hyperledger/fabric · error

unknown rule type '%s', expected ALL, ANY, or MAJORITY

Error message

unknown rule type '%s', expected ALL, ANY, or MAJORITY

What it means

Returned by ImplicitMetaFromString when the first space-separated token of an implicit-meta policy string is not one of ANY, ALL, or MAJORITY — e.g. 'SOME org.admin'. The rule keyword itself is unrecognized, so the policy cannot be compiled to an ImplicitMetaPolicy.

Source

Thrown at common/policies/implicitmetaparser.go:34

func ImplicitMetaFromString(input string) (*cb.ImplicitMetaPolicy, error) {
	args := strings.Split(input, " ")
	if len(args) != 2 {
		return nil, errors.Errorf("expected two space separated tokens, but got %d", len(args))
	}

	res := &cb.ImplicitMetaPolicy{
		SubPolicy: args[1],
	}

	switch args[0] {
	case cb.ImplicitMetaPolicy_ANY.String():
		res.Rule = cb.ImplicitMetaPolicy_ANY
	case cb.ImplicitMetaPolicy_ALL.String():
		res.Rule = cb.ImplicitMetaPolicy_ALL
	case cb.ImplicitMetaPolicy_MAJORITY.String():
		res.Rule = cb.ImplicitMetaPolicy_MAJORITY
	default:
		return nil, errors.Errorf("unknown rule type '%s', expected ALL, ANY, or MAJORITY", args[0])
	}

	return res, nil
}

View on GitHub (pinned to 2736b63f8f)

Solutions

1. Use one of the exact uppercase keywords: ALL, ANY, or MAJORITY as the first token
2. Correct token order so the rule precedes the sub-policy name ('ANY Readers', not 'Readers ANY')
3. Check for case sensitivity issues introduced by templating or generation of the config

Example fix

// before
ImplicitMetaFromString("any Readers")
// after
ImplicitMetaFromString("ANY Readers")

func validRule(s string) bool {
  switch s {
  case "ALL", "ANY", "MAJORITY": return true
  }
  return false
}
first := strings.Fields(input)[0]
// require validRule(first) before ImplicitMetaFromString

policy, err := policies.ImplicitMetaFromString(input)
if err != nil && strings.Contains(err.Error(), "unknown rule type") {
  return fmt.Errorf("rule must be ALL/ANY/MAJORITY (exact case), got: %v", err)
}

When it happens

Trigger: Calling ImplicitMetaFromString with a first token that is not exactly 'ANY', 'ALL', or 'MAJORITY' (case-sensitive), e.g. 'any Readers', 'MOST Admins', or a reversed input like 'Readers ANY'.

Common situations: Lowercase rule keywords in configtx.yaml; accidentally swapping the token order ('Readers ANY'); inventing rule names that the implicit meta parser does not support.

Related errors

• expected two space separated tokens, but got %d
• policy %s at path %s was nil
• implicit policy %s at path %s did not compile
• not a valid hashedDataNs [%s]
• could not parse RevocationList

AI-assisted analysis of hyperledger/fabric@2736b63f8f (2026-09-04). Data as JSON: /api/errors/0edd572393deeff0. Report an issue: GitHub.