puppetlabs/puppet · error · Puppet::Error

Could not enable #{name}: #{output}

Error message

Could not enable #{name}: #{output}

What it means

The Gentoo provider's enable shells out to /sbin/rc-update add <name> default and converts any Puppet::ExecutionFailure into Puppet::Error. As with disable, the interpolated #{output} is nil on this path because the assignment never completed, so the message alone does not carry the underlying rc-update stderr.

Source

Thrown at lib/puppet/provider/service/gentoo.rb:45

      return :false
    end

    line = output.split(/\n/).find { |l| l.include?(@resource[:name]) }

    return :false unless line

    # If it's enabled then it will print output showing service | runlevel
    if output =~ /^\s*#{@resource[:name]}\s*\|\s*(boot|default)/
      :true
    else
      :false
    end
  end

  def enable
    output = update :add, @resource[:name], :default
  rescue Puppet::ExecutionFailure => e
    raise Puppet::Error, "Could not enable #{name}: #{output}", e.backtrace
  end
end

View on GitHub (pinned to e227c27540)

Solutions

1. Run /sbin/rc-update add <name> default manually and read its stderr
2. Confirm the init script exists and is executable: test -x /etc/init.d/<name>
3. Add ordering so the owning package is applied first: Package['<pkg>'] -> Service['<name>']
4. Verify the resource title equals the init script filename

Example fix

# before
package { 'net-misc/ntp': ensure => installed }
service { 'ntpd':
  enable   => true,
  provider => 'gentoo',
}

# after
package { 'net-misc/ntp': ensure => installed }
-> service { 'ntpd':
  enable   => true,
  provider => 'gentoo',
}

# ensure the init script exists before enable is attempted
test -x "/etc/init.d/${name}" || { echo "${name}: no init script — install package first"; exit 1; }

begin
  provider.enable
rescue Puppet::Error => e
  warn "rc-update add failed for #{name}; check /etc/init.d/#{name} exists and is valid"
end

When it happens

Trigger: enable runs when the init script /etc/init.d/<name> does not exist (rc-update add refuses to register a missing script), the name does not match an installed init script, or rc-update exits non-zero for another reason such as a read-only /etc/runlevels.

Common situations: The package that ships the init script is not installed or not applied before the service resource (missing package -> service ordering); renaming an ebuild service; a container image with Gentoo userland but no OpenRC state.

Related errors

• Could not disable #{name}: #{output}
• Could not enable #{name}: #{detail}
• Could not #{action} #{name}: #{output}
• Unable to verify the SSL certificate at %{uri}
• Unknown service #{name}

AI-assisted analysis of puppetlabs/puppet@e227c27540 (2026-08-21). Data as JSON: /api/errors/9dfacd5515a9a8d0. Report an issue: GitHub.