crowdsecurity/crowdsec · error

parsing: %w

Error message

parsing: %w

What it means

NewTest reads the test directory's config file and unmarshals it with yaml.Unmarshal; a syntax/type error in the YAML is wrapped as 'parsing: %w'. (A missing config file is only logged earlier, so this specific error means the file existed but could not be parsed.)

Source

Thrown at pkg/hubtest/hubtest_item.go:122

func NewTest(name string, hubTest *HubTest, dataDir string) (*HubTestItem, error) {
	testPath := filepath.Join(hubTest.HubTestPath, name)
	runtimeFolder := filepath.Join(testPath, "runtime")
	runtimeHubFolder := filepath.Join(runtimeFolder, "hub")
	configFilePath := filepath.Join(testPath, "config.yaml")
	resultPath := filepath.Join(testPath, "results")

	// read test configuration file
	configFileData := &HubTestItemConfig{}

	yamlFile, err := os.ReadFile(configFilePath)
	if err != nil {
		log.Printf("no config file found in '%s': %v", testPath, err)
	}

	err = yaml.Unmarshal(yamlFile, configFileData)
	if err != nil {
		return nil, fmt.Errorf("parsing: %w", err)
	}

	parserAssertFilePath := filepath.Join(testPath, ParserAssertFileName)
	parserAssert := NewParserAssert(parserAssertFilePath)

	scenarioAssertFilePath := filepath.Join(testPath, ScenarioAssertFileName)
	scenarioAssert := NewScenarioAssert(scenarioAssertFilePath)

	// force own_data_dir for backard compatibility
	if name == "magento-ccs-by-as" || name == "magento-ccs-by-country" || name == "geoip-enrich" {
		configFileData.OwnDataDir = true
	}

	if configFileData.OwnDataDir {
		dataDir = filepath.Join(runtimeFolder, "data")
	}

	return &HubTestItem{

View on GitHub (pinned to 909b515798)

Solutions

1. Read the wrapped YAML library error in the message; it usually names the exact line/column.
2. Fix indentation (spaces, never tabs) and quoting in the test's config.yaml.
3. Validate the file with a YAML linter/parser before re-running the test.
4. Restore the original file from git if local edits caused it: `git checkout -- tests/<name>/config.yaml`.

Example fix

// before (config.yaml)
parsers:
	- foo
// after (use spaces)
parsers:
  - foo

import "gopkg.in/yaml.v3"
func validYAML(b []byte) error {
    var v map[string]interface{}
    return yaml.Unmarshal(b, &v)
}

_, err := h.LoadTestItem(name)
var ye *yaml.TypeError
if errors.As(err, &inner) && strings.Contains(err.Error(), "parsing:") {
    log.Printf("fix YAML in %s/config.yaml: %v", name, inner)
}

When it happens

Trigger: LoadTestItem -> NewTest with a config.yaml (or equivalent) whose content is invalid YAML: bad indentation, tabs, duplicate keys the decoder rejects, or fields of the wrong type.

Common situations: Hand-editing test config and mixing tabs/spaces; forgetting to quote values containing colons; merging upstream test changes with local edits; pasting YAML from docs with smart quotes.

Related errors

• while parsing capi whitelist file '%s': %w
• parsing console config file '%s': %w
• document %d: %w
• failed to parse %s: %w
• parsing: %w

AI-assisted analysis of crowdsecurity/crowdsec@909b515798 (2026-09-06). Data as JSON: /api/errors/4013f82deede73d8. Report an issue: GitHub.