salt: [REGRESSION] file.managed: state.apply "'Changes' should be a dictionary" error and unuseful output if invalid 'source' file path is specified

I just spent over an hour on this issue. I really think the error message could be better here.

Also seeing this issue

Salt Master:

Salt Version: Salt: 3002.2

Dependency Versions: cffi: Not Installed cherrypy: Not Installed dateutil: Not Installed docker-py: Not Installed gitdb: 0.6.4 gitpython: 1.0.1 Jinja2: 2.11.1 libgit2: Not Installed M2Crypto: 0.35.2 Mako: Not Installed msgpack: 0.6.2 msgpack-pure: Not Installed mysql-python: Not Installed pycparser: Not Installed pycrypto: Not Installed pycryptodome: Not Installed pygit2: Not Installed Python: 3.6.8 (default, Nov 16 2020, 16:55:22) python-gnupg: Not Installed PyYAML: 3.13 PyZMQ: 17.0.0 smmap: 0.9.0 timelib: Not Installed Tornado: 4.5.3 ZMQ: 4.1.4

System Versions: dist: centos 7 Core locale: UTF-8 machine: x86_64 release: 3.10.0-1160.31.1.el7.x86_64 system: Linux version: CentOS Linux 7 Core

Additionally updated the master to 3003.1 and still having issue.

I also ran into this issue on 3002.5, so it still exists.

In my case the cause was setting up a new salt master on 3002.5, from my git repo of stack/pillar, but forgetting that there are some files deliberately not checked into git which need to be hand copied over from the old master. The resulting error message is very obscure (I only realised quickly when I found this issue) for what should have been “source file not found”; if I’d got “source file not found” I’d have immediately realised what I’d forgotten to do when setting up the new salt server 😃

Ewen

I still saw this issue today in 3002.2. Thanks to @9numbernine9 for pointing out what the error would read, fixed my silly mistake.

Issue is still persistent 😦.

root@vagrant-test:~# salt-call --versions
Salt Version:
          Salt: 3004
 
Dependency Versions:
          cffi: Not Installed
      cherrypy: Not Installed
      dateutil: 2.8.1
     docker-py: Not Installed
         gitdb: 4.0.5
     gitpython: 3.1.14
        Jinja2: 2.11.3
       libgit2: Not Installed
      M2Crypto: Not Installed
          Mako: Not Installed
       msgpack: 1.0.0
  msgpack-pure: Not Installed
  mysql-python: Not Installed
     pycparser: Not Installed
      pycrypto: Not Installed
  pycryptodome: 3.9.7
        pygit2: Not Installed
        Python: 3.9.2 (default, Feb 28 2021, 17:03:44)
  python-gnupg: Not Installed
        PyYAML: 5.3.1
         PyZMQ: 20.0.0
         smmap: 4.0.0
       timelib: Not Installed
       Tornado: 4.5.3
           ZMQ: 4.3.4
 
System Versions:
          dist: debian 11 bullseye
        locale: utf-8
       machine: x86_64
       release: 5.10.0-9-amd64
        system: Linux
       version: Debian GNU/Linux 11 bullseye

Still happening

freebsd_vm:
The State execution failed to record the order in which all states were executed. The state return missing data is:
{'changes': {},
 'comment': "An exception occurred in this state: 'Changes' should be a "
            'dictionary.',
 'name': 'later',
 'result': False}

Looks like we didn’t get to this work in Aluminium I will put it into Silicon and get it reassigned

Thanks for reporting this! I’m thinking that there may have been a code path that has been introduced which leads to reporting this error, or possibly the error message has changed. But I agree, the error message should have a better message.

@dractyl I will try your patch next week. Thank you !

should_be_a_dictionary_patch.txt

This patch fixed it for me.

             if isinstance(ret["changes"], tuple):
                 ret["result"], ret["comment"] = ret["changes"]
             ...
             return ret

ret[“changes”] is clearly a tuple here, but it does not get changed before being returned, so the error message is correct; it’s definitely not a dictionary.

By changing it like the below, which appears to be in line with the intention of the code (No changes because the source file does not exist), the bug is fixed.

             if isinstance(ret["changes"], tuple):
                 ret["result"], ret["comment"] = ret["changes"]
                 ret["changes"] = {}
             ...
             return ret

I knew this looked familiar. Ran into it again!

Just ran into this error on salt-3001.7 as well