OS X - puppet resource user username returns error

[Lars Cromley]

Hey everyone,

I have a few machines, about 8 out of 60 or so machines that have issues modifying a user. 

The machines are running 10.9.4 and have always been on 10.9+, puppet version 3.6.2, and facter 2.1.0


When I attempt to run puppet resource user username:

Host1:~ root# puppet resource user ladmin

Error: Could not run: undefined method `[]' for nil:NilClass

When I run puppet agent -t:

Error: /Stage[main]/IT_admin_user::IT_admin_user/User[ladmin]/groups: change from absent to _appserveradm,_appserverusr,_lpadmin,admin failed: undefined method `split' for :absent:Symbol



full output from host:

root# puppet resource user itadmin --debug --trace

Debug: Failed to load library 'shadow' for feature 'libshadow'

Debug: Puppet::Type::User::ProviderUseradd: file useradd does not exist

Debug: Failed to load library 'ldap' for feature 'ldap'

Debug: Puppet::Type::User::ProviderLdap: feature ldap is missing

Debug: Puppet::Type::User::ProviderPw: file pw does not exist

Debug: Puppet::Type::User::ProviderUser_role_add: file useradd does not exist

Debug: Puppet::Type::User::ProviderUseradd: file useradd does not exist

Debug: Failed to load library 'ldap' for feature 'ldap'

Debug: Puppet::Type::User::ProviderLdap: feature ldap is missing

Debug: Puppet::Type::User::ProviderPw: file pw does not exist

Debug: Puppet::Type::User::ProviderUser_role_add: file useradd does not exist

Debug: Executing '/usr/bin/dscl -plist . readall /Users'

Debug: Executing '/usr/bin/dscl -plist . read /Users/_amavisd ShadowHashData'

Debug: Executing '/usr/bin/dscl -plist . readall /Groups'

Debug: Executing '/usr/bin/dscl -plist . read /Users/_appleevents ShadowHashData'

Debug: Executing '/usr/bin/dscl -plist . read /Users/_appowner ShadowHashData'

Debug: Executing '/usr/bin/dscl -plist . read /Users/_appserver ShadowHashData'

Debug: Executing '/usr/bin/dscl -plist . read /Users/_ard ShadowHashData'

Debug: Executing '/usr/bin/dscl -plist . read /Users/_assetcache ShadowHashData'

Debug: Executing '/usr/bin/dscl -plist . read /Users/_atsserver ShadowHashData'

Debug: Executing '/usr/bin/dscl -plist . read /Users/_avbdeviced ShadowHashData'

Debug: Executing '/usr/bin/dscl -plist . read /Users/_calendar ShadowHashData'

Debug: Executing '/usr/bin/dscl -plist . read /Users/_ces ShadowHashData'

Debug: Executing '/usr/bin/dscl -plist . read /Users/_clamav ShadowHashData'

Debug: Executing '/usr/bin/dscl -plist . read /Users/_coreaudiod ShadowHashData'

Debug: Executing '/usr/bin/dscl -plist . read /Users/_coremediaiod ShadowHashData'

Debug: Executing '/usr/bin/dscl -plist . read /Users/_cvmsroot ShadowHashData'

Debug: Executing '/usr/bin/dscl -plist . read /Users/_cvs ShadowHashData'

Debug: Executing '/usr/bin/dscl -plist . read /Users/_cyrus ShadowHashData'

Debug: Executing '/usr/bin/dscl -plist . read /Users/_devdocs ShadowHashData'

Debug: Executing '/usr/bin/dscl -plist . read /Users/_devicemgr ShadowHashData'

Debug: Executing '/usr/bin/dscl -plist . read /Users/_dovecot ShadowHashData'

Debug: Executing '/usr/bin/dscl -plist . read /Users/_dovenull ShadowHashData'

Debug: Executing '/usr/bin/dscl -plist . read /Users/_dpaudio ShadowHashData'

Debug: Executing '/usr/bin/dscl -plist . read /Users/_eppc ShadowHashData'

Debug: Executing '/usr/bin/dscl -plist . read /Users/_ftp ShadowHashData'

Debug: Executing '/usr/bin/dscl -plist . read /Users/_geod ShadowHashData'

Debug: Executing '/usr/bin/dscl -plist . read /Users/_installassistant ShadowHashData'

Debug: Executing '/usr/bin/dscl -plist . read /Users/_installer ShadowHashData'

Debug: Executing '/usr/bin/dscl -plist . read /Users/_jabber ShadowHashData'

Debug: Executing '/usr/bin/dscl -plist . read /Users/_kadmin_admin ShadowHashData'

Debug: Executing '/usr/bin/dscl -plist . read /Users/_kadmin_changepw ShadowHashData'

Debug: Executing '/usr/bin/dscl -plist . read /Users/_krb_anonymous ShadowHashData'

Debug: Executing '/usr/bin/dscl -plist . read /Users/_krb_changepw ShadowHashData'

Debug: Executing '/usr/bin/dscl -plist . read /Users/_krb_kadmin ShadowHashData'

Debug: Executing '/usr/bin/dscl -plist . read /Users/_krb_kerberos ShadowHashData'

Debug: Executing '/usr/bin/dscl -plist . read /Users/_krb_krbtgt ShadowHashData'

Debug: Executing '/usr/bin/dscl -plist . read /Users/_krbtgt ShadowHashData'

Debug: Executing '/usr/bin/dscl -plist . read /Users/_launchservicesd ShadowHashData'

Debug: Executing '/usr/bin/dscl -plist . read /Users/_lda ShadowHashData'

Debug: Executing '/usr/bin/dscl -plist . read /Users/_locationd ShadowHashData'

Debug: Executing '/usr/bin/dscl -plist . read /Users/_lp ShadowHashData'

Debug: Executing '/usr/bin/dscl -plist . read /Users/_mailman ShadowHashData'

Debug: Executing '/usr/bin/dscl -plist . read /Users/_mcxalr ShadowHashData'

Debug: Executing '/usr/bin/dscl -plist . read /Users/_mdnsresponder ShadowHashData'

Debug: Executing '/usr/bin/dscl -plist . read /Users/_mysql ShadowHashData'

Debug: Executing '/usr/bin/dscl -plist . read /Users/_netbios ShadowHashData'

Debug: Executing '/usr/bin/dscl -plist . read /Users/_netstatistics ShadowHashData'

Debug: Executing '/usr/bin/dscl -plist . read /Users/_networkd ShadowHashData'

Debug: Executing '/usr/bin/dscl -plist . read /Users/_postfix ShadowHashData'

Debug: Executing '/usr/bin/dscl -plist . read /Users/_postgres ShadowHashData'

Debug: Executing '/usr/bin/dscl -plist . read /Users/_qtss ShadowHashData'

Debug: Executing '/usr/bin/dscl -plist . read /Users/_sandbox ShadowHashData'

Debug: Executing '/usr/bin/dscl -plist . read /Users/_screensaver ShadowHashData'

Debug: Executing '/usr/bin/dscl -plist . read /Users/_scsd ShadowHashData'

Debug: Executing '/usr/bin/dscl -plist . read /Users/_securityagent ShadowHashData'

Debug: Executing '/usr/bin/dscl -plist . read /Users/_serialnumberd ShadowHashData'

Debug: Executing '/usr/bin/dscl -plist . read /Users/_softwareupdate ShadowHashData'

Debug: Executing '/usr/bin/dscl -plist . read /Users/_spotlight ShadowHashData'

Debug: Executing '/usr/bin/dscl -plist . read /Users/_sshd ShadowHashData'

Debug: Executing '/usr/bin/dscl -plist . read /Users/_svn ShadowHashData'

Debug: Executing '/usr/bin/dscl -plist . read /Users/_taskgated ShadowHashData'

Debug: Executing '/usr/bin/dscl -plist . read /Users/_teamsserver ShadowHashData'

Debug: Executing '/usr/bin/dscl -plist . read /Users/_timezone ShadowHashData'

Debug: Executing '/usr/bin/dscl -plist . read /Users/_tokend ShadowHashData'

Debug: Executing '/usr/bin/dscl -plist . read /Users/_trustevaluationagent ShadowHashData'

Debug: Executing '/usr/bin/dscl -plist . read /Users/_unknown ShadowHashData'

Debug: Executing '/usr/bin/dscl -plist . read /Users/_update_sharing ShadowHashData'

Debug: Executing '/usr/bin/dscl -plist . read /Users/_usbmuxd ShadowHashData'

Debug: Executing '/usr/bin/dscl -plist . read /Users/_uucp ShadowHashData'

Debug: Executing '/usr/bin/dscl -plist . read /Users/_warmd ShadowHashData'

Debug: Executing '/usr/bin/dscl -plist . read /Users/_webauthserver ShadowHashData'

Debug: Executing '/usr/bin/dscl -plist . read /Users/_windowserver ShadowHashData'

Debug: Executing '/usr/bin/dscl -plist . read /Users/_www ShadowHashData'

Debug: Executing '/usr/bin/dscl -plist . read /Users/_xcsbuildagent ShadowHashData'

Debug: Executing '/usr/bin/dscl -plist . read /Users/_xcscredserver ShadowHashData'

Debug: Executing '/usr/bin/dscl -plist . read /Users/daemon ShadowHashData'

Debug: Executing '/usr/bin/dscl -plist . read /Users/itadmin ShadowHashData'

Debug: Converting binary plist to XML

Debug: Executing: 'plutil -convert xml1 -o - -'

Debug: Converting XML values to a hash.

Debug: Executing '/usr/bin/dscl -plist . read /Users/lshi ShadowHashData'

Debug: Converting binary plist to XML

Debug: Executing: 'plutil -convert xml1 -o - -'

Debug: Converting XML values to a hash.

Debug: Executing '/usr/bin/dscl -plist . read /Users/nobody ShadowHashData'

Debug: Executing '/usr/bin/dscl -plist . read /Users/puppet ShadowHashData'

Debug: Converting binary plist to XML

Debug: Executing: 'plutil -convert xml1 -o - -'

Debug: Converting XML values to a hash.

Error: Could not run: undefined method `[]' for nil:NilClass

/Library/Ruby/Site/puppet/provider/user/directoryservice.rb:229:in `get_salted_sha512_pbkdf2'

/Library/Ruby/Site/puppet/provider/user/directoryservice.rb:154:in `generate_attribute_hash'

/Library/Ruby/Site/puppet/provider/user/directoryservice.rb:87:in `block in instances'

/Library/Ruby/Site/puppet/provider/user/directoryservice.rb:86:in `collect'

/Library/Ruby/Site/puppet/provider/user/directoryservice.rb:86:in `instances'

/Library/Ruby/Site/puppet/type.rb:1135:in `block in instances'

/Library/Ruby/Site/puppet/type.rb:1128:in `collect'

/Library/Ruby/Site/puppet/type.rb:1128:in `instances'

/Library/Ruby/Site/puppet/indirector/resource/ral.rb:15:in `find'

/Library/Ruby/Site/puppet/indirector/indirection.rb:201:in `find'

/Library/Ruby/Site/puppet/application/resource.rb:214:in `find_or_save_resources'

/Library/Ruby/Site/puppet/application/resource.rb:143:in `main'

/Library/Ruby/Site/puppet/application.rb:379:in `run_command'

/Library/Ruby/Site/puppet/application.rb:371:in `block (2 levels) in run'

/Library/Ruby/Site/puppet/application.rb:477:in `plugin_hook'

/Library/Ruby/Site/puppet/application.rb:371:in `block in run'

/Library/Ruby/Site/puppet/util.rb:479:in `exit_on_fail'

/Library/Ruby/Site/puppet/application.rb:371:in `run'

/Library/Ruby/Site/puppet/util/command_line.rb:137:in `run'

/Library/Ruby/Site/puppet/util/command_line.rb:91:in `execute'

/usr/bin/puppet:8:in `<main>'

I thought it might have something to do with password encryption, but I have looked all over and am lost.

[Lars Cromley]

Anyone else having issues with this, I managed to find a fix although more of a dirty workaround.


The issue stems from a malformed puppet user with improper password. I was able to copy the plist file from a known good machine (location /var/db/dslocal/node/Default/users/puppet.plist)

And everything started to work.