terraform always asks for login if AZURE_CONFIG_DIR is different from the default

[ghost]

This issue was originally opened by @rnsc as hashicorp/terraform#24193. It was migrated here as a result of the provider split. The original body of the issue is below.

---

Terraform Version

Terraform v0.12.21

Terraform Configuration Files

# The default provider configuration
provider "azurerm" {
  subscription_id = "MySubscriptionId"
}

Crash Output

Error: Error building AzureRM Client: Error populating Client ID from the Azure CLI: No Authorization Tokens were found - please ensure the Azure CLI is installed and then log-in with `az login`.

Expected Behavior

Terraform should support the AZURE_CONFIG_DIR env var (which is supported by Azure CLI).

Actual Behavior

Terraform complains that I'm not logged in, even though I am.

Steps to Reproduce

Configure your env with the AZURE_CONFIG_DIR set to something other than "$HOME/.azure".
Do az login and confirm that the AZURE_CONFIG_DIR is populated with the Azure CLI session files.
Run terraform and it will complain that you need to login.

Additional Context

Azure CLI reference:
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/cli/azure/azure-cli-configuration?view=azure-cli-latest#cli-configuration-file

[rnsc]

Hello,

Is this on the radar?
Will it be implemented?

Kind regards,

[rnsc]

ping @jbardin

[tomklino]

I would like to provide some further info if that will help with the issue.

I ran terraform plan with strace watching for file access while AZURE_CONFIG_DIR is set to a directory different than the default. Strace shows the following:

$ strace -e file -f -s99999 -o /tmp/terraform.strace terraform plan
...
4393  openat(AT_FDCWD, "/home/toklinov/.azureconfigs/lutraman/azureProfile.json", O_RDONLY|O_CLOEXEC) = 13
4393  openat(AT_FDCWD, "/home/toklinov/.azure/accessTokens.json", O_RDONLY|O_CLOEXEC) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
...

The first line is showing that terraform is loading the azureProfile.json from the location pointed to by the value at AZURE_CONFIG_DIR, the second line show terraform trying to load the accessTokens.json file from the default location.

I hope this helps in moving this issue further

[ghost]

This has been released in version 2.16.0 of the provider. Please see the Terraform documentation on provider versioning or reach out if you need any assistance upgrading. As an example:

provider "azurerm" {
    version = "~> 2.16.0"
}
# ... other configuration ...

[arkiaconsulting]

We're still having the issue when using an Azure backend state.
Is this on the provider team side, or on terraform one ?

[ghost]

I'm going to lock this issue because it has been closed for 30 days ⏳. This helps our maintainers find and focus on the active issues.

If you feel this issue should be reopened, we encourage creating a new issue linking back to this one for added context. If you feel I made an error 🤖 🙉 , please reach out to my human friends 👉 hashibot-feedback@hashicorp.com. Thanks!