tensorflow / tensorflow/tensorflow
Cannot seek on write only tf.gfile.GFile
Open
@Venkat6871 is already working on this.
Since May 19, 2026.
comp:apis
stat:contribution welcome
TF 2.11
type:bug
- Dominant language
- C++
- Stars
- 200k
- Forks
- 76.9k
- Avg merge
- 2d 3h
- Merged PRs (30d)
- 433
Description
System information
- Have I written custom code: Yes
- OS Platform and Distribution: Linux Ubuntu 18.04
- TensorFlow installed from: binary
- TensorFlow version: v1.14.0-rc1-22-gaf24dc9 1.14.0
- Python version: 3.6
Describe the current behavior
Calling seek() on a tf.gfile.GFile opened in write only mode raises tensorflow.python.framework.errors_impl.PermissionDeniedError.
Describe the expected behavior
GFile should support the Python IO semantics that supports seeking on a write only file.
More generally it would be preferable if GFile followed the API of Python's io.IOBase.
Code to reproduce the issue
import tensorflow as tf
with tf.io.gfile.GFile('test.txt', 'w') as f:
f.seek(0)
Other info / logs
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "<stdin>", line 2, in <module>
File "/VENV/lib/python3.6/site-packages/tensorflow/python/util/deprecation.py", line 507, in new_func
return func(*args, **kwargs)
File "/VENV/lib/python3.6/site-packages/tensorflow/python/lib/io/file_io.py", line 146, in seek
self._preread_check()
File "/VENV/lib/python3.6/site-packages/tensorflow/python/lib/io/file_io.py", line 82, in _preread_check
"File isn't open for reading")
tensorflow.python.framework.errors_impl.PermissionDeniedError: File isn't open for reading
Contributor guide
First steps
- Read the whole issue, then the project's contributing guide.
- Comment on the issue to say you are picking it up — it saves two people doing the same work.
- Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
- Open a pull request that references the issue number.
Assessment
This issue has not been assessed yet.