sysctl doesn't work for keys that contain slash, e.g. VLANs

[jktjkt]

It is OK to have sysctl keys with slashes in them:

[root@potemkin02 ~]# sysctl net.ipv4.conf.bond0/122.rp_filter
net.ipv4.conf.bond0/122.rp_filter = 1

However, it seems that one cannot really apply them. The following Puppet manifest:

    sysctl { 'net.ipv4.conf.bond0/122.rp_filter':
        ensure  => present,
        value   => 2,
        require => Service['network'],
    }

...results in this:

Error: Could not set 'present' on ensure: /augeas/files/etc/sysctl.conf/error/path = /files/etc/sysctl.conf
/augeas/files/etc/sysctl.conf/error/lens = /usr/share/augeas/lenses/dist/sysctl.aug:36.10-.52:
/augeas/files/etc/sysctl.conf/error/message = Malformed child node 'net.ipv4.conf.bond0' at 105:/etc/puppet/environments/test_vlans/modules/vesnicky/manifests/network.pp
Error: Could not set 'present' on ensure: /augeas/files/etc/sysctl.conf/error/path = /files/etc/sysctl.conf
/augeas/files/etc/sysctl.conf/error/lens = /usr/share/augeas/lenses/dist/sysctl.aug:36.10-.52:
/augeas/files/etc/sysctl.conf/error/message = Malformed child node 'net.ipv4.conf.bond0' at 105:/etc/puppet/environments/test_vlans/modules/vesnicky/manifests/network.pp
Wrapped exception:
/augeas/files/etc/sysctl.conf/error/path = /files/etc/sysctl.conf
/augeas/files/etc/sysctl.conf/error/lens = /usr/share/augeas/lenses/dist/sysctl.aug:36.10-.52:
/augeas/files/etc/sysctl.conf/error/message = Malformed child node 'net.ipv4.conf.bond0'
Error: /Stage[main]/Vesnicky::Network/Sysctl[net.ipv4.conf.bond0/122.rp_filter]/ensure: change from absent to present failed: Could not set 'present' on ensure: /augeas/files/etc/sysctl.conf/error/path = /files/etc/sysctl.conf
/augeas/files/etc/sysctl.conf/error/lens = /usr/share/augeas/lenses/dist/sysctl.aug:36.10-.52:
/augeas/files/etc/sysctl.conf/error/message = Malformed child node 'net.ipv4.conf.bond0' at 105:/etc/puppet/environments/test_vlans/modules/vesnicky/manifests/network.pp

[domcleal]

I don't think Augeas itself will support this, as it stores the sysctl name in the label of the node, so it can't contain slashes. We'll need to fix this in Augeas first, which is going to be very disruptive...

[jktjkt]

Is there something I can do to help bring this forward?

[raphink]

I remember hitting this issue before, and thinking that sysctl should be parsed as subnodes with [/\.] as the separator for levels.

However, this definitely means breaking compatibility for the lens.

I'm opening hercules-team/augeas#176 for this.

[trevor-vaughan]

I don't have an easy way to test this but why not munge the name so that all slashes are escaped in the provider?

[raphink]

@trevor-vaughan the problem though is down to the Augeas lens here. There is currently no way to set such keys in the lens.

[trevor-vaughan]

That makes sense and I certainly see the issue.

So, this would be a core patch to augeas to allow for the specification of an alternate key separator?

I would vote for a pipe since that tends to be the usual regex alternative that I've seen used.

[raphink]

@trevor-vaughan ah, you would just remap "/" as "|" in the labels?

[trevor-vaughan]

Yeah, I would give the user the ability to either use '/' or '|' as they desire so long as it is consistent within a given reference.

Alternatively, you could support escapes in keys but that seems hideous and prone to insanity.

[raphink]

As far as the Augeas lens is concerned, supporting / is not possible in labels, hence my suggestion to make a backward incompatible change.

[trevor-vaughan]

Would it be possible to support both? If '/' is the first character, that's the separator, if '|' is, then that is the separator.

Basically, either should be supported since that gives you a way to ensure that you cover all key cases (ok, except for keys that have both / and | but that's crazy and I don't want to live on those systems).

[raphink]

It's not possible in tree, but it could be remapped in the provider as you suggested. However, I'm not a big fan of this. | currently means nothing in sysctl, but who knows if it couldn't mean something in future versions? So I'd rather fix the lens properly (which imo means splitting on \.|/)

[raphink]

@trevor-vaughan when it comes to the lens itself, it would be better to discuss this in hercules-team/augeas#176

[isaiahfrantz]

Has there been any fixes/workarounds for this issue?

[johnwarburton]

Please check voxpupuli/puppet-augeasproviders_sysctl#17