Call to fail() fails

Question

I'm trying to setup a new puppetmaster (v5.0.1) and all goes well, except for one thing.

I can't call fail() in my manifests. When it tries to run any fail() function, it throws an Evaluation error.

This happens in manifests and with puppet apply as well.

$ puppet apply -e 'fail("Failure")' --trace

Will return the following error and trace:

Error: Evaluation Error: Error while evaluating a Function Call, Failure at line 1:1 on node *** /opt/puppetlabs/puppet/lib/ruby/vendor_ruby/puppet/parser/functions/fail.rb:3:in block in <top (required)>' /opt/puppetlabs/puppet/lib/ruby/vendor_ruby/puppet/parser/functions.rb:174:in block (2 levels) in newfunction' /opt/puppetlabs/puppet/lib/ruby/vendor_ruby/puppet/util/profiler/around_profiler.rb:58:in profile' /opt/puppetlabs/puppet/lib/ruby/vendor_ruby/puppet/util/profiler.rb:51:in profile' /opt/puppetlabs/puppet/lib/ruby/vendor_ruby/puppet/parser/functions.rb:167:in block in newfunction' :1:instack' /opt/puppetlabs/puppet/lib/ruby/vendor_ruby/puppet/pops/puppet_stack.rb:30:in eval' /opt/puppetlabs/puppet/lib/ruby/vendor_ruby/puppet/pops/puppet_stack.rb:30:in stack' /opt/puppetlabs/puppet/lib/ruby/vendor_ruby/puppet/pops/evaluator/runtime3_support.rb:316:in call_function' /opt/puppetlabs/puppet/lib/ruby/vendor_ruby/puppet/pops/evaluator/evaluator_impl.rb:949:in call_function_with_block' /opt/puppetlabs/puppet/lib/ruby/vendor_ruby/puppet/pops/evaluator/evaluator_impl.rb:918:in eval_CallNamedFunctionExpression' /opt/puppetlabs/puppet/lib/ruby/vendor_ruby/puppet/pops/visitor.rb:48:in block in visit_this' /opt/puppetlabs/puppet/lib/ruby/vendor_ruby/puppet/pops/visitor.rb:42:in each' /opt/puppetlabs/puppet/lib/ruby/vendor_ruby/puppet/pops/visitor.rb:42:in visit_this' /opt/puppetlabs/puppet/lib/ruby/vendor_ruby/puppet/pops/visitor.rb:92:in visit_this_1' /opt/puppetlabs/puppet/lib/ruby/vendor_ruby/puppet/pops/evaluator/evaluator_impl.rb:81:in evaluate' :in stack' /opt/puppetlabs/puppet/lib/ruby/vendor_ruby/puppet/pops/puppet_stack.rb:30:in eval' /opt/puppetlabs/puppet/lib/ruby/vendor_ruby/puppet/pops/puppet_stack.rb:30:in stack' /opt/puppetlabs/puppet/lib/ruby/vendor_ruby/puppet/pops/evaluator/evaluator_impl.rb:723:in eval_Program' /opt/puppetlabs/puppet/lib/ruby/vendor_ruby/puppet/pops/visitor.rb:48:in block in visit_this' /opt/puppetlabs/puppet/lib/ruby/vendor_ruby/puppet/pops/visitor.rb:42:in each' /opt/puppetlabs/puppet/lib/ruby/vendor_ruby/puppet/pops/visitor.rb:42:in visit_this' /opt/puppetlabs/puppet/lib/ruby/vendor_ruby/puppet/pops/visitor.rb:92:in visit_this_1' /opt/puppetlabs/puppet/lib/ruby/vendor_ruby/puppet/pops/evaluator/evaluator_impl.rb:81:in evaluate' /opt/puppetlabs/puppet/lib/ruby/vendor_ruby/puppet/pops/parser/evaluating_parser.rb:63:in evaluate' /opt/puppetlabs/puppet/lib/ruby/vendor_ruby/puppet/parser/ast/pops_bridge.rb:132:in evaluate' /opt/puppetlabs/puppet/lib/ruby/vendor_ruby/puppet/parser/ast.rb:31:in safeevaluate' /opt/puppetlabs/puppet/lib/ruby/vendor_ruby/puppet/resource/type.rb:136:in evaluate_code' /opt/puppetlabs/puppet/lib/ruby/vendor_ruby/puppet/parser/resource.rb:79:in block in evaluate' /opt/puppetlabs/puppet/lib/ruby/vendor_ruby/puppet/util/profiler/around_profiler.rb:58:in profile' /opt/puppetlabs/puppet/lib/ruby/vendor_ruby/puppet/util/profiler.rb:51:in profile' /opt/puppetlabs/puppet/lib/ruby/vendor_ruby/puppet/parser/resource.rb:71:in evaluate' /opt/puppetlabs/puppet/lib/ruby/vendor_ruby/puppet/parser/compiler.rb:589:in evaluate_main' /opt/puppetlabs/puppet/lib/ruby/vendor_ruby/puppet/parser/compiler.rb:164:in block (2 levels) in compile' /opt/puppetlabs/puppet/lib/ruby/vendor_ruby/puppet/util/profiler/around_profiler.rb:58:in profile' /opt/puppetlabs/puppet/lib/ruby/vendor_ruby/puppet/util/profiler.rb:51:in profile' /opt/puppetlabs/puppet/lib/ruby/vendor_ruby/puppet/parser/compiler.rb:164:in block in compile' /opt/puppetlabs/puppet/lib/ruby/vendor_ruby/puppet/context.rb:65:in override' /opt/puppetlabs/puppet/lib/ruby/vendor_ruby/puppet.rb:310:in override' /opt/puppetlabs/puppet/lib/ruby/vendor_ruby/puppet/parser/compiler.rb:153:in compile' /opt/puppetlabs/puppet/lib/ruby/vendor_ruby/puppet/parser/compiler.rb:33:in compile' /opt/puppetlabs/puppet/lib/ruby/vendor_ruby/puppet/indirector/catalog/compiler.rb:282:in block (2 levels) in compile' /opt/puppetlabs/puppet/lib/ruby/vendor_ruby/puppet/util/profiler/around_profiler.rb:58:in profile' /opt/puppetlabs/puppet/lib/ruby/vendor_ruby/puppet/util/profiler.rb:51:in profile' /opt/puppetlabs/puppet/lib/ruby/vendor_ruby/puppet/indirector/catalog/compiler.rb:280:in block in compile' /opt/puppetlabs/puppet/lib/ruby/vendor_ruby/puppet/util.rb:224:in block in benchmark' /opt/puppetlabs/puppet/lib/ruby/2.4.0/benchmark.rb:308:inrealtime' /opt/puppetlabs/puppet/lib/ruby/vendor_ruby/puppet/util.rb:223:in benchmark' /opt/puppetlabs/puppet/lib/ruby/vendor_ruby/puppet/indirector/catalog/compiler.rb:278:in compile' /opt/puppetlabs/puppet/lib/ruby/vendor_ruby/puppet/indirector/catalog/compiler.rb:52:in find' /opt/puppetlabs/puppet/lib/ruby/vendor_ruby/puppet/indirector/indirection.rb:195:in find' /opt/puppetlabs/puppet/lib/ruby/vendor_ruby/puppet/application/apply.rb:258:in block in main' /opt/puppetlabs/puppet/lib/ruby/vendor_ruby/puppet/context.rb:65:in override' /opt/puppetlabs/puppet/lib/ruby/vendor_ruby/puppet.rb:310:in override' /opt/puppetlabs/puppet/lib/ruby/vendor_ruby/puppet/application/apply.rb:229:in main' /opt/puppetlabs/puppet/lib/ruby/vendor_ruby/puppet/application/apply.rb:170:in run_command' /opt/puppetlabs/puppet/lib/ruby/vendor_ruby/puppet/application.rb:358:in block in run' /opt/puppetlabs/puppet/lib/ruby/vendor_ruby/puppet/util.rb:666:in exit_on_fail' /opt/puppetlabs/puppet/lib/ruby/vendor_ruby/puppet/application.rb:358:in run' /opt/puppetlabs/puppet/lib/ruby/vendor_ruby/puppet/util/command_line.rb:132:in run' /opt/puppetlabs/puppet/lib/ruby/vendor_ruby/puppet/util/command_line.rb:72:in execute' /opt/puppetlabs/puppet/bin/puppet:5:in `'

I'm sure it's me, but I can't figure out what causes this.

Answer 1

The fail() function is working as designed but the error message is confusing.

The fail() function is just a wrapper around raise Puppet::ParseError. Normally, Puppet::ParseError is raised when a Puppet function is not doing what it is supposed to do. In that context, the message Error while evaluating a Function Call makes sense.

Here, however, the error is raised because the function is doing exactly what it is supposed to do - raising an error for you. So, it is not an "error while evaluating a function call".

It has always been like this though.