puppetlabs/puppet · error · ArgumentError

Could not intern from data: Could not find relationship targ

Error message

Could not intern from data: Could not find relationship target %{target} for %{source}

What it means

Companion to the source check in Puppet::Resource::Catalog.from_data_hash: after the edge source is resolved, the target is looked up via result.resource(edge.target); if absent, ArgumentError is raised with the target ref and the source name. The serialized catalog data is internally inconsistent — a relationship points at a resource that was not in data['resources'].

Source

Thrown at lib/puppet/resource/catalog.rb:444

    result.add_resource(
      *data['resources'].collect do |res|
        Puppet::Resource.from_data_hash(res)
      end
    ) if data['resources']

    if data['edges']
      data['edges'].each do |edge_hash|
        edge = Puppet::Relationship.from_data_hash(edge_hash)
        source = result.resource(edge.source)
        unless source
          raise ArgumentError, _("Could not intern from data: Could not find relationship source %{source} for %{target}") %
                               { source: edge.source.inspect, target: edge.target.to_s }
        end
        edge.source = source

        target = result.resource(edge.target)
        unless target
          raise ArgumentError, _("Could not intern from data: Could not find relationship target %{target} for %{source}") %
                               { target: edge.target.inspect, source: edge.source.to_s }
        end
        edge.target = target

        result.add_edge(edge)
      end
    end

    result.add_class(*data['classes']) if data['classes']

    result.metadata = data['metadata'].transform_values { |v| Puppet::FileServing::Metadata.from_data_hash(v); } if data['metadata']

    recursive_metadata = data['recursive_metadata']
    if recursive_metadata
      result.recursive_metadata = recursive_metadata.transform_values do |source_to_meta_hash|
        source_to_meta_hash.transform_values do |metas|
          metas.map { |meta| Puppet::FileServing::Metadata.from_data_hash(meta) }
        end

View on GitHub (pinned to e227c27540)

Solutions

Diff the refs of data['resources'] against every data['edges'][i]['target'] and add the missing resource back or drop the edge.
Regenerate the payload from a real compilation (puppet catalog compile / agent run) rather than editing it.
Pin producer and consumer to the same Puppet major/minor so ref serialization matches.
Unit-test the payload with a round-trip (to_data_hash -> from_data_hash) before shipping it.

Example fix

# before
catalog = Puppet::Resource::Catalog.from_data_hash(data)

# after — check both endpoints before interning
refs = data['resources'].to_a.map { |r| "#{r['type']}[#{r['title']}]" }.to_set
data['edges'].to_a.each do |e|
  %w[source target].each do |side|
    raise ArgumentError, "edge #{side} #{e[side]} missing from resources" unless refs.include?(e[side])
  end
end
catalog = Puppet::Resource::Catalog.from_data_hash(data)

Defensive patterns

Strategy: validation

Validate before calling

refs = data['resources'].to_a.map { |r| "#{r['type']}[#{r['title']}]" }.to_set
data['edges'].to_a.each do |e|
  %w[source target].each do |side|
    raise ArgumentError, "edge #{side} #{e[side]} missing from resources" unless refs.include?(e[side])
  end
end
catalog = Puppet::Resource::Catalog.from_data_hash(data)

Try / catch

begin
  catalog = Puppet::Resource::Catalog.from_data_hash(data)
rescue ArgumentError => e
  raise unless e.message.start_with?('Could not intern from data')
  # drop dangling edges and retry, or fail loudly with payload context
  raise ArgumentError, "inconsistent catalog payload: #{e.message}"
end

Prevention

When filtering resources from a catalog hash, always recompute the edges list in the same pass
Treat catalog payloads as immutable derived data — edit the manifests instead
Assert edge/resource consistency in fixture tests before from_data_hash

When it happens

Trigger: A catalog data hash whose edges reference a target resource missing from the resources array (filtering removed it, or the producer never included it); mixed-version serialization where the target's ref string format changed; fixtures built by hand that declare require/notify edges without both endpoints.

Common situations: Editing or pruning catalog dumps and forgetting dependent edges; CI fixtures for catalog round-trips; tooling that appends custom edges (e.g. ordering hooks) referencing resources it never adds.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of puppetlabs/puppet@e227c27540 (2026-08-21). Data as JSON: /api/errors/44cdab1677b796ed. Report an issue: GitHub.