syslog_return failing on Centos7

[soostdijck]

Description of Issue/Question

I'm trying to set up a the syslog returner but I'm getting the following error:

minion log

2018-07-12 14:15:13,372 [salt.minion      :1729][ERROR   ][4039] The return failed for job 20180712141512530947: openlog() argument 1 must be string, not unicode
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/site-packages/salt/minion.py", line 1720, in _thread_return
    minion_instance.returners[returner_str](ret)
  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/site-packages/salt/returners/syslog_return.py", line 202, in returner
    syslog.openlog(_options.get('tag', 'salt-minion'), logoption)
TypeError: openlog() argument 1 must be string, not unicode

master log

2018-07-12 14:20:04,023 [salt.master      :2201][CRITICAL][5015] The specified returner used for the external job cache "syslog" does not have a save_load function!

Setup

master config

fileserver_backend:
  - roots

# file_roots are updated by cron every min via /etc/cron.d/salt-update
# NOTE vagrant has it's own master config that is copied when vagrant
# provisions the machines
pillar_roots:
  base:
    - /vagrant/salt/salt # this contains the vagrant specific top.sls pushed by vagrant
    - /export/salt/state # this is the shared folder for ncc-top
    - /export/formula-core
    - /export/formula-access
    - /export/formula-services

file_roots:
  base:
    - /export/salt/state
    - /export/salt-file-store

pillar_merge_lists: True

# specify a default returner for all minions (must be in master config)
ext_job_cache: syslog

minion config

master: 192.168.50.10

log_level: warning

state_output: changes
state_tabular: True

syslog:
  level: 'LOG_INFO'
  facility: 'LOG_DAEMON'
  tag: 'salt-minion'
  options:
    - LOG_PID

Steps to Reproduce Issue

The issue seems to only occur when I run the command below on the master. On the minion the error does not happen.

salt 'minion1*' test.ping --return syslog

Versions Report

Salt Version:
           Salt: 2018.3.2

Dependency Versions:
           cffi: 1.6.0
       cherrypy: Not Installed
       dateutil: Not Installed
      docker-py: Not Installed
          gitdb: 0.6.4
      gitpython: 1.0.1
          ioflo: Not Installed
         Jinja2: 2.7.2
        libgit2: 0.26.3
        libnacl: Not Installed
       M2Crypto: Not Installed
           Mako: Not Installed
   msgpack-pure: Not Installed
 msgpack-python: 0.5.1
   mysql-python: Not Installed
      pycparser: 2.14
       pycrypto: 2.6.1
   pycryptodome: Not Installed
         pygit2: 0.26.4
         Python: 2.7.5 (default, Apr 11 2018, 07:36:10)
   python-gnupg: Not Installed
         PyYAML: 3.11
          PyZMQ: 15.3.0
           RAET: Not Installed
          smmap: 0.9.0
        timelib: Not Installed
        Tornado: 4.2.1
            ZMQ: 4.1.4

System Versions:
           dist: centos 7.5.1804 Core
         locale: ANSI_X3.4-1968
        machine: x86_64
        release: 3.10.0-862.2.3.el7.x86_64
         system: Linux
        version: CentOS Linux 7.5.1804 Core

[Ch3LL]

looks like i'm able to replicate this. Working on a fix right now

[soostdijck]

Great, can this be added for 2018.3.3 please?

[Ch3LL]

yep it will already be included in that release :)