{"record":{"id":"dd60d1decbc7389e","repo":"linera-io/linera-protocol","slug":"invalid-options-file-format-n-options-string","errorCode":null,"errorMessage":"Invalid options file format: \\n {options_string}","messagePattern":"Invalid options file format: \\\\n (.+?)","errorType":"panic","errorClass":null,"httpStatus":null,"severity":"error","filePath":"linera-service/src/server.rs","lineNumber":898,"sourceCode":"                .boxed()\n                .await\n                .unwrap()\n                .unwrap();\n        }\n\n        ServerCommand::Generate {\n            validators,\n            committee,\n            testing_prng_seed,\n        } => {\n            let mut config_validators = Vec::new();\n            let mut rng = Box::<dyn CryptoRng>::from(testing_prng_seed);\n            for options_path in validators {\n                let options_string = fs_err::tokio::read_to_string(options_path)\n                    .await\n                    .expect(\"Unable to read validator options file\");\n                let options: ValidatorOptions = toml::from_str(&options_string)\n                    .unwrap_or_else(|_| panic!(\"Invalid options file format: \\n {options_string}\"));\n                let path = options.server_config_path.clone();\n                let mut server = make_server_config(&path, &mut rng, options)\n                    .expect(\"Unable to open server config file\");\n                Persist::persist(&mut server)\n                    .await\n                    .expect(\"Unable to write server config file\");\n                info!(\"Wrote server config {}\", path.to_str().unwrap());\n                println!(\n                    \"{},{}\",\n                    server.validator.public_key, server.validator.account_key\n                );\n                config_validators.push(Persist::into_value(server).validator);\n            }\n            if let Some(committee) = committee {\n                let mut config = persistent::File::new(\n                    &committee,\n                    CommitteeConfig {\n                        validators: config_validators,","sourceCodeStart":880,"sourceCodeEnd":916,"githubUrl":"https://github.com/linera-io/linera-protocol/blob/6c226ddcb332ef55118dc8d0aafbd093d5420899/linera-service/src/server.rs#L880-L916","documentation":"The server's run function reads each validator options file and parses it with toml::from_str into ValidatorOptions. Parsing failures (bad TOML syntax, wrong types, unknown/missing fields such as server_config_path) panic with 'Invalid options file format' along with the full file contents. This runs during validator/proxy configuration generation, not during normal serving.","triggerScenarios":"Invoking the server run path with one or more --options/-o files whose TOML does not deserialize into ValidatorOptions: syntax errors, keys with wrong value types, or files that are actually JSON/YAML.","commonSituations":"Hand-editing a validator options template and breaking syntax (unclosed quotes/brackets); switching config tooling that emits a different format; renaming fields per newer docs while the binary expects the documented ValidatorOptions shape; trailing commas.","solutions":["Validate the file parses as TOML first (e.g. python -c 'import tomllib;tomllib.load(open(\"opts.toml\",\"rb\"))' or toml2json)","Match ValidatorOptions' expected fields exactly (including server_config_path) as shown in the repo's example configs","Fix syntax errors reported by the panic message, which echoes the offending file contents","Prefer generating options files with the provided CLI/tooling instead of hand-writing them"],"exampleFix":"# before (opts.toml)\nserver_config_path = 1234   # wrong type\n\n# after\nserver_config_path = \"/path/to/server.config\"","handlingStrategy":"validation","validationCode":"// Validate the options file before passing it to the server:\nlet raw = std::fs::read_to_string(options_path)?;\nlet _opts: ValidatorOptions = toml::from_str(&raw)\n    .map_err(|e| anyhow::anyhow!(\"{options_path} is not a valid options file: {e}\"))?;","typeGuard":null,"tryCatchPattern":null,"preventionTips":["Template options files from the repo examples and lint TOML in CI","Prefer generated configs over hand-edited ones","Include the options file in config integration tests so schema drift fails early"],"tags":["server","validator","toml","configuration","startup"],"backgroundTag":"config-parse-error","analyzedSha":"6c226ddcb332ef55118dc8d0aafbd093d5420899","analyzedAt":"2026-08-22T22:49:09.787Z","schemaVersion":2},"datasetVersion":"2026-08-23T01:17:44.959Z"}