AdguardTeam/AdGuardHome · error

invalid value %q: empty ipset name

Error message

invalid value %q: empty ipset name

What it means

The ipset-name side of a config line contained an empty element after trimming, e.g. 'host/' or 'host/a,,b'. Hosts may be empty but ipset names may not.

Source

Thrown at internal/ipset/ipset_linux.go:248

// parseIpsetConfigLine parses one ipset configuration line.
func parseIpsetConfigLine(confStr string) (hosts, ipsetNames []string, err error) {
	confStr = strings.TrimSpace(confStr)
	hostsAndNames := strings.Split(confStr, "/")
	if len(hostsAndNames) != 2 {
		return nil, nil, fmt.Errorf("invalid value %q: expected one slash", confStr)
	}

	hosts = strings.Split(hostsAndNames[0], ",")
	ipsetNames = strings.Split(hostsAndNames[1], ",")

	if len(ipsetNames) == 0 {
		return nil, nil, nil
	}

	for i := range ipsetNames {
		ipsetNames[i] = strings.TrimSpace(ipsetNames[i])
		if len(ipsetNames[i]) == 0 {
			return nil, nil, fmt.Errorf("invalid value %q: empty ipset name", confStr)
		}
	}

	for i := range hosts {
		hosts[i] = strings.ToLower(strings.TrimSpace(hosts[i]))
	}

	return hosts, ipsetNames, nil
}

// parseIpsetConfig parses the ipset configuration and stores ipsets.  It
// returns an error if the configuration can't be used.
func (m *manager) parseIpsetConfig(ctx context.Context, ipsetConf []string) (err error) {
	// The family doesn't seem to matter when we use a header query, so query
	// only the IPv4 one.
	//
	// TODO(a.garipov): Find out if this is a bug or a feature.
	all, err := m.ipv4Conn.listAll()

View on GitHub (pinned to b41aefbe51)

Solutions

1. Ensure every comma-separated ipset name is non-empty
2. Remove trailing commas/slashes from the line
3. Validate config lines in CI before deployment

Example fix

# before
- example.org/
# after
- example.org/myset

func ipsetNamesNonEmpty(line string) bool {
	parts := strings.SplitN(line, "/", 2)
	if len(parts) != 2 { return false }
	for _, n := range strings.Split(parts[1], ",") {
		if strings.TrimSpace(n) == "" { return false }
	}
	return true
}

When it happens

Trigger: parseIpsetConfigLine splits the right side on commas and finds an empty name: trailing slash, double comma, or whitespace-only name.

Common situations: Copy-paste config with a trailing comma, template-generated lines leaving an empty name, or a line of just '/' after trimming.

Related errors

• invalid value %q: expected one slash
• networksetup failed to set dns servers: %w
• found no dns servers in %s
• writing conf: %w
• invalid pattern %q: %w

AI-assisted analysis of AdguardTeam/AdGuardHome@b41aefbe51 (2026-08-27). Data as JSON: /api/errors/5b46699f9d87ca62. Report an issue: GitHub.