puppetlabs/puppet · error

The 'disable_per_environment_manifest' setting is true, but

Error message

The 'disable_per_environment_manifest' setting is true, but the environment located at %{path_to_env} has a manifest setting in its environment.conf of '%{environment_conf}' which does not match the default_manifest setting '%{puppet_conf}'.

What it means

Logged by Puppet::Settings::EnvironmentConf when server-wide disable_per_environment_manifest is true but this environment's environment.conf declares a manifest path that, after absolutization, differs from the default_manifest setting. Per-environment manifests are forbidden in this mode, so Puppet falls back to the default manifest and warns that modules expected under the environment's manifest directory will not be available.

Source

Thrown at lib/puppet/settings/environment_conf.rb:74

  def manifest
    puppet_conf_manifest = Pathname.new(Puppet.settings.value(:default_manifest))
    disable_per_environment_manifest = Puppet.settings.value(:disable_per_environment_manifest)

    fallback_manifest_directory =
      if puppet_conf_manifest.absolute?
        puppet_conf_manifest.to_s
      else
        File.join(@path_to_env, puppet_conf_manifest.to_s)
      end

    if disable_per_environment_manifest
      environment_conf_manifest = absolute(raw_setting(:manifest))
      if environment_conf_manifest && fallback_manifest_directory != environment_conf_manifest
        # TRANSLATORS 'disable_per_environment_manifest' is a setting and 'environment.conf' is a file name and should not be translated
        message = _("The 'disable_per_environment_manifest' setting is true, but the environment located at %{path_to_env} has a manifest setting in its environment.conf of '%{environment_conf}' which does not match the default_manifest setting '%{puppet_conf}'.") %
                  { path_to_env: @path_to_env, environment_conf: environment_conf_manifest, puppet_conf: puppet_conf_manifest }
        message += ' ' + _("If this environment is expecting to find modules in '%{environment_conf}', they will not be available!") % { environment_conf: environment_conf_manifest }
        Puppet.err(message)
      end
      fallback_manifest_directory.to_s
    else
      get_setting(:manifest, fallback_manifest_directory) do |manifest|
        absolute(manifest)
      end
    end
  end

  def environment_timeout
    # gen env specific config or use the default value
    get_setting(:environment_timeout, Puppet.settings.value(:environment_timeout)) do |ttl|
      # munges the string form statically without really needed the settings system, only
      # its ability to munge "4s, 3m, 5d, and 'unlimited' into seconds - if already munged into
      # numeric form, the TTLSetting handles that.
      Puppet::Settings::TTLSetting.munge(ttl, 'environment_timeout')
    end
  end

View on GitHub (pinned to e227c27540)

Solutions

1. Remove the `manifest` line from the environment's environment.conf so the default applies
2. Or point default_manifest in puppet.conf at the same absolutized path the environment uses
3. Or disable disable_per_environment_manifest if per-environment manifests are intentional
4. Redeploy the corrected environment so the warning stops and the expected modules resolve

Example fix

# before
# puppet.conf:      disable_per_environment_manifest = true
# environment.conf: manifest = site/main.pp

# after — environment.conf with no manifest override
modulepath = site:modules:$basemodulepath
# (all environments now share the default_manifest)

if Puppet.settings.value(:disable_per_environment_manifest)
  Dir.glob('/etc/puppetlabs/code/environments/*').each do |env_dir|
    conf = File.join(env_dir, 'environment.conf')
    next unless File.read(conf) =~ /^\s*manifest\s*=/
    warn "#{conf}: manifest setting is ignored while disable_per_environment_manifest is true"
  end
end

When it happens

Trigger: Loading an environment whose environment.conf contains `manifest = ...` that does not resolve to the same absolute path as default_manifest, while puppet.conf sets disable_per_environment_manifest=true. raw_setting(:manifest) is absolutized against the env path and compared to the fallback directory.

Common situations: Hardening an existing Puppet installation (best practice pins all environments to one manifest) while control-repo environments still carry per-env manifest lines; moving default_manifest without updating environment.confs; boilerplate environment.conf templates that always set manifest.

Related errors

• No suitable tar implementation found
• manifest of environment '#{@environment.name}' appoints dire
• --- #{filename}
• Unable to connect to the server at %{uri}. Detail: %{detail}
• Puppet #{Puppet.version} requires Ruby #{Puppet::OLDEST_RECO

AI-assisted analysis of puppetlabs/puppet@e227c27540 (2026-08-21). Data as JSON: /api/errors/cb04615ce6b83cf0. Report an issue: GitHub.