cron.present state errors when checking for existing user crontab

[MattHoy]

Description of Issue/Question

Using the cron.present state errors, stating no crontab is present, but then fails to install the crontab for the specified user.

Expected behaviour:
Salt checks for prod user crontab, if present, end, if not present, install the users crontab.

Actual behaviour:
Salt errors while checking for user crontab, then the state advises it ran successfully without installing a crontab.

Setup

SLS file is as follows:

user-prod:
cron.file:
- name: salt://core/cron/prod
- replace: False
- user: prod

Steps to Reproduce Issue

When calling the state directly, or via a highstate it always returns the below output,
[root@pvt-kx02-sv005 cron]# salt-call state.sls core.cron
[ERROR ] Command 'crontab -u prod -l' failed with return code: 1
[ERROR ] stderr: no crontab for prod

[ERROR ] retcode: 1
ID: user-prod
Function: cron.file
Name: salt://core/cron/prod
Result: True
Comment: User prod already has a crontab. No changes made
Started: 15:23:57.142780
Duration: 10.013 ms
Changes:

Running the command directly confirms there is no prod crontab:
[root@SERVERNAME cron]# crontab -u prod -l
no crontab for prod

[root@SERVERNAME ~]# cd /var/spool/cron/
[root@SERVERNAME cron]# ls
root

Versions Report

(Provided by running salt --versions-report. Please also mention any differences in master/minion versions.)
[root@MINION cron]# salt-minion --versions-report
Salt Version:
Salt: 2017.7.4

Dependency Versions:
cffi: Not Installed
cherrypy: Not Installed
dateutil: Not Installed
docker-py: Not Installed
gitdb: Not Installed
gitpython: Not Installed
ioflo: Not Installed
Jinja2: 2.7.2
libgit2: Not Installed
libnacl: Not Installed
M2Crypto: Not Installed
Mako: Not Installed
msgpack-pure: Not Installed
msgpack-python: 0.4.8
mysql-python: Not Installed
pycparser: Not Installed
pycrypto: 2.6.1
pycryptodome: Not Installed
pygit2: Not Installed
Python: 2.7.5 (default, Jun 17 2014, 18:11:42)
python-gnupg: Not Installed
PyYAML: 3.11
PyZMQ: 15.3.0
RAET: Not Installed
smmap: Not Installed
timelib: Not Installed
Tornado: 4.2.1
ZMQ: 4.1.4

System Versions:
dist: centos 7.0.1406 Core
locale: UTF-8
machine: x86_64
release: 3.10.0-123.el7.x86_64
system: Linux
version: CentOS Linux 7.0.1406 Core

[root@MASTER] # salt --versions-report
Salt Version:
Salt: 2017.7.4

Dependency Versions:
cffi: 1.11.4
cherrypy: Not Installed
dateutil: Not Installed
docker-py: Not Installed
gitdb: Not Installed
gitpython: Not Installed
ioflo: Not Installed
Jinja2: 2.10
libgit2: Not Installed
libnacl: Not Installed
M2Crypto: Not Installed
Mako: Not Installed
msgpack-pure: Not Installed
msgpack-python: 0.4.8
mysql-python: Not Installed
pycparser: 2.14
pycrypto: 2.6.1
pycryptodome: Not Installed
pygit2: Not Installed
Python: 2.7.5 (default, Aug 4 2017, 00:39:18)
python-gnupg: Not Installed
PyYAML: 3.12
PyZMQ: 15.3.0
RAET: Not Installed
smmap: Not Installed
timelib: Not Installed
Tornado: 4.2.1
ZMQ: 4.1.4

System Versions:
dist: centos 7.4.1708 Core
locale: UTF-8
machine: x86_64
release: 3.10.0-514.21.2.el7.x86_64
system: Linux
version: CentOS Linux 7.4.1708 Core

[gtmanfred]

Thanks for reporting this.

Daniel

[MattHoy]

I see this has been merged to develop but the bug is still present in 2018.3.2, any idea when it will make it to release?

[gtmanfred]

I have marked it to be backported to 2018.3 and 2017.7

[rallytime]

Here is some documentation on the release/branch topology, if you're interested:

https://docs.saltstack.com/en/latest/topics/development/contributing.html#salt-s-branch-topology

[MattHoy]

Thanks team.