getsops/sops · error

Error encoding section %s: %s

Error message

Error encoding section %s: %s

What it means

encodeTree converts a sops.TreeBranches into INI bytes; each top-level item's key becomes an INI section name via gopkg.in/ini.v1's NewSection. The ini library rejects section names containing reserved characters (like '[', ']', or invalid whitespace per its rules), and this wraps that failure.

Source

Thrown at stores/ini/store.go:38

func NewStore(c *config.INIStoreConfig) *Store {
	return &Store{config: c}
}

func (store *Store) Name() string {
	return "ini"
}

func (store Store) encodeTree(branches sops.TreeBranches) ([]byte, error) {
	iniFile := ini.Empty(ini.LoadOptions{AllowNonUniqueSections: true})
	iniFile.DeleteSection(ini.DefaultSection)
	for _, branch := range branches {
		for _, item := range branch {
			if _, ok := item.Key.(sops.Comment); ok {
				continue
			}
			section, err := iniFile.NewSection(item.Key.(string))
			if err != nil {
				return nil, fmt.Errorf("Error encoding section %s: %s", item.Key, err)
			}
			itemTree, ok := item.Value.(sops.TreeBranch)
			if !ok {
				return nil, fmt.Errorf("Error encoding section: Section values should always be TreeBranches")
			}

			first := 0
			if len(itemTree) > 0 {
				if sectionComment, ok := itemTree[0].Key.(sops.Comment); ok {
					section.Comment = sectionComment.Value
					first = 1
				}
			}

			var lastItem *ini.Key
			for i := first; i < len(itemTree); i++ {
				keyVal := itemTree[i]
				if comment, ok := keyVal.Key.(sops.Comment); ok {

View on GitHub (pinned to 13442bb981)

Solutions

1. Sanitize or rename the section key so it contains only characters valid in INI section names (no [ ] ; or newlines)
2. Read the wrapped ini.v1 error to identify the offending name and character
3. Emit the tree with a different store (json/yaml) if your keys cannot conform to INI naming rules
4. Escape/transform problematic characters before building the TreeBranch

Example fix

// before
sops.TreeBranch{{Key: "db [primary]", Value: sops.TreeBranch{...}}}

// after
sops.TreeBranch{{Key: "db primary", Value: sops.TreeBranch{...}}}

func validIniSectionName(name string) bool {
	return !strings.ContainsAny(name, "[];\n\r") && name != ""
}

out, err := store.EmitEncryptedFile(tree)
if err != nil {
	if strings.Contains(err.Error(), "Error encoding section") {
		// sanitize section names and retry
	}
	return err
}

When it happens

Trigger: Calling EmitEncryptedFile/EmitPlainFile (via iniFromTreeBranches or encodeValue) with a branch whose top-level TreeItem key contains characters illegal in INI section names — e.g. a section named "my [special]" or a key with embedded control characters.

Common situations: Converting a YAML/JSON config with keys like "a[b]" or dotted/nested names into INI with sops; section names derived from user input or file paths; a metadata flattening bug that leaves malformed keys at top level.

Related errors

• Error encoding key: %s
• Error encoding section: Section values should always be Tree
• Could not unmarshal input data: %s
• Error marshaling metadata: %s
• Failed to read %q: %w

AI-assisted analysis of getsops/sops@13442bb981 (2026-09-01). Data as JSON: /api/errors/f7c705e75f3ae58d. Report an issue: GitHub.