puppetlabs/puppet · error · Puppet::Error

Could not find init script or upstart conf file for '#{name}

Error message

Could not find init script or upstart conf file for '#{name}'

What it means

Raised by Puppet's upstart service provider when it cannot locate any init artifact for the named service. The `search` method probes each defpath ('/etc/init', '/etc/init.d') with the suffixes '.conf', '', and '.sh'; if no file exists for the service name in any combination, Puppet::Error is raised. This almost always means the service name in the manifest does not match any installed job/init script.

Source

Thrown at lib/puppet/provider/service/upstart.rb:124

  def overscript
    @overscript ||= initscript.gsub(/\.conf$/, ".override")
  end

  def search(name)
    # Search prefers .conf as that is what upstart uses
    [".conf", "", ".sh"].each do |suffix|
      paths.each do |path|
        service_name = name.match(/^(\S+)/)[1]
        fqname = File.join(path, service_name + suffix)
        if Puppet::FileSystem.exist?(fqname)
          return fqname
        end

        debug("Could not find #{name}#{suffix} in #{path}")
      end
    end

    raise Puppet::Error, "Could not find init script or upstart conf file for '#{name}'"
  end

  def enabled?
    return super unless is_upstart?

    script_contents = read_script_from(initscript)
    if version_is_pre_0_6_7
      enabled_pre_0_6_7?(script_contents)
    elsif version_is_pre_0_9_0
      enabled_pre_0_9_0?(script_contents)
    elsif version_is_post_0_9_0
      enabled_post_0_9_0?(script_contents, read_override_file)
    end
  end

  def enable
    return super unless is_upstart?

View on GitHub (pinned to e227c27540)

Solutions

1. Check that the job actually exists: `ls /etc/init/<name>.conf /etc/init.d/<name>` on the node.
2. Fix the resource name to match the job/init script file name exactly (first token only — no arguments).
3. Ensure the package that ships the service is installed and ordered before the service resource (`require => Package[...]`).
4. If the system is not upstart-based, pin the correct provider (e.g., `provider => systemd` or `init`) instead of letting upstart be selected.
5. For custom daemons, ship an /etc/init/<name>.conf upstart job or /etc/init.d/<name> script yourself.

Example fix

# before - no such job on the node
service { 'postgres': ensure => running }
# after - correct job name shipped by the package, installed first
package { 'postgresql': ensure => installed }
service { 'postgresql':
  ensure  => running,
  require => Package['postgresql'],
}

require 'puppet/util/filesystem'
name = 'myjob'
found = ['/etc/init', '/etc/init.d'].any? do |dir|
  ['.conf', '', '.sh'].any? { |s| Puppet::FileSystem.exist?(File.join(dir, name + s)) }
end
raise ArgumentError, 'no upstart job found' unless found

def upstart_job_exists?(name)
  name = name.split(/\s+/).first.to_s
  return false if name.empty?
  ['/etc/init', '/etc/init.d'].any? { |d| ['.conf', '', '.sh'].any? { |s| File.exist?(File.join(d, name + s)) } }
end

When it happens

Trigger: Declaring `service { 'foo': ... }` with the upstart provider selected (Ubuntu 10.04–14.04 era, or explicit `provider => upstart`) when /etc/init/foo.conf, /etc/init.d/foo, and /etc/init.d/foo.sh all do not exist. Also triggered by names with trailing arguments, since only the first whitespace-delimited token (`name.match(/^\S+)/)`) is used as the file name.

Common situations: Typo'd or wrong service title in the manifest; the service package is not installed so no job file exists; using the upstart provider on a system where the service only ships a SysV script elsewhere; referencing a service by its long description rather than the job name.

Related errors

• One or more file(s) specified did not exist: %{files}
• File not found
• Fileset paths must exist
• binary_file(): The given file '%{unresolved_path}' does not
• Could not find %{path} on disk

AI-assisted analysis of puppetlabs/puppet@e227c27540 (2026-08-21). Data as JSON: /api/errors/89e517841efebf3e. Report an issue: GitHub.