hashicorp/packer · error

the `region` must be specified

Error message

the `region` must be specified

What it means

Configuration validation guard in the hcp-packer-artifact datasource's Configure. The datasource must know which cloud region the build artifact lives in so it can read the right registry entry; this sentinel error is appended to a MultiError when the required region field is empty. Set region in the datasource block to the region where the target artifact was built.

Source

Thrown at datasource/hcp-packer-artifact/data.go:93

			errs, fmt.Errorf("the `bucket_name` must be specified"),
		)
	}

	// Ensure either channel_name or version_fingerprint is set, and not both at the same time.
	if d.config.ChannelName == "" && d.config.VersionFingerprint == "" {
		errs = packersdk.MultiErrorAppend(errs, errors.New(
			"`version_fingerprint` or `channel_name` must be specified",
		))
	}
	if d.config.ChannelName != "" && d.config.VersionFingerprint != "" {
		errs = packersdk.MultiErrorAppend(errs, errors.New(
			"`version_fingerprint` and `channel_name` cannot be specified together",
		))
	}

	if d.config.Region == "" {
		errs = packersdk.MultiErrorAppend(errs,
			fmt.Errorf("the `region` must be specified"),
		)
	}

	if d.config.Platform == "" {
		errs = packersdk.MultiErrorAppend(errs, fmt.Errorf(
			"the `platform` must be specified",
		))
	}

	if errs != nil && len(errs.Errors) > 0 {
		return errs
	}
	return nil
}

// DatasourceOutput Information from []*hcpPackerModels.HashicorpCloudPacker20230101Artifact with some information
// from the parent []*hcpPackerModels.HashicorpCloudPacker20230101Build included where it seemed
// like it might be relevant. Need to copy so we can generate

View on GitHub (pinned to eb36e3c3e4)

Solutions

1. Set region to the cloud region of the artifact you want, e.g. region = "us-east-1"
2. Use the yandex-cloud-specific region format if targeting Yandex Cloud iterations

When it happens

Trigger: Thrown at datasource/hcp-packer-artifact/data.go:93 when the library encounters an invalid state.

Common situations: See trigger scenarios.

AI-assisted analysis of hashicorp/packer@eb36e3c3e4 (2026-09-05). Data as JSON: /api/errors/3a7c6dedbe78f264. Report an issue: GitHub.