puppetlabs/puppet · error · Puppet::DevError

No record types defined; cannot parse lines

Error message

No record types defined; cannot parse lines

What it means

parse_line iterates the record types a FileParsing provider declared; if none were defined (records? is false) it raises Puppet::DevError 'No record types defined'. It means the provider class includes Puppet::Util::FileParsing but its record_line/text_line definitions never executed — a setup bug, not a data problem.

Source

Thrown at lib/puppet/util/fileparsing.rb:268

  # Split a bunch of text into lines and then parse them individually.
  def parse(text)
    count = 1
    lines(text).collect do |line|
      count += 1
      val = parse_line(line)
      if val
        val
      else
        error = Puppet::ResourceError.new(_("Could not parse line %{line}") % { line: line.inspect })
        error.line = count
        raise error
      end
    end
  end

  # Handle parsing a single line.
  def parse_line(line)
    raise Puppet::DevError, _("No record types defined; cannot parse lines") unless records?

    @record_order.each do |record|
      # These are basically either text or record lines.
      method = "handle_#{record.type}_line"
      if respond_to?(method)
        result = send(method, line, record)
        if result
          record.send(:post_parse, result) if record.respond_to?(:post_parse)
          return result
        end
      else
        raise Puppet::DevError, _("Somehow got invalid line type %{record_type}") % { record_type: record.type }
      end
    end

    nil
  end

View on GitHub (pinned to e227c27540)

Solutions

1. Add at least one record_line (field-based) or text_line (regex-based) definition to the provider class body
2. Ensure the definitions run at class-body time, not lazily inside a method
3. In tests, load the real provider file so the record registry is populated before parsing

Example fix

# before
class Puppet::Provider::Myconf::Myconf < Puppet::Provider::ParsedFile
  # no record_line => DevError: No record types defined; cannot parse lines
end

# after
class Puppet::Provider::Myconf::Myconf < Puppet::Provider::ParsedFile
  record_line :myconf, fields: %i[name value], separator: '='
end

raise Puppet::DevError, 'no record types defined' unless provider.records?
provider.parse_line(line)

When it happens

Trigger: A provider subclass that includes Puppet::Util::FileParsing (or inherits Puppet::Provider::ParsedFile) without any record_line/text_line call in its class body, or code that calls parse_line before the provider class body finished evaluating (autoload or load-order issues).

Common situations: Writing a first parsedfile provider and forgetting the record_line block; test doubles that stub the provider class without its definitions; modules that reopen provider classes at the wrong time.

Related errors

• Process record type %{record_name} returned non-hash
• Somehow got invalid line type %{record_type}
• Cannot have fields named %{name}
• Invalid record type %{record_type}
• Field '%{field}' is required

AI-assisted analysis of puppetlabs/puppet@e227c27540 (2026-08-21). Data as JSON: /api/errors/b6e365a679bb7363. Report an issue: GitHub.