puppetlabs/puppet · error · Puppet::Error

Unable to unfreeze %{package}

Error message

Unable to unfreeze %{package}

What it means

Raised by `unhold` (lib/puppet/provider/package/pkg.rb:125) in the Solaris `pkg` provider. Before install/update it runs `pkg unfreeze <name>` and accepts exit codes 0 (success) and 4 (nothing frozen); any other exit code aborts with Puppet::Error carrying the command's combined stdout/stderr in %{package}.

Source

Thrown at lib/puppet/provider/package/pkg.rb:125

       { :publisher => Regexp.last_match(1), :name => Regexp.last_match(2), :ensure => Regexp.last_match(3) }.merge ifo_flag(Regexp.last_match(4))

     # FMRI                                                             STATE      UFOXI
     # pkg://solaris/SUNWcs@0.5.11,5.11-0.151.0.1:20101105T001108Z      installed  u----
     when %r{^pkg://([^/]+)/([^@]+)@(\S+) +(\S+) +(.....)$}
       { :publisher => Regexp.last_match(1), :name => Regexp.last_match(2), :ensure => Regexp.last_match(3) }.merge pkg_state(Regexp.last_match(4)).merge(ufoxi_flag(Regexp.last_match(5)))

     else
       raise ArgumentError, _('Unknown line format %{resource_name}: %{parse_line}') % { resource_name: name, parse_line: line }
     end).merge({ :provider => name })
  end

  def hold
    pkg(:freeze, @resource[:name])
  end

  def unhold
    r = exec_cmd(command(:pkg), 'unfreeze', @resource[:name])
    raise Puppet::Error, _("Unable to unfreeze %{package}") % { package: r[:out] } unless [0, 4].include? r[:exit]
  end

  def insync?(is)
    # this is called after the generic version matching logic (insync? for the
    # type), so we only get here if should != is, and 'should' is a version
    # number. 'is' might not be, though.
    should = @resource[:ensure]
    # NB: it is apparently possible for repository administrators to publish
    # packages which do not include build or branch versions, but component
    # version must always be present, and the timestamp is added by pkgsend
    # publish.
    if /^[0-9.]+(,[0-9.]+)?(-[0-9.]+)?:[0-9]+T[0-9]+Z$/ !~ should
      # We have a less-than-explicit version string, which we must accept for
      # backward compatibility. We can find the real version this would match
      # by asking pkg for the all matching versions, and selecting the first
      # installable one [0]; this can change over time when remote repositories
      # are updated, but the principle of least astonishment should still hold:
      # if we allow users to specify less-than-explicit versions, the

View on GitHub (pinned to e227c27540)

Solutions

1. Run `pkg unfreeze <package>` manually as root and read the real error printed to stdout/stderr (it is embedded in the Puppet message).
2. Ensure the puppet agent runs as root on Solaris hosts.
3. Repair the image with `pkg verify` / `pkg fix`, or `pkg rebuild-index` where applicable.
4. Free disk space and confirm /var/pkg is writable, then let Puppet retry.

# Only rely on unhold when a freeze actually exists and unfreeze succeeds as root
pkg freeze -l | grep -q "^${name}@" && pkg unfreeze "${name}" || echo "nothing frozen or cannot unfreeze - investigate as root"

When it happens

Trigger: `pkg unfreeze` returning something other than 0/4: agent running without root privileges (cannot modify /var/pkg), a corrupted package image, an invalid package operand, or disk/filesystem errors.

Common situations: puppet agent running as a non-root or RBAC-restricted user; image left inconsistent after a crashed pkg operation; read-only or full /var filesystem.

Related errors

• Unable to update %{package}
• Unknown format %{resource_name}: %{full_flags}[%{bad_flag}]
• Unknown format %{resource_name}: %{state}
• Unknown line format %{resource_name}: %{parse_line}
• No version of %{name} matching %{should} is installable, eve

AI-assisted analysis of puppetlabs/puppet@e227c27540 (2026-08-21). Data as JSON: /api/errors/06e76ff0c3b422b7. Report an issue: GitHub.