hashicorp/packer · error

ssh_private_ip is not a boolean, %s

Error message

ssh_private_ip is not a boolean, %s

What it means

The amazon-private_ip fixer migrates the deprecated builder-level `ssh_private_ip` key to `ssh_interface`. If the value is neither a bool nor a string parseable by strconv.ParseBool ("true","false","1","0", etc.), the fixer aborts with this error wrapping the parse error.

Source

Thrown at fix/fixer_amazon_private_ip.go:65

		if !strings.HasPrefix(builderType, "amazon-") {
			continue
		}

		// if ssh_interface already set, do nothing
		if _, ok := builder["ssh_interface"]; ok {
			continue
		}

		privateIPi, ok := builder["ssh_private_ip"]
		if !ok {
			continue
		}
		privateIP, ok := privateIPi.(bool)
		if !ok {
			var err error
			privateIP, err = strconv.ParseBool(privateIPi.(string))
			if err != nil {
				return nil, fmt.Errorf("ssh_private_ip is not a boolean, %s", err)
			}
		}

		delete(builder, "ssh_private_ip")
		if privateIP {
			builder["ssh_interface"] = "private_ip"
		} else {
			builder["ssh_interface"] = "public_ip"
		}
	}

	input["builders"] = tpl.Builders
	return input, nil
}

func (FixerAmazonPrivateIP) Synopsis() string {
	return "Replaces `\"ssh_private_ip\": true` in amazon builders with `\"ssh_interface\": \"private_ip\"`"
}

View on GitHub (pinned to eb36e3c3e4)

Solutions

1. Edit the template so ssh_private_ip is a JSON boolean true/false (or string "true"/"false")
2. Let the fixer complete, then remove ssh_private_ip in favor of the generated ssh_interface key
3. If you want 'private_ip' semantics, after fixing use ssh_interface = "private_ip"

Example fix

// before
"ssh_private_ip": "yes"
// after
"ssh_private_ip": true

// pre-check fixer input in CI
if v, ok := tpl["ssh_private_ip"]; ok {
  switch v.(type) { case bool, string: if _, err := strconv.ParseBool(fmt.Sprint(v)); err != nil && !ok2(v) { /* reject */ } }
}

func isBoolLike(v interface{}) bool {
  if _, ok := v.(bool); ok { return true }
  s, ok := v.(string); if !ok { return false }
  _, err := strconv.ParseBool(s); return err == nil
}

When it happens

Trigger: Running `packer fix` on a JSON template where amazon builders contain `ssh_private_ip` set to a non-boolean, unparseable value like "yes", "on", or a number.

Common situations: Hand-edited legacy templates, templates generated by other tooling using YAML-ish truthy strings, or values produced by template engines that stringified booleans.

Related errors

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• Invalid remote protocol: %q, expected something like '%s.%s'

AI-assisted analysis of hashicorp/packer@eb36e3c3e4 (2026-09-05). Data as JSON: /api/errors/2ef720c1b5b50b0f. Report an issue: GitHub.