puppetlabs/puppet · error · ArgumentError

%{option}: already defined in puppet

Error message

%{option}: already defined in puppet

What it means

Error "%{option}: already defined in puppet" thrown in puppetlabs/puppet.

Source

Thrown at lib/puppet/interface/option.rb:39

      if item.is_a? String and item.to_s =~ /^-/ then
        unless item =~ /^-[a-z]\b/ or item =~ /^--[^-]/ then
          raise ArgumentError, _("%{option}: long options need two dashes (--)") % { option: item.inspect }
        end

        @optparse << item

        # Duplicate checking...
        # for our duplicate checking purpose, we don't make a check with the
        # translated '-' -> '_'. Right now, we do that on purpose because of
        # a duplicated option made publicly available on certificate and ca
        # faces for dns alt names. Puppet defines 'dns_alt_names', those
        # faces include 'dns-alt-names'.  We can't get rid of 'dns-alt-names'
        # yet, so we need to do our duplicate checking on the untranslated
        # version of the option.
        # jeffweiss 17 april 2012
        name = optparse_to_optionname(item)
        if Puppet.settings.include? name then
          raise ArgumentError, _("%{option}: already defined in puppet") % { option: item.inspect }
        end

        dup = dups[name]
        if dup
          raise ArgumentError, _("%{option}: duplicates existing alias %{duplicate} in %{parent}") %
                               { option: item.inspect, duplicate: dup.inspect, parent: @parent }
        else
          dups[name] = item
        end
      else
        raise ArgumentError, _("%{option} is not valid for an option argument") % { option: item.inspect }
      end
    end

    if @optparse.empty? then
      raise ArgumentError, _("No option declarations found while building")
    end

View on GitHub (pinned to e227c27540)

When it happens

Trigger: Thrown at lib/puppet/interface/option.rb:39 when the library encounters an invalid state.

Common situations: See trigger scenarios.

AI-assisted analysis of puppetlabs/puppet@e227c27540 (2026-08-21). Data as JSON: /api/errors/05309f89812e2e78. Report an issue: GitHub.