OCI Backend cannot configure "bucket" attribute using environmental variable

[maksym-dilanian]

Terraform Version

Terraform v1.12.2
 on linux_amd64

Terraform Configuration Files

provider "oci" {
  auth                = "SecurityToken"
  config_file_profile = "DEFAULT"
  region              = "us-chicago-1"
}

terraform {
  required_version = ">= 1.12.0"
  required_providers {
    oci = {
      source  = "oracle/oci"
      version = "~> 6.0"
    }
  }
  backend "oci" {
    namespace         = "REDACTED"
    auth              = "SecurityToken"
    config_file_profile = "DEFAULT"
  }
}

resource "oci_objectstorage_bucket" "this" {
  compartment_id = "ocid1.compartment.oc1..REDACTED"
  name           = "my-bucket"
  namespace      = "REDACTED"
}

Debug Output

terraform_trace.log

Expected Behavior

OCI backend configuration argument bucket is set using environmental variable OCI_bucket as described in the documentation:

You can configure the OCI Terraform backend using environment variables. This provides flexibility and simplifies automation workflows.
For any backend attribute (e.g., region), you can set its value using one of the following environment variable formats:
[...]
OCI_ – OCI SDK-compatible environment variable

Actual Behavior

init fails:

+ terraform init -force-copy
 Initializing the backend...
 bucket
   The name of the OCI Object Storage bucket.
 
   Enter a value: 
 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! TERRAFORM CRASH !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 
 Terraform crashed! This is always indicative of a bug within Terraform.
 Please report the crash with Terraform[1] so that we can fix this.
 
 When reporting bugs, please include your terraform version, the stack trace
 shown below, and any additional information which may help replicate the issue.
 
 [1]: https://github.com/hashicorp/terraform/issues
 
 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! TERRAFORM CRASH !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 
 panic: invalid path: at step 0: cannot access attributes on a null value
 goroutine 1 [running]:
 runtime/debug.Stack()
 	runtime/debug/stack.go:26 +0x5e
 github.com/hashicorp/terraform/internal/logging.PanicHandler()
 	github.com/hashicorp/terraform/internal/logging/panic.go:84 +0x16a
 panic({0x31be1a0?, 0xc0005e13b0?})
 	runtime/panic.go:792 +0x132
 github.com/hashicorp/terraform/internal/backend/backendbase.GetPathDefault({{{0x4067f80?, 0xc0005e1290?}}, {0x0?, 0x0?}}, {0xc0005e1350?, 0x472e19?, 0x10?}, {{{0x4067d18, 0xc00012eccf}}, {0x31be1a0, ...}})
 	github.com/hashicorp/terraform/internal/backend/backendbase/helper.go:28 +0x128
 github.com/hashicorp/terraform/internal/backend/backendbase.GetAttrDefault({{{0x4067f80?, 0xc0005e1290?}}, {0x0?, 0x0?}}, {0x3932a0d, 0x6}, {{{0x4067d18, 0xc00012eccf}}, {0x31be1a0, 0xc0005e1340}})
 	github.com/hashicorp/terraform/internal/backend/backendbase/helper.go:39 +0x137
 github.com/hashicorp/terraform/internal/backend/remote-state/oci.getBackendAttrWithDefault({{{0x4067f80?, 0xc0005e1290?}}, {0x0?, 0x0?}}, {0x3932a0d, 0x6}, {0x0?, 0x0?})
 	github.com/hashicorp/terraform/internal/backend/remote-state/oci@v0.0.0-00010101000000-000000000000/util.go:81 +0xf2
 github.com/hashicorp/terraform/internal/backend/remote-state/oci.getBackendAttr(...)
 	github.com/hashicorp/terraform/internal/backend/remote-state/oci@v0.0.0-00010101000000-000000000000/util.go:86
 github.com/hashicorp/terraform/internal/backend/remote-state/oci.(*Backend).Configure(0xc0006e57a0, {{{0x4067f80?, 0xc0005e1290?}}, {0x0?, 0x0?}})
 	github.com/hashicorp/terraform/internal/backend/remote-state/oci@v0.0.0-00010101000000-000000000000/backend.go:221 +0x89
 github.com/hashicorp/terraform/internal/command.(*Meta).backendInitFromConfig(0xc0000ece00, 0xc000922e60)
 	github.com/hashicorp/terraform/internal/command/meta_backend.go:1421 +0x7a4
 github.com/hashicorp/terraform/internal/command.(*Meta).backend_C_r_s(0xc0000ece00, 0xc000922e60, 0x6665a983, 0xc000c00d20, 0xc000817538)
 	github.com/hashicorp/terraform/internal/command/meta_backend.go:989 +0x976
 github.com/hashicorp/terraform/internal/command.(*Meta).backendFromConfig(0xc0000ece00, 0xc000817538)
 	github.com/hashicorp/terraform/internal/command/meta_backend.go:638 +0x1865
 github.com/hashicorp/terraform/internal/command.(*Meta).Backend(0xc0000ece00, 0x0?)
 	github.com/hashicorp/terraform/internal/command/meta_backend.go:105 +0x6a
 github.com/hashicorp/terraform/internal/command.(*InitCommand).initBackend(0xc0000ece00, {0x4067ab0?, 0xc0006f80f0?}, 0xc0009e8000, {{0x394b5fb?, 0xc000817680?}, 0xc0007e6fc0?}, 0x48, {0x406de20, 0xc000122370})
 	github.com/hashicorp/terraform/internal/command/init.go:499 +0x72f
 github.com/hashicorp/terraform/internal/command.(*InitCommand).Run(0xc0000ece00, {0xc000120230?, 0x0?, 0x0?})
 	github.com/hashicorp/terraform/internal/command/init.go:187 +0xf6e
 github.com/hashicorp/cli.(*CLI).Run(0xc000b8c3c0)
 	github.com/hashicorp/cli@v1.1.7/cli.go:265 +0x4de
 main.realMain()
 	github.com/hashicorp/terraform/main.go:339 +0x1deb
 main.main()
 	github.com/hashicorp/terraform/main.go:64 +0x13

Steps to Reproduce

1. Set environmental variable for bucket

export OCI_bucket="core-01-system"

2. terraform init -force-copy

Additional Context

Terraform is running in a K8s pod with Jenkins pipeline.

References

• Terraform Backend with OCI Object Storage #34465
• Added Terraform backend implementation for OCI Object Storage #36872

Generative AI / LLM assisted development?

No response

[crw]

Thanks for filing this issue! Just FYI the OCI backend is maintained by Oracle engineers @ravinitp @pvkrishnachaitanya -- tagging them so they see this issue, also just a heads-up on the responsible party here.

[ravinitp]

Hi @maksym-dilanian ,
Thank you for reporting this issue. I’m currently looking into it to better understand the root cause and work toward a resolution. For now, as a workaround, please use the -backend-config flag and pass the required values at runtime to address this issue.

Feel free to share any additional details or logs that might help in diagnosing the problem further. I’ll keep you updated on progress.