"salt --subset=n" appears to always choose the same nodes

[starchy]

I have the following cronjob on my salt-master:
* * * * * /usr/bin/salt --subset=1 '*' state.highstate >> /var/log/salt/cron.log
If I check cron.log, I see that highstate is running on the same node every time. This node happens to be both the node most recently added and the last alphabetically, web2.example.com. The results are the same at the command line:

root@salt1:/srv# salt --subset=1 '*' test.ping
web2.example.com:
    True
root@salt1:/srv# salt --subset=1 '*' test.ping
web2.example.com:
    True

Going to --subset=2 the results are a little better, but web2 always returns, and the distribution is otherwise a bit suspicious:

root@salt1:/srv# salt --subset=2 '*' test.ping
dhcp-wireless.int.example.com:
    True
web2.example.com:
    True
root@salt1:/srv# salt --subset=2 '*' test.ping
backup3.example.com:
    True
web2.example.com:
    True
root@salt1:/srv# salt --subset=2 '*' test.ping
backup3.example.com:
    True
web2.example.com:
    True
root@salt1:/srv# salt --subset=2 '*' test.ping
dhcp-wireless.int.example.com:
    True
web2.example.com:
    True
root@salt1:/srv# salt --subset=2 '*' test.ping
dhcp-wireless.int.example.com:
    True
web2.example.com:
    True
root@salt1:/srv# salt --subset=2 '*' test.ping
dhcp-wireless.int.example.com:
    True
web2.example.com:
    True

---subset=3 introduces a fourth node into the mix, but the distribution isn't any better:

root@salt1:/srv# salt --subset=3 '*' test.ping
dhcp-wireless.int.example.com:
    True
web2.example.com:
    True
jabber.example.com:
    True
root@salt1:/srv# salt --subset=3 '*' test.ping
backup3.example.com:
    True
jabber.example.com:
    True
web2.example.com:
    True
root@salt1:/srv# salt --subset=3 '*' test.ping
dhcp-wireless.int.example.com:
    True
jabber.example.com:
    True
web2.example.com:
    True

There are more than four nodes available:

root@salt1:/srv# salt '*' test.ping|grep True|wc -l
23

I'm running on Debian Wheezy.

root@salt1:/srv# salt --versions-report
           Salt: 2014.7.1
         Python: 2.7.3 (default, Mar 13 2014, 11:03:55)
         Jinja2: 2.6
       M2Crypto: 0.21.1
 msgpack-python: 0.1.10
   msgpack-pure: Not Installed
       pycrypto: 2.6
        libnacl: Not Installed
         PyYAML: 3.10
          ioflo: Not Installed
          PyZMQ: 13.1.0
           RAET: Not Installed
            ZMQ: 3.2.3
           Mako: 0.7.0

[jfindlay]

@starchy, thanks for the report.

[ahammond]

I've seen this behavior too. I thought it was intentional. :)

[rallytime]

I can confirm that this behavior is fixed with #35720. Thanks @hu-dabao!

root@rallytime:~/SaltStack/salt# salt --subset=1 '*' test.ping
test-minion:
    True
root@rallytime:~/SaltStack/salt# salt --subset=1 '*' test.ping
rallytime:
    True

[rallytime]

FYI @starchy ^