puppetlabs/puppet · error

Could not load --values_file %{error}

Error message

Could not load --values_file %{error}

What it means

Logged by Puppet::Face[:epp]#get_values when loading --values_file raises: YAML that Puppet::Util::Yaml.safe_load_file cannot parse or that contains disallowed classes, a .pp file that fails to evaluate, or any I/O error. The exception is swallowed into this message, the values are skipped, and rendering proceeds without them.

Source

Thrown at lib/puppet/face/epp.rb:416

    end
  end

  def get_values(compiler, options)
    template_values = nil
    values_file = options[:values_file]
    if values_file
      begin
        case values_file
        when /\.yaml$/
          template_values = Puppet::Util::Yaml.safe_load_file(values_file, [Symbol])
        when /\.pp$/
          evaluating_parser = Puppet::Pops::Parser::EvaluatingParser.new
          template_values = evaluating_parser.evaluate_file(compiler.topscope, values_file)
        else
          Puppet.err(_("Only .yaml or .pp can be used as a --values_file"))
        end
      rescue => e
        Puppet.err(_("Could not load --values_file %{error}") % { error: e.message })
      end
      unless template_values.nil? || template_values.is_a?(Hash)
        Puppet.err(_("--values_file option must evaluate to a Hash or undef/nil, got: '%{template_class}'") % { template_class: template_values.class })
      end
    end

    values = options[:values]
    if values
      evaluating_parser = Puppet::Pops::Parser::EvaluatingParser.new
      result = evaluating_parser.evaluate_string(compiler.topscope, values, 'values-hash')
      case result
      when nil
        template_values
      when Hash
        template_values.nil? ? result : template_values.merge(result)
      else
        Puppet.err(_("--values option must evaluate to a Hash or undef, got: '%{values_class}'") % { values_class: result.class })
      end

View on GitHub (pinned to e227c27540)

Solutions

1. Syntax-check the YAML: `ruby -ryaml -e 'YAML.load_file("values.yaml")'`
2. For .pp values run `puppet parser validate values.pp` and make the file self-contained
3. Keep the YAML to plain strings/ints — safe_load permits very few classes
4. Fix the underlying error surfaced in the %{error} part of the message and rerun

Example fix

# before (values.yaml)
name: app
version: 2024-01-01   # Date object rejected by safe_load

# after
name: app
version: "2024-01-01"

require 'yaml'

begin
  YAML.safe_load_file('values.yaml', [Symbol])
rescue StandardError => e
  abort "values.yaml not loadable: #{e.message}"
end

begin
  values = Puppet::Util::Yaml.safe_load_file(path, [Symbol])
rescue StandardError => e
  abort "--values_file #{path} failed to load: #{e.message}"
end

When it happens

Trigger: `puppet epp render tpl.epp --values_file bad.yaml` with a YAML syntax error; a .pp values file referencing undefined variables or functions; Psych::DisallowedClass from symbols/dates in the YAML; Errno::ENOENT for a mistyped path.

Common situations: Hand-edited YAML with tabs or missing colons; values files generated by tools emitting anchors Psych rejects; environment-dependent .pp that works in catalog context but not standalone.

Related errors

• --values_file option must evaluate to a Hash or undef/nil, g
• Could not intern from %{format}: %{err}
• Could not intern_multiple from %{format}: %{err}
• Serialized YAML did not contain a valid instance of %{klass}
• Serialized YAML did not contain a collection of instances wh

AI-assisted analysis of puppetlabs/puppet@e227c27540 (2026-08-21). Data as JSON: /api/errors/3e129537769023d5. Report an issue: GitHub.