hashicorp/nomad · error

stderr_repeat_duration %v not a valid duration: %v

Error message

stderr_repeat_duration %v not a valid duration: %v

What it means

The last duration parse in parseDurations converts StderrRepeatDur into stderrRepeatDuration. Invalid input yields 'stderr_repeat_duration %v not a valid duration: %v', aborting RecoverTask or parseDriverConfig for the mock driver. Behavior and fixes mirror the run_for and stdout cases.

Source

Thrown at drivers/mock/driver.go:420

	}

	d.tasks.Set(handle.Config.ID, h)
	go h.run()
	return nil
}

func (c *Command) parseDurations() error {
	var err error
	if c.runForDuration, err = parseDuration(c.RunFor); err != nil {
		return fmt.Errorf("run_for %v not a valid duration: %v", c.RunFor, err)
	}

	if c.stdoutRepeatDuration, err = parseDuration(c.StdoutRepeatDur); err != nil {
		return fmt.Errorf("stdout_repeat_duration %v not a valid duration: %v", c.stdoutRepeatDuration, err)
	}

	if c.stderrRepeatDuration, err = parseDuration(c.StderrRepeatDur); err != nil {
		return fmt.Errorf("stderr_repeat_duration %v not a valid duration: %v", c.stderrRepeatDuration, err)
	}

	return nil
}

func parseDriverConfig(cfg *drivers.TaskConfig) (*TaskConfig, error) {
	var driverConfig TaskConfig
	if err := cfg.DecodeDriverConfig(&driverConfig); err != nil {
		return nil, err
	}

	var err error
	if driverConfig.startBlockForDuration, err = parseDuration(driverConfig.StartBlockFor); err != nil {
		return nil, fmt.Errorf("start_block_for %v not a valid duration: %v", driverConfig.StartBlockFor, err)
	}

	if driverConfig.pluginExitAfterDuration, err = parseDuration(driverConfig.PluginExitAfter); err != nil {
		return nil, fmt.Errorf("plugin_exit_after %v not a valid duration: %v", driverConfig.PluginExitAfter, err)

View on GitHub (pinned to 482b49bf1a)

Solutions

1. Set stderr_repeat_duration to a valid duration string like "250ms", "2s", "5m".
2. Trim whitespace and remove stray characters; rely on the wrapped ParseDuration message to spot the bad token.
3. Ensure interpolated variables resolve to well-formed durations.
4. If recovery is failing on old state, stop/resubmit the task with corrected config.

Example fix

// before
stderr_repeat_duration = "2 hours "
// after
stderr_repeat_duration = "2h"

if _, err := time.ParseDuration(c.StderrRepeatDur); err != nil {
    return fmt.Errorf("stderr_repeat_duration must be like 250ms, got %q", c.StderrRepeatDur)
}

func validDuration(s string) bool { _, err := time.ParseDuration(s); return err == nil }

if err := cmd.parseDurations(); err != nil {
    if strings.Contains(err.Error(), "stderr_repeat_duration") {
        return fmt.Errorf("fix stderr_repeat_duration in mock driver config: %w", err)
    }
    return err
}

When it happens

Trigger: Mock driver config sets stderr_repeat_duration to an unparseable string ("2hours ", "soon", "", "NaN"); error raised during RecoverTask or StartTask config parsing.

Common situations: Trailing whitespace or wrong unit suffix in job files; templated values from env/consul-template empty at submit time; confusion between mock's parseDuration extension and plain time.ParseDuration semantics.

Understand the failure class

Background: "invalid duration" / "failed to parse duration": why your timeout, interval, or TTL string is rejected and which formats each library accepts — this error's family across 32 libraries.

Related errors

• run_for %v not a valid duration: %v
• stdout_repeat_duration %v not a valid duration: %v
• failed to parse raft_logstore verification interval %q: %w
• failed to parse start_timeout: %v
• start_block_for %v not a valid duration: %v

AI-assisted analysis of hashicorp/nomad@482b49bf1a (2026-09-04). Data as JSON: /api/errors/46cb0628692bd34c. Report an issue: GitHub.