Packer option -var-file=path interpretated with double backslashe

[spawn451]

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Overview of the Issue

I'm trying to run Packer from a Powershell script. I use the -var-file=path option to specify the path of my HCL configuration files.
This does not work, Packer can't read the files because the specified paths are always interpreted with double backslashes.

Reproduction Steps

Sample of my powershell script :

# Run Packer
$CONFIG_PATH = (Get-Item .).FullName
$VSPHERE_FILE = "$CONFIG_PATH\vsphere.pkrvars.hcl"
$VAULT_FILE = "$CONFIG_PATH\vault.pkr.hcl"
$COMMON_FILE = "$CONFIG_PATH\common.pkrvars.hcl"
$SCRIPT_PATH = (Get-Item .).FullName
$INPUT_PATH = "$SCRIPT_PATH\builds\windows\server\2022\"

packer init $INPUT_PATH

packer build -force -only vsphere-iso.windows-server-standard-dexp,vsphere-iso.windows-server-standard-core -var-file="$VSPHERE_FILE" -var-file="$VAULT_FILE" -var-file="$COMMON_FILE" "$INPUT_PATH"

Output :

PS D:\_DevOps\_Packer\templates-vmware_v2> D:\_DevOps\_Packer\templates-vmware_v2\build.ps1
Error: Failed to read file

The configuration file
"D:\\_DevOps\\_Packer\\templates-vmware_v2\\vsphere.pkrvars.hcl" could not be
read.

Error: Failed to read file

The configuration file
"D:\\_DevOps\\_Packer\\templates-vmware_v2\\vault.pkr.hcl" could not be read.

Error: Failed to read file

The configuration file
"D:\\_DevOps\\_Packer\\templates-vmware_v2\\common.pkrvars.hcl" could not be
read.

Packer version

From 1.9.4

Operating system and Environment details

Windows 10 22H2

Log Fragments and crash.log files

log detail.

PS D:\_DevOps\_Packer\templates-vmware_v2> D:\_DevOps\_Packer\templates-vmware_v2\build.ps1 packer : 2023/11/30 11:43:17 [INFO] Packer version: 1.9.4 [go1.20.7 windows amd64] Au caractère D:\_DevOps\_Packer\templates-vmware_v2\build.ps1:47 : 1 + packer init $INPUT_PATH + ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ + CategoryInfo : NotSpecified: (2023/11/30 11:4... windows amd64]:String) [], RemoteException + FullyQualifiedErrorId : NativeCommandError

2023/11/30 11:43:17 [TRACE] discovering plugins in C:\Program Files\HashiCorp
2023/11/30 11:43:17 [TRACE] discovering plugins in .
2023/11/30 11:43:17 [TRACE] discovering plugins in C:\Users\DJE\AppData\Roaming\packer.d\plugins
2023/11/30 11:43:17 [INFO] Discovered potential plugin: ansible = C:\Users\DJE\AppData\Roaming\packer.d\plugins\github.com\hashicorp\ansible\packer-plugin-ansible_v1.1.1_x5.0_windows_amd64.exe
2023/11/30 11:43:17 [INFO] Discovered potential plugin: vsphere = C:\Users\DJE\AppData\Roaming\packer.d\plugins\github.com\hashicorp\vsphere\packer-plugin-vsphere_v1.2.2_x5.0_windows_amd64.exe
2023/11/30 11:43:17 [INFO] Discovered potential plugin: windows-update = C:\Users\DJE\AppData\Roaming\packer.d\plugins\github.com\rgl\windows-update\packer-plugin-windows-update_v0.14.3_x5.0_windows_amd64.exe
2023/11/30 11:43:17 found external [-packer-default-plugin-name- local] provisioner from ansible plugin
2023/11/30 11:43:18 [INFO] found external [clone iso supervisor] builders from vsphere plugin
2023/11/30 11:43:18 [INFO] found external [-packer-default-plugin-name- template] post-processors from vsphere plugin
2023/11/30 11:43:18 found external [-packer-default-plugin-name-] provisioner from windows-update plugin
2023/11/30 11:43:18 [INFO] PACKER_CONFIG env var not set; checking the default config file path
2023/11/30 11:43:18 [INFO] PACKER_CONFIG env var set; attempting to open config file: C:\Users\DJE\AppData\Roaming\packer.config
2023/11/30 11:43:18 [WARN] Config file doesn't exist: C:\Users\DJE\AppData\Roaming\packer.config
2023/11/30 11:43:18 [INFO] Setting cache directory: D:_DevOps_Packer\templates-vmware_v2\packer_cache
e: cannot determine if process is in background: Process background check error: not implemented yet
2023/11/30 11:43:18 [TRACE] init: plugingetter.ListInstallationsOptions{FromFolders:[]string{"C:\Program Files\HashiCorp", ".", "C:\Users\DJE\AppData\Roaming\packer.d\plugins"},
BinaryInstallationOptions:plugingetter.BinaryInstallationOptions{APIVersionMajor:"5", APIVersionMinor:"0", OS:"windows", ARCH:"amd64", Ext:".exe", Checksummers:[]plugingetter.Checksummer{plugingetter.Checksummer{Type:"sha256",
Hash:(*sha256.digest)(0xc0004ea480)}}}}
2023/11/30 11:43:18 [TRACE] listing potential installations for "github.com/hashicorp/vsphere" that match ">= 1.2.1". plugingetter.ListInstallationsOptions{FromFolders:[]string{"C:\Program Files\HashiCorp", ".",
"C:\Users\DJE\AppData\Roaming\packer.d\plugins"}, BinaryInstallationOptions:plugingetter.BinaryInstallationOptions{APIVersionMajor:"5", APIVersionMinor:"0", OS:"windows", ARCH:"amd64", Ext:".exe",
Checksummers:[]plugingetter.Checksummer{plugingetter.Checksummer{Type:"sha256", Hash:(*sha256.digest)(0xc0004ea480)}}}}
2023/11/30 11:43:18 [TRACE] for plugin github.com/hashicorp/vsphere found 1 matching installation(s)
2023/11/30 11:43:18 [TRACE] listing potential installations for "github.com/rgl/windows-update" that match ">= 0.14.3". plugingetter.ListInstallationsOptions{FromFolders:[]string{"C:\Program Files\HashiCorp", ".",
"C:\Users\DJE\AppData\Roaming\packer.d\plugins"}, BinaryInstallationOptions:plugingetter.BinaryInstallationOptions{APIVersionMajor:"5", APIVersionMinor:"0", OS:"windows", ARCH:"amd64", Ext:".exe",
Checksummers:[]plugingetter.Checksummer{plugingetter.Checksummer{Type:"sha256", Hash:(*sha256.digest)(0xc0004ea480)}}}}
2023/11/30 11:43:18 [TRACE] for plugin github.com/rgl/windows-update found 1 matching installation(s)
2023/11/30 11:43:18 [INFO] (telemetry) Finalizing.
2023/11/30 11:43:18 waiting for all plugin processes to complete...
packer : 2023/11/30 11:43:19 [INFO] Packer version: 1.9.4 [go1.20.7 windows amd64]
Au caractère D:_DevOps_Packer\templates-vmware_v2\build.ps1:49 : 1

• packer build -force -only vsphere-iso.windows-server-standard-dexp,vs ...

•   + CategoryInfo          : NotSpecified: (2023/11/30 11:4... windows amd64]:String) [], RemoteException
    + FullyQualifiedErrorId : NativeCommandError
  
  

2023/11/30 11:43:19 [TRACE] discovering plugins in C:\Program Files\HashiCorp
2023/11/30 11:43:19 [TRACE] discovering plugins in .
2023/11/30 11:43:19 [TRACE] discovering plugins in C:\Users\DJE\AppData\Roaming\packer.d\plugins
2023/11/30 11:43:19 [INFO] Discovered potential plugin: ansible = C:\Users\DJE\AppData\Roaming\packer.d\plugins\github.com\hashicorp\ansible\packer-plugin-ansible_v1.1.1_x5.0_windows_amd64.exe
2023/11/30 11:43:19 [INFO] Discovered potential plugin: vsphere = C:\Users\DJE\AppData\Roaming\packer.d\plugins\github.com\hashicorp\vsphere\packer-plugin-vsphere_v1.2.2_x5.0_windows_amd64.exe
2023/11/30 11:43:19 [INFO] Discovered potential plugin: windows-update = C:\Users\DJE\AppData\Roaming\packer.d\plugins\github.com\rgl\windows-update\packer-plugin-windows-update_v0.14.3_x5.0_windows_amd64.exe
2023/11/30 11:43:19 [INFO] found external [clone iso supervisor] builders from vsphere plugin
2023/11/30 11:43:19 [INFO] found external [-packer-default-plugin-name- template] post-processors from vsphere plugin
2023/11/30 11:43:19 found external [-packer-default-plugin-name-] provisioner from windows-update plugin
2023/11/30 11:43:19 found external [-packer-default-plugin-name- local] provisioner from ansible plugin
2023/11/30 11:43:19 [INFO] PACKER_CONFIG env var not set; checking the default config file path
2023/11/30 11:43:19 [INFO] PACKER_CONFIG env var set; attempting to open config file: C:\Users\DJE\AppData\Roaming\packer.config
2023/11/30 11:43:19 [WARN] Config file doesn't exist: C:\Users\DJE\AppData\Roaming\packer.config
2023/11/30 11:43:19 [INFO] Setting cache directory: D:_DevOps_Packer\templates-vmware_v2\packer_cache
e: cannot determine if process is in background: Process background check error: not implemented yet
The configuration file
"D:\_DevOps\_Packer\templates-vmware_v2\vsphere.pkrvars.hcl" could not be
read.
Error: Failed to read file
Error: Failed to read file
The configuration file
"D:\_DevOps\_Packer\templates-vmware_v2\vault.pkr.hcl" could not be read.
Error: Failed to read file

The configuration file
"D:\_DevOps\_Packer\templates-vmware_v2\common.pkrvars.hcl" could not be
read.
2023/11/30 11:43:19 [INFO] (telemetry) Finalizing.
The configuration file
"D:\_DevOps\_Packer\templates-vmware_v2\vsphere.pkrvars.hcl" could not be
read.

Error: Failed to read file

The configuration file
"D:\_DevOps\_Packer\templates-vmware_v2\vault.pkr.hcl" could not be read.

Error: Failed to read file

The configuration file
"D:\_DevOps\_Packer\templates-vmware_v2\common.pkrvars.hcl" could not be
read.

2023/11/30 11:43:19 waiting for all plugin processes to complete...

[lbajolet-hashicorp]

Hi @spawn451,

The escaped \\ you see are a cosmetic problem more than a bug in Packer in this case. The messages are printed out with %s, which when used in Go's format-strings print out the argument as a quoted and escaped string following Go rules, such that you could import it in a Go file and see the source string verbatim.

The error you're getting is likely to be something else here, unfortunately the hcl library which implements the code producing the diagnostic you see does not include the error in its output, which I'll submit a PR for soon. If accepted we'll get more insight in the problem itself.

Aside from that, I think you may have a usage problem, I presume the first error is thrown by packer init, and the others are thrown by packer build?
Could you share the layout of your file hierarchy so we can figure out if there's something to fix in the command-line itself?

Thanks!

[spawn451]

Hello thanks! After carefully reading the log, I noticed that the escaped \\ was indeed cosmetic as you said.

for the packer build issue :
I found out that my paths were not correctly defined. The builds folder was missing.

$VSPHERE_FILE = "$CONFIG_PATH\builds\vsphere.pkrvars.hcl"
...

for the packer init issue :
This appen when I execute my Powershell script using Windows PowerShell ISE.
No more packer init error when executing the script with the Windows PowerShell console.

[lbajolet-hashicorp]

Hi @spawn451,

I closed the issue since from the last message you shared this looks like it was fixed, and not a Packer bug.

Feel free to reopen if I'm mistaken!

[github-actions]

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