitimately changed

If the upstream artifact changed on purpose, update the checksums to the new values.

SRC_URI[sha256sum] = "<new-sha256>"

How to prevent it

• Use stable mirrors or a premirror for source downloads.
• Pin and verify SRC_URI checksums.
• Cache the Yocto downloads directory between CI runs.

Frequently asked questions

Related guides

References

• GitHub Actions documentation