kubernetes/kubernetes · warning

%q does not take any arguments, got %q

Error message

%q does not take any arguments, got %q

What it means

Returned from the cobra Args validator on NewHollowNodeCommand (hollow_node.go:169). The `kubemark` command takes only flags (--morph, --kubeconfig, ...) and accepts zero positional arguments; if any non-empty positional arg is passed, the validator returns this error and cobra aborts before RunE.

Source

Thrown at cmd/kubemark/app/hollow_node.go:169

// NewHollowNodeCommand creates a *cobra.Command object with default parameters
func NewHollowNodeCommand() *cobra.Command {
	s := &hollowNodeConfig{
		NodeLabels:        make(map[string]string),
		ExtendedResources: make(map[string]string),
	}

	cmd := &cobra.Command{
		Use:  "kubemark",
		Long: "kubemark",
		RunE: func(cmd *cobra.Command, args []string) error {
			verflag.PrintAndExitIfRequested()
			cliflag.PrintFlags(cmd.Flags())
			return run(cmd.Context(), s)
		},
		Args: func(cmd *cobra.Command, args []string) error {
			for _, arg := range args {
				if len(arg) > 0 {
					return fmt.Errorf("%q does not take any arguments, got %q", cmd.CommandPath(), args)
				}
			}
			return nil
		},
	}

	fs := cmd.Flags()
	fs.AddGoFlagSet(goflag.CommandLine) // for flags like --docker-only
	s.addFlags(fs)

	return cmd
}

func run(ctx context.Context, config *hollowNodeConfig) error {
	// To help debugging, immediately log version and print flags.
	klog.Infof("Version: %+v", version.Get())

	if !knownMorphs.Has(config.Morph) {

View on GitHub (pinned to b882c60b40)

Solutions

1. Remove positional arguments from the command line; pass everything as flags.
2. If you meant to set the node name, use `--name <node>` instead of a positional token.
3. Re-read `kubemark --help` to confirm the supported flag set.

Example fix

// before (invocation)
./kubemark --morph kubelet fake-node

// after
./kubemark --morph kubelet --name fake-node

// Before exec'ing kubemark, strip positional args.
func sanitizeKubemarkArgs(args []string) []string {
    out := make([]string, 0, len(args))
    skip := false
    for _, a := range args {
        if strings.HasPrefix(a, "-") {
            skip = false
            out = append(out, a)
            continue
        }
        if skip { // value of a flag that takes a value
            out = append(out, a)
            skip = false
            continue
        }
        // positional arg -> drop (or move to --name if it looks like a node name)
    }
    return out
}

// cobra Args validator already enforces this; surface exit code != 0 as a usage error
if err := cmd.Execute(); err != nil {
    // distinguish usage error (cobra returns flag.ErrHelp / pflag errors) from runtime
    os.Exit(1)
}

When it happens

Trigger: Invoking the binary as `kubemark somearg` or `kubemark --morph kubelet extra`. Any non-empty token after the flags triggers it.

Common situations: A wrapper script appends a node name or pod name as a positional arg by mistake; copy-pasting a CLI invocation that worked for a different binary; shell glob expanding into an argument.

Related errors

• %q does not take any arguments, got %q
• %q does not take any arguments, got %q
• Unknown morph: %v. allowed values: %v
• shell not specified
• too many arguments. expected only the shell type

AI-assisted analysis of kubernetes/kubernetes@b882c60b40 (2026-08-07). Data as JSON: /api/errors/09679f09e95ed315. Report an issue: GitHub.