puppetlabs/puppet · error · ArgumentError

No file containing checksums found.

Error message

No file containing checksums found.

What it means

Checksummer#checksums raises ArgumentError('No file containing checksums found.') from the elsif branch when checksums.json is absent but metadata.json exists, yet its parsed content has no truthy 'checksums' key (the `or raise` triggers). Legacy modules embedded checksums in metadata.json; if neither location yields checksum data, there is nothing to diff local changes against.

Source

Thrown at lib/puppet/module_tool/applications/checksummer.rb:47

        # to the installed module directory. This return value is used by the
        # module_tool face changes action, and displayed on the console.
        #
        # Example return value:
        #
        #   [ "REVISION", "manifests/init.pp"]
        #
        changes
      end

      private

      def checksums
        if checksums_file.exist?
          Puppet::Util::Json.load(checksums_file.read)
        elsif metadata_file.exist?
          # Check metadata.json too; legacy modules store their checksums there.
          Puppet::Util::Json.load(metadata_file.read)['checksums'] or
            raise ArgumentError, _("No file containing checksums found.")
        else
          raise ArgumentError, _("No file containing checksums found.")
        end
      end

      def metadata_file
        @path + 'metadata.json'
      end

      def checksums_file
        @path + 'checksums.json'
      end
    end
  end
end

View on GitHub (pinned to e227c27540)

Solutions

1. If you control the code path, treat this ArgumentError as 'no baseline' and proceed or skip change detection (the installer itself wraps Checksummer.run in a rescue for exactly this reason).
2. Generate a checksums.json next to the module files with per-file digests if you need change detection.
3. For uninstall, pass --ignore_changes/--force when local-change tracking is not required.

Example fix

# before
begin
  changes = Checksummer.run(path)
rescue ArgumentError
  raise
end

# after
begin
  changes = Checksummer.run(path)
rescue ArgumentError
  changes = []  # no checksum baseline recorded
end

def checksum_source(path)
  return :checksums_json if File.exist?(File.join(path, 'checksums.json'))
  meta = File.join(path, 'metadata.json')
  return :metadata if File.exist?(meta) && Puppet::Util::Json.load(File.read(meta))['checksums']
  nil
end

return :no_baseline unless checksum_source(module_path)

begin
  changes = Puppet::ModuleTool::Applications::Checksummer.run(module_path)
rescue ArgumentError => e
  raise unless e.message == 'No file containing checksums found.'
  changes = [] # module has no recorded checksum baseline
end

When it happens

Trigger: Running Checksummer.run(module_path) (used by uninstall change detection and install AlreadyInstalled reporting) on a module with no checksums.json and a metadata.json lacking a 'checksums' field — e.g. any module authored with modern tooling, which no longer writes checksums into metadata.json.

Common situations: Calling `puppet module uninstall`/`install --force` flows against hand-built or freshly generated modules; CI scripts invoking Puppet::ModuleTool::Applications::Checksummer directly on source checkouts; modules installed from git rather than Forge tarballs.

Related errors

• Unable to find metadata.json in module root at %{path} See h
• Could not %{action} '%{module_name}', did you mean '%{sugges
• Could not %{action} '%{module_name}'; %{error}
• Could not find a valid module at %{path}
• Not a valid full name: %{full_module_name}

AI-assisted analysis of puppetlabs/puppet@e227c27540 (2026-08-21). Data as JSON: /api/errors/74b35b466ce032e7. Report an issue: GitHub.