lima-vm/lima · error

unexpected arguments

Error message

unexpected arguments %v

What it means

`limactl sudoers` (macOS, non-check mode) accepts at most zero arguments; two or more positional arguments are rejected with this error listing them. The command's job is only to emit the sudoers file content.

Solutions

1. Remove the extra positional arguments
2. Use `limactl sudoers` with no args to print the rules
3. Use `limactl sudoers --check <one-file>` to verify a single file

Example fix

// before
limactl sudoers /etc/sudoers.d/lima extra
// after
limactl sudoers

[[ $# -le 1 ]] || { echo 'sudoers accepts at most one arg (only with --check)'; exit 2; }

if ! out=$(limactl sudoers 2>&1); then echo "$out"; fi

When it happens

Trigger: `limactl sudoers foo bar` (2+ args) without --check mode.

Common situations: Pasting multiple paths or extra tokens into the command; scripting mistakes that append extra arguments; confusing this command with `limactl sudoers --check <file>`.

Understand the failure class

Background: "Unknown argument", "Invalid value", and "must be one of": invalid CLI argument errors explained — this error's family across 35 libraries.

Related errors

• can check only a single sudoers file
• the file argument can be specified only for --check mode
• no sudoers file defined in %#q
• sudoers command is only supported on macOS right now
• failed to create /etc/sudoers.d directory

AI-assisted analysis of lima-vm/lima@dd909d0973 (2026-09-01). Data as JSON: /api/errors/35123ced482b272e. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at cmd/limactl/sudoers_darwin.go:42

	// Make sure the current network configuration is secure
	if err := nwCfg.Validate(); err != nil {
		logrus.Infof("Please check %s for more information.", socketVMNetURL)
		return err
	}
	check, err := cmd.Flags().GetBool("check")
	if err != nil {
		return err
	}
	if check {
		return verifySudoAccess(ctx, nwCfg, args, cmd.OutOrStdout())
	}
	switch len(args) {
	case 0:
		// NOP
	case 1:
		return errors.New("the file argument can be specified only for --check mode")
	default:
		return fmt.Errorf("unexpected arguments %v", args)
	}
	sudoers, err := networks.Sudoers()
	if err != nil {
		return err
	}
	fmt.Fprint(cmd.OutOrStdout(), sudoers)
	return nil
}

func verifySudoAccess(ctx context.Context, nwCfg networks.Config, args []string, stdout io.Writer) error {
	var file string
	switch len(args) {
	case 0:
		file = nwCfg.Paths.Sudoers
		if file == "" {
			cfgFile, _ := networks.ConfigFile()
			return fmt.Errorf("no sudoers file defined in %#q", cfgFile)
		}

View on GitHub (pinned to dd909d0973)