puppetlabs/puppet · error · Puppet::Error

#{self.class.name} must specify a path for daemon directory

Error message

#{self.class.name} must specify a path for daemon directory

What it means

The daemontools service provider builds the daemon directory as File.join(resource[:path], resource[:name]) inside the daemon method, and raises when resource[:path] is nil. Unlike the servicedir (a class-level confine), the daemon path is expected to come from the service resource itself, so every daemontools-managed service must declare a path parameter.

Source

Thrown at lib/puppet/provider/service/daemontools.rb:113

        end
      end
      raise "Could not find service directory" unless @servicedir
    end
    @servicedir
  end

  # returns the full path of this service when enabled
  # (ie in the service directory)
  def service
    File.join(servicedir, resource[:name])
  end

  # returns the full path to the current daemon directory
  # note that this path can be overridden in the resource
  # definition
  def daemon
    path = resource[:path]
    raise Puppet::Error, "#{self.class.name} must specify a path for daemon directory" unless path

    File.join(path, resource[:name])
  end

  def status
    begin
      output = svstat service
      if output =~ /:\s+up \(/
        return :running
      end
    rescue Puppet::ExecutionFailure => detail
      raise Puppet::Error.new("Could not get status for service #{resource.ref}: #{detail}", detail)
    end
    :stopped
  end

  def setupservice
    if resource[:manifest]

View on GitHub (pinned to e227c27540)

Solutions

1. Add the path parameter pointing at your svscan service directory to the service resource
2. Verify that directory exists on the node (ls /service) and that svscan is actually running
3. Keep resource titles aligned with the directory names under the service dir, since daemon joins path + name

Example fix

# before
service { 'tinydns':
  ensure   => running,
  provider => 'daemontools',
}

# after
service { 'tinydns':
  ensure   => running,
  provider => 'daemontools',
  path     => '/service',
}

# in the profile that builds daemontools services
if $provider == 'daemontools' and $path == undef {
  fail("service ${title}: daemontools provider requires 'path' (svscan service directory)")
}

When it happens

Trigger: Declaring service { 'foo': provider => 'daemontools' } without a path attribute, then performing any operation that reaches daemon (enable/disable/start/stop flows that inspect the daemon directory) during a catalog run or via puppet resource service foo provider=daemontools.

Common situations: Porting init-script style service declarations to a svscan box and keeping the old attributes; copy-pasting a service resource from another module that never set path; assuming path is optional because other service providers infer it.

Understand the failure class

Background: Missing required parameter errors: what 'X is required' and 'the required X param is missing' mean, and how to fix them — this error's family across 27 libraries.

Related errors

• Unable to verify the SSL certificate at %{uri}
• Mounts without paths are not usable
• Unknown service #{name}
• Could not determine module path
• Could not disable #{name}: #{output}

AI-assisted analysis of puppetlabs/puppet@e227c27540 (2026-08-21). Data as JSON: /api/errors/cf318279e2d278bd. Report an issue: GitHub.