vectordotdev/vector · error

the pattern is supposed to always be correct

Error message

the pattern is supposed to always be correct

What it means

Panic from `glob::glob_with(...)` returning a `PatternError`. The pattern is built as `[dir, "*/*.log*"].join("/")`, and glob treats `[`, `]`, `{`, `}`, `*`, `?` as syntax. If the directory portion contains unbalanced or reserved glob metacharacters, the pattern fails to parse and `expect("the pattern is supposed to always be correct")` aborts the kubernetes_logs path provider.

Source

Thrown at src/sources/kubernetes_logs/k8s_paths_provider.rs:190

            // and cache the results into a Vec.
            let excluded_containers = extract_excluded_containers_for_pod(pod);
            let exclusion_patterns: Vec<_> =
                build_container_exclusion_patterns(dir, excluded_containers).collect();

            // Return paths filtered with container exclusion.
            filter_paths(path_iter, exclusion_patterns, false)
        })
}

fn real_glob(pattern: &str) -> impl Iterator<Item = PathBuf> + use<> {
    glob::glob_with(
        pattern,
        glob::MatchOptions {
            require_literal_separator: true,
            ..Default::default()
        },
    )
    .expect("the pattern is supposed to always be correct")
    .flat_map(|paths| paths.into_iter())
}

fn filter_paths<'a>(
    iter: impl Iterator<Item = PathBuf> + 'a,
    patterns: impl AsRef<[glob::Pattern]> + 'a,
    include: bool,
) -> impl Iterator<Item = PathBuf> + 'a {
    iter.filter(move |path| {
        let m = patterns.as_ref().iter().any(|pattern| {
            pattern.matches_path_with(
                path,
                glob::MatchOptions {
                    require_literal_separator: true,
                    ..Default::default()
                },
            )
        });

View on GitHub (pinned to 3708c39b12)

Solutions

1. Remove glob metacharacters (`* ? [ ] { }`) from the custom pod logs directory path or annotation
2. If embedding: escape the directory with `glob::Pattern::escape(dir)` before joining the wildcard suffix
3. Upgrade Vector / patch the provider to handle PatternError as a skipped pod instead of a panic

Example fix

// before
let path_iter = glob_impl(&[dir, "*/*.log*"].join("/"));
// after
let pattern = [glob::Pattern::escape(dir), "*/*.log*".to_owned()].join("/");
let path_iter = glob_impl(&pattern);

// Rust: pre-flight the pattern before handing it to glob
let pattern = [dir, "*/*.log*"].join("/");
if glob::Pattern::new(&pattern).is_err() {
    warn!(message = "pod logs dir contains glob metacharacters", dir);
}

fn glob_safe(dir: &str) -> bool {
    glob::Pattern::new(&[dir, "*/*.log*"].join("/")).is_ok()
}

When it happens

Trigger: A pod logs directory containing glob metacharacters — e.g. an annotation or hostPath like `/data/pods[1]/logs` or `/var/log/{app}/pod` — which makes the joined pattern `<dir>/*/*.log*` unparseable by the glob crate.

Common situations: Custom log-directory annotations using shell-glob-style names (`{...}`, `[...]`, stray `*`). Stock kubelet directories never contain these characters, so this fires only with operator-supplied paths.

Related errors

• non-utf8 path to pod logs dir is not supported
• all json-file keys should be matched
• failed to read glob pattern
• not a valid path
• global log_schema.message_key to be valid path

AI-assisted analysis of vectordotdev/vector@3708c39b12 (2026-08-20). Data as JSON: /api/errors/b1b71d6214763a38. Report an issue: GitHub.