What causes "invalid compose {kind} value '{value}'" in jdx/mise?

Remove or fill in empty entries in the list

invalid compose {kind} value '{value}'

Error message

invalid compose {kind} value '{value}'

What it means

validate_values checks compose settings that accept string lists of a given kind (e.g. env vars/args). Values that are empty, start with '-', or contain NUL bytes are rejected because they would be ambiguous or unsafe when passed through to compose/CLI handling.

Source

Thrown at src/system/compose.rs:1155

    if name.is_empty()
        || !matches!(
            kind,
            "package" | "file" | "directory" | "service" | "user" | "group"
        )
    {
        bail!(
            "invalid compose dependency '{value}': supported kinds are package, file, directory, service, user, and group"
        );
    }
    Ok(ResourceId::new(kind, name))
}

fn validate_values(kind: &str, values: &[String]) -> Result<()> {
    if let Some(value) = values
        .iter()
        .find(|value| value.is_empty() || value.starts_with('-') || value.contains('\0'))
    {
        bail!("invalid compose {kind} value '{value}'");
    }
    Ok(())
}

fn validate_command(kind: &str, command: &[String]) -> Result<()> {
    if command
        .iter()
        .any(|part| part.is_empty() || part.contains('\0'))
    {
        bail!("compose {kind} cannot contain empty values or NUL bytes");
    }
    Ok(())
}

fn dedupe(values: Vec<String>) -> Vec<String> {
    values
        .into_iter()
        .collect::<IndexSet<_>>()

View on GitHub (pinned to afd2eddd3a)

Solutions

Remove or fill in empty entries in the list
Rewrite values starting with '-' (use a form without a leading dash, e.g. KEY=value)
Strip control characters such as NUL from the value

Example fix

// before
values = ["", "-DDEBUG"]
// after
values = ["DEBUG=1"]

Defensive patterns

Strategy: validation

Validate before calling

fn valid_values(values: &[String]) -> bool {
    !values.iter().any(|v| v.is_empty() || v.starts_with('-') || v.contains('\0'))
}

Prevention

Avoid leading dashes in list values
Check for empty strings after editing lists
Never embed raw control characters in config values

When it happens

Trigger: A compose list value is an empty string, begins with a dash (looks like a flag), or contains a NUL byte; kind identifies which setting (e.g. 'env' or 'args').

Common situations: Trailing commas or blank TOML entries produce empty strings; users write '-DDEBUG'-style values copied from CLI flags into value lists.

Understand the failure class

Background: "Must be a positive integer", "Invalid value", "Unsupported": the invalid-argument-value error family, when a library rejects the value you pass — this error's family across 35 libraries.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of jdx/mise@afd2eddd3a (2026-09-09). Data as JSON: /api/errors/0cc5187bfa23b0a2. Report an issue: GitHub.