Morganamilo/paru · error

section can not be called

Error message

section can not be called {}

What it means

When parsing a pacman.conf-style section, a section name that is not one of `options`, `bin`, `env`, an existing pkgbuild repo, and either collides with a reserved name (`local`, `aur`, `pkg`, `base`) or contains a dot is rejected with 'section can not be called {}'. Reserved/malformed names cannot become pkgbuild repos.

Solutions

  1. Rename the section to avoid reserved names (local, aur, pkg, base) and remove dots, e.g. `[myrepo]` instead of `[my.repo]` or `[base]`
  2. Register the repo first if it already exists and you intended to reference it
  3. Use one of the built-in sections `options`, `bin`, or `env` for non-repo configuration

Example fix

// before
[my.repo]
Server = https://example.com/
// after
[myrepo]
Server = https://example.com/
Defensive patterns

Strategy: validation

Validate before calling

const RESERVED = new Set(['local', 'aur', 'pkg', 'base', 'options', 'bin', 'env']);
function validate_section(name: string): string | null {
  if (RESERVED.has(name)) return `section '${name}' is reserved`;
  if (name.includes('.')) return `section name '${name}' must not contain dots`;
  return null;
}

Try / catch

match parse_config(text) {
    Err(e) if e.to_string().contains("section can not be called") => {
        eprintln!("{} — rename the section (avoid reserved names and dots)", e);
        std::process::exit(1);
    }
    Err(e) => return Err(e),
    Ok(cfg) => apply(cfg),
}

Prevention

When it happens

Trigger: Defining a section like `[base]`, `[local]`, `[aur]`, `[pkg]`, or dotted names like `[my.repo]` in the config file, where the name isn't `options`/`bin`/`env` and isn't already a registered pkgbuild repo.

Common situations: Users adding a repo section named like a built-in; using dots in repo names (conflicts with repo.name addressing); typos when creating custom pkgbuild repo sections.

Understand the failure class

Background: "Invalid value" and "allowed values are" config errors: what your library rejected and how to fix it — this error's family across 41 libraries.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of Morganamilo/paru@9ac3578807 (2026-09-12). Data as JSON: /api/errors/4c27f6f56422783f. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at src/config.rs:564

    pub assume_installed: Vec<String>,

    #[default(PkgbuildRepos::new(aur_fetch::Fetch::with_cache_dir("repo")))]
    pub pkgbuild_repos: PkgbuildRepos,
}

impl Ini for Config {
    type Err = Error;

    fn callback(&mut self, cb: Callback) -> Result<(), Self::Err> {
        let err = match cb.kind {
            CallbackKind::Section(section) => {
                self.section = Some(section.to_string());
                if !matches!(section, "options" | "bin" | "env")
                    && self.pkgbuild_repos.repo(section).is_none()
                {
                    if matches!(section, "local" | "aur" | "pkg" | "base") || section.contains('.')
                    {
                        bail!(tr!("section can not be called {}", section));
                    }
                    self.pkgbuild_repos.add_repo(section.to_string());
                }
                Ok(())
            }
            CallbackKind::Directive(_, key, value) => self.parse_directive(key, value),
        };

        let filename = cb.filename.unwrap_or("paru.conf");
        err.map_err(|e| anyhow!("{}:{}: {}", filename, cb.line_number, e))
    }
}

impl Config {
    pub fn new() -> Result<Self> {
        let cache =
            dirs::cache_dir().ok_or_else(|| anyhow!(tr!("failed to find cache directory")))?;
        let cache = cache.join("paru");

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