puppetlabs/puppet · error · Puppet::Settings::ValidationError

Invalid value '%{value}' for boolean parameter: %{name}

Error message

Invalid value '%{value}' for boolean parameter: %{name}

What it means

Puppet::Settings::BooleanSetting#munge accepts exactly true, 'true', false, 'false'; any other value — integers 1/0, 'yes'/'no'/'on'/'off', symbols, nil — raises Puppet::Settings::ValidationError naming the parameter. This is the read-time normalization for every boolean setting (report, strict_variables, ...).

Source

Thrown at lib/puppet/settings/boolean_setting.rb:27

    else
      [["--#{name}", GetoptLong::NO_ARGUMENT], ["--no-#{name}", GetoptLong::NO_ARGUMENT]]
    end
  end

  def optparse_args
    if short
      ["--[no-]#{name}", "-#{short}", desc, :NONE]
    else
      ["--[no-]#{name}", desc, :NONE]
    end
  end

  def munge(value)
    case value
    when true, "true"; true
    when false, "false"; false
    else
      raise Puppet::Settings::ValidationError, _("Invalid value '%{value}' for boolean parameter: %{name}") % { value: value.inspect, name: @name }
    end
  end

  def type
    :boolean
  end
end

View on GitHub (pinned to e227c27540)

Solutions

1. Use the literals true or false (unquoted in puppet.conf) for boolean settings.
2. Coerce in your template/wrapper: value ? 'true' : 'false' before writing config.
3. Audit generated puppet.conf files for yes/no/on/off/1/0 in boolean keys.

Example fix

# before (puppet.conf [agent])
report = yes

# after
report = true

raise Puppet::Settings::ValidationError, "expected true/false, got #{v.inspect}" unless [true, 'true', false, 'false'].include?(v)
Puppet.settings[:report] = v

boolish = ->(v) { [true, 'true', false, 'false'].include?(v) }

begin
  Puppet.settings[:report] = v
rescue Puppet::Settings::ValidationError => e
  raise unless e.message.include?('boolean parameter')
  Puppet.settings[:report] = %w[true 1 yes on].include?(v.to_s.downcase) # normalize then retry
end

When it happens

Trigger: puppet.conf `report = yes` or `report = 1`; YAML-generated config injecting real integers/booleans from a template that formats them wrongly; CLI `--report on`; ERB writing <%= value %> where value is an unquoted integer.

Common situations: Config management templating puppet.conf with systemd/nginx-style truthiness ('yes'/'on'/'1'); heterogeneous sources where one writer emits 0/1; Ansible/Hiera variables typed as integers.

Related errors

• Invalid run mode '#{mode}'
• Expected an Array or String, got a %{klass}
• Invalid autosign value %{value}: must be 'true'/'false' or a
• Invalid certificate revocation value %{value}: must be one o
• Invalid duration format '%{value}' for parameter: %{name}

AI-assisted analysis of puppetlabs/puppet@e227c27540 (2026-08-21). Data as JSON: /api/errors/a43e2d4184af0f41. Report an issue: GitHub.