linera-io/linera-protocol · error

Validator spec must be in format: public_key,account_key,add

Error message

Validator spec must be in format: public_key,account_key,address,votes

What it means

A validator specification passed on the command line did not contain exactly four comma-separated fields. ValidatorToAdd::from_str expects `public_key,account_key,address,votes`, where address is itself a protocol:host:port string and votes is a number; a wrong field count fails before any field is parsed.

Source

Thrown at linera-service/src/cli/command.rs:51

/// Specification for a validator to be added to the committee.
#[derive(Clone, Debug)]
pub struct ValidatorToAdd {
    /// The validator's public key.
    pub public_key: ValidatorPublicKey,
    /// The validator's account public key.
    pub account_key: AccountPublicKey,
    /// The network address of the validator.
    pub address: String,
    /// The number of votes assigned to the validator.
    pub votes: u64,
}

impl std::str::FromStr for ValidatorToAdd {
    type Err = anyhow::Error;

    fn from_str(s: &str) -> Result<Self, Self::Err> {
        let parts: Vec<&str> = s.split(',').collect();
        anyhow::ensure!(
            parts.len() == 4,
            "Validator spec must be in format: public_key,account_key,address,votes"
        );

        Ok(ValidatorToAdd {
            public_key: parts[0].parse()?,
            account_key: parts[1].parse()?,
            address: parts[2].to_string(),
            votes: parts[3].parse()?,
        })
    }
}

#[derive(Clone, clap::Args, serde::Serialize)]
#[serde(rename_all = "kebab-case")]
/// Options controlling the behavior of the benchmark command.
pub struct BenchmarkOptions {
    /// How many chains to use.

View on GitHub (pinned to 6c226ddcb3)

Solutions

1. Provide all four fields in order: BLS public key, account key, network address, vote count.
2. Example shape: --validators "<public_key>,<account_key>,grpc:host:9000,10".
3. Remove trailing/leading commas and spaces around the value.
4. Confirm both keys are valid hex/base64 for the expected key types before composing the string.

Example fix

# before: missing fields
--validators "<public_key>,grpc:host:9000"

# after: public_key,account_key,address,votes
--validators "<public_key>,<account_key>,grpc:host:9000,10"

fn is_valid_validator_spec(s: &str) -> bool {
    let parts: Vec<_> = s.split(',').collect();
    parts.len() == 4
        && parts[0].parse::<PublicKey>().is_ok()
        && parts[1].parse::<AccountPublicKey>().is_ok()
        && parts[2].parse::<ValidatorPublicNetworkConfig>().is_ok()
        && parts[3].parse::<u64>().is_ok()
}

fn is_valid_validator_spec(s: &str) -> bool {
    s.split(',').count() == 4 && !s.split(',').any(str::is_empty)
}

match s.parse::<ValidatorToAdd>() {
    Ok(v) => v,
    Err(e) => {
        eprintln!("invalid validator spec (want public_key,account_key,address,votes): {e}");
        std::process::exit(2);
    }
}

When it happens

Trigger: Passing only the key pair and address (omitting votes, needed for weighted consensus), a trailing comma creating an empty fifth field, or keys containing/unbalanced delimiters.

Common situations: Older docs or scripts that predate the account_key or votes fields; copy-pasting from a table where a column was dropped; forgetting that votes is mandatory even for weight 1.

Related errors

• Expecting format `(tcp|udp|grpc|grpcs):host:port`
• {s}
• The input has not matched: {input}
• TLS not supported between proxy and shards.
• We should have one genesis config path and one optional name

AI-assisted analysis of linera-io/linera-protocol@6c226ddcb3 (2026-08-22). Data as JSON: /api/errors/c02de75a97281eab. Report an issue: GitHub.