puppetlabs/puppet · error · Puppet::Error

%{message} on node %{node}

Error message

%{message} on node %{node}

What it means

Puppet::Parser::Compiler.compile wraps the whole catalog compile: any exception that is not a Puppet::ParseErrorWithIssue (e.g. a raw Ruby error raised inside a custom function, fact or Ruby template) is caught, logged with its own class and backtrace via Puppet.log_exception, then re-raised as Puppet::Error with 'on node <certname>' appended. This is a context wrapper, not a root cause.

Source

Thrown at lib/puppet/parser/compiler.rb:44

    errors = node.environment.validation_errors
    unless errors.empty?
      errors.each { |e| Puppet.err(e) } if errors.size > 1
      errmsg = [
        _("Compilation has been halted because: %{error}") % { error: errors.first },
        _("For more information, see https://puppet.com/docs/puppet/latest/environments_about.html")
      ]
      raise(Puppet::Error, errmsg.join(' '))
    end

    new(node, :code_id => code_id).compile(&:to_resource)
  rescue Puppet::ParseErrorWithIssue => detail
    detail.node = node.name
    Puppet.log_exception(detail)
    raise
  rescue => detail
    message = _("%{message} on node %{node}") % { message: detail, node: node.name }
    Puppet.log_exception(detail, message)
    raise Puppet::Error, message, detail.backtrace
  end

  attr_reader :node, :facts, :collections, :catalog, :resources, :relationships, :topscope
  attr_reader :qualified_variables

  # Access to the configured loaders for 4x
  # @return [Puppet::Pops::Loader::Loaders] the configured loaders
  # @api private
  attr_reader :loaders

  # The id of code input to the compiler.
  # @api private
  attr_accessor :code_id

  # Add a collection to the global list.
  def_delegator :@collections,   :<<, :add_collection
  def_delegator :@relationships, :<<, :add_relationship

View on GitHub (pinned to e227c27540)

Solutions

1. Find the original exception first - it was logged just above this error with its own class and backtrace
2. Reproduce with --trace to get the Ruby backtrace of the underlying failure
3. Fix the root cause in the function/module the backtrace points to
4. If you need the node-stripped message, remove the trailing ' on node <name>'

begin
  Puppet::Parser::Compiler.compile(node)
rescue Puppet::Error => e
  root = e.message.sub(/ on node .+\z/, '')
  report(node.name, root, e.backtrace)
  raise
end

When it happens

Trigger: A custom Ruby function raising NoMethodError/TypeError during compile; broken external data lookups; Ruby incompatibilities in module code (e.g. Ruby 3 keyword-argument changes) surfacing during compilation.

Common situations: Puppet/Ruby major upgrades breaking third-party module functions; bugs in in-module Ruby code; corrupted facts causing deep code to fail.

Related errors

• Found %{num} dependency cycles:\n
• Unable to verify the SSL certificate at %{uri}
• No title provided and %{type} is not a valid resource refere
• Could not find resource '%{res}' in parameter '%{param}'
• Duplicate declaration: %{resource} is already declared; cann

AI-assisted analysis of puppetlabs/puppet@e227c27540 (2026-08-21). Data as JSON: /api/errors/c24b4aea4ec8a1d3. Report an issue: GitHub.