aws_cloudformation_stack: template_body not interpolated? #5462

alsonkemp · 2016-03-04T21:31:53Z

I'm on 0.6.12. I have the following resource:

resource "aws_cloudformation_stack" "app_cloudfront" { 
  name = "app_cloudfront" 
  template_body = "${template_file.web_app_cloudfront.rendered}" 
}

I'm getting JSON errors, so I added a debug printf to terraform's normalizeJson to see how I had messed up the JSON. The printf yielded the following:

Results in: 2016/03/04 12:18:23 [DEBUG] terraform-provider-aws: 2016/03/04 12:18:23 [DEBUG] JSON STRING: ${template_file.web_app_cloudfront.rendered}

So it appears that the template_body was not interpolated?

The text was updated successfully, but these errors were encountered:

phinze · 2016-03-04T23:06:05Z

Hi @alsonkemp - sorry for the trouble here.

I just did a quick local test and was unable to reproduce the uninterpolated template_body on my first couple of tries. Here's the test config I'm working with:

resource "template_file" "networkstack" {
    template = <<STACK
{
  "Resources" : {
    "MyVPC": {
      "Type" : "AWS::EC2::VPC",
      "Properties" : {
        "CidrBlock" : "10.0.0.0/16",
        "Tags" : [
          {"Key": "Name", "Value": "Primary_CF_VPC"}
        ]
      }
    }
  },
  "Outputs" : {
    "DefaultSgId" : {
      "Description": "The ID of default security group",
      "Value" : { "Fn::GetAtt" : [ "MyVPC", "DefaultSecurityGroup" ]}
    },
    "VpcID" : {
      "Description": "The VPC ID",
      "Value" : { "Ref" : "MyVPC" }
    }
  }
}
STACK
}

resource "aws_cloudformation_stack" "network" {
  name          = "tf-networking-stack"
  template_body = "${template_file.networkstack.rendered}"
}

Do you see any differences between that test config and yours that might be key to reproducing this bug?

alsonkemp · 2016-03-05T00:32:45Z

@phinze The thick plottens... I have the same error when running your sample. FWIW, I'm on Debian Testing (and fairly up-to-date). See below.

template_body: "" => "Error parsing JSON: invalid character '$' looking for beginning of value"

/tmp/terraform-test
alson@tortugita : 04:28 PM : $ cat test.tf 
# Configure the AWS Provider
provider "aws" {
    access_key = "access"
    secret_key = "secret"
    region = "us-east-1"
}


resource "template_file" "networkstack" {
    template = <<STACK
{
  "Resources" : {
    "MyVPC": {
      "Type" : "AWS::EC2::VPC",
      "Properties" : {
        "CidrBlock" : "10.0.0.0/16",
        "Tags" : [
          {"Key": "Name", "Value": "Primary_CF_VPC"}
        ]
      }
    }
  },
  "Outputs" : {
    "DefaultSgId" : {
      "Description": "The ID of default security group",
      "Value" : { "Fn::GetAtt" : [ "MyVPC", "DefaultSecurityGroup" ]}
    },
    "VpcID" : {
      "Description": "The VPC ID",
      "Value" : { "Ref" : "MyVPC" }
    }
  }
}
STACK
}

resource "aws_cloudformation_stack" "network" {
  name          = "tf-networking-stack"
  template_body = "${template_file.networkstack.rendered}"
}



/tmp/terraform-test
alson@tortugita : 04:28 PM : $ terraform plan
Refreshing Terraform state prior to plan...


The Terraform execution plan has been generated and is shown below.
Resources are shown in alphabetical order for quick scanning. Green resources
will be created (or destroyed and then created if an existing resource
exists), yellow resources are being changed in-place, and red resources
will be destroyed.

Note: You didn't specify an "-out" parameter to save this plan, so when
"apply" is called, Terraform can't guarantee this is what will execute.

+ aws_cloudformation_stack.network
    name:          "" => "tf-networking-stack"
    outputs.#:     "" => "<computed>"
    parameters.#:  "" => "<computed>"
    policy_body:   "" => "<computed>"
    template_body: "" => "Error parsing JSON: invalid character '$' looking for beginning of value"

+ template_file.networkstack
    rendered: "" => "<computed>"
    template: "" => "{\n  \"Resources\" : {\n    \"MyVPC\": {\n      \"Type\" : \"AWS::EC2::VPC\",\n      \"Properties\" : {\n        \"CidrBlock\" : \"10.0.0.0/16\",\n        \"Tags\" : [\n          {\"Key\": \"Name\", \"Value\": \"Primary_CF_VPC\"}\n        ]\n      }\n    }\n  },\n  \"Outputs\" : {\n    \"DefaultSgId\" : {\n      \"Description\": \"The ID of default security group\",\n      \"Value\" : { \"Fn::GetAtt\" : [ \"MyVPC\", \"DefaultSecurityGroup\" ]}\n    },\n    \"VpcID\" : {\n      \"Description\": \"The VPC ID\",\n      \"Value\" : { \"Ref\" : \"MyVPC\" }\n    }\n  }\n}\n"


Plan: 2 to add, 0 to change, 0 to destroy.

/tmp/terraform-test
alson@tortugita : 04:28 PM : $ terraform version
Terraform v0.6.12

alsonkemp · 2016-03-05T00:42:40Z

I'll try this in the Vagrant VM...

alsonkemp · 2016-03-05T01:25:02Z

I had the same failure in the Vagrant VM.

vagrant@terraform:~$ cd /opt/gopath/src/github.com/hashicorp/terraform/
vagrant@terraform:/opt/gopath/src/github.com/hashicorp/terraform$ make quickdev
vagrant@terraform:/tmp/terraform-test$ vi test.tf
vagrant@terraform:/tmp/terraform-test$ terraform plan
Refreshing Terraform state prior to plan...


The Terraform execution plan has been generated and is shown below.
Resources are shown in alphabetical order for quick scanning. Green resources
will be created (or destroyed and then created if an existing resource
exists), yellow resources are being changed in-place, and red resources
will be destroyed.

Note: You didn't specify an "-out" parameter to save this plan, so when
"apply" is called, Terraform can't guarantee this is what will execute.

+ aws_cloudformation_stack.network
    name:          "" => "tf-networking-stack"
    outputs.#:     "" => "<computed>"
    parameters.#:  "" => "<computed>"
    policy_body:   "" => "<computed>"
    template_body: "" => "Error parsing JSON: invalid character '$' looking for beginning of value"

+ template_file.networkstack
    rendered: "" => "<computed>"
    template: "" => "{\n  \"Resources\" : {\n    \"MyVPC\": {\n      \"Type\" : \"AWS::EC2::VPC\",\n      \"Properties\" : {\n        \"CidrBlock\" : \"10.0.0.0/16\",\n        \"Tags\" : [\n          {\"Key\": \"Name\", \"Value\": \"Primary_CF_VPC\"}\n        ]\n      }\n    }\n  },\n  \"Outputs\" : {\n    \"DefaultSgId\" : {\n      \"Description\": \"The ID of default security group\",\n      \"Value\" : { \"Fn::GetAtt\" : [ \"MyVPC\", \"DefaultSecurityGroup\" ]}\n    },\n    \"VpcID\" : {\n      \"Description\": \"The VPC ID\",\n      \"Value\" : { \"Ref\" : \"MyVPC\" }\n    }\n  }\n}\n"


Plan: 2 to add, 0 to change, 0 to destroy.

radeksimko · 2016-03-06T10:55:42Z

I was able to reproduce this and I have a strong feeling (admittedly I can't confirm) it can be solved via #4961

It was reproduced with Terraform v0.6.12 and the latest master (Terraform v0.6.13-dev (38078fbfb893aab0bf7293e72c241f63acd4da44)), but I don't think the version really matters.

I reckon it's just race condition - if you're lucky (and ${template_file.networkstack.rendered} gets interpolated sooner) you don't run into it.

alsonkemp · 2016-03-07T23:14:04Z

@radeksimko Might be a race condition, but, across 3 machines, I've hit it on 100% of runs. Do you know of any workarounds?

On a second note, why does aws_cloudformation_stack swallow the template error?

alsonkemp · 2016-03-09T02:09:37Z

@phinze Can you provide any indications of where the bug might be? I'm not a golang-nut, but I might be able to help.

phinze · 2016-03-25T21:18:22Z

Still no repro here - @alsonkemp can you confirm you hit this on 0.6.14 as well?

alsonkemp · 2016-03-25T21:35:48Z

@phinze You were not able to get my repro from #5462 (comment) to work? I have not re-tried against 0.6.14. I will do so soon.

alsonkemp · 2016-03-25T21:45:47Z

Still seeing the same error.

~/projects/terraform-test
alson@tortugita : 02:43 PM : $ cat test.tf 
# Configure the AWS Provider
provider "aws" {
    access_key = "###"
    secret_key = "###"
    region = "us-east-1"
}


resource "template_file" "networkstack" {
    template = <<STACK
{
  "Resources" : {
    "MyVPC": {
      "Type" : "AWS::EC2::VPC",
      "Properties" : {
        "CidrBlock" : "10.0.0.0/16",
        "Tags" : [
          {"Key": "Name", "Value": "Primary_CF_VPC"}
        ]
      }
    }
  },
  "Outputs" : {
    "DefaultSgId" : {
      "Description": "The ID of default security group",
      "Value" : { "Fn::GetAtt" : [ "MyVPC", "DefaultSecurityGroup" ]}
    },
    "VpcID" : {
      "Description": "The VPC ID",
      "Value" : { "Ref" : "MyVPC" }
    }
  }
}
STACK
}

resource "aws_cloudformation_stack" "network" {
  name          = "tf-networking-stack"
  template_body = "${template_file.networkstack.rendered}"
}


~/projects/terraform-test
alson@tortugita : 02:43 PM : $ terraform version
Terraform v0.6.14


~/projects/terraform-test
alson@tortugita : 02:43 PM : $ terraform plan
Refreshing Terraform state prior to plan...


The Terraform execution plan has been generated and is shown below.
Resources are shown in alphabetical order for quick scanning. Green resources
will be created (or destroyed and then created if an existing resource
exists), yellow resources are being changed in-place, and red resources
will be destroyed.

Note: You didn't specify an "-out" parameter to save this plan, so when
"apply" is called, Terraform can't guarantee this is what will execute.

+ aws_cloudformation_stack.network
    name:          "" => "tf-networking-stack"
    outputs.#:     "" => "<computed>"
    parameters.#:  "" => "<computed>"
    policy_body:   "" => "<computed>"
    template_body: "" => "Error parsing JSON: invalid character '$' looking for beginning of value"

+ template_file.networkstack
    rendered: "" => "<computed>"
    template: "" => "{\n  \"Resources\" : {\n    \"MyVPC\": {\n      \"Type\" : \"AWS::EC2::VPC\",\n      \"Properties\" : {\n        \"CidrBlock\" : \"10.0.0.0/16\",\n        \"Tags\" : [\n          {\"Key\": \"Name\", \"Value\": \"Primary_CF_VPC\"}\n        ]\n      }\n    }\n  },\n  \"Outputs\" : {\n    \"DefaultSgId\" : {\n      \"Description\": \"The ID of default security group\",\n      \"Value\" : { \"Fn::GetAtt\" : [ \"MyVPC\", \"DefaultSecurityGroup\" ]}\n    },\n    \"VpcID\" : {\n      \"Description\": \"The VPC ID\",\n      \"Value\" : { \"Ref\" : \"MyVPC\" }\n    }\n  }\n}\n"


Plan: 2 to add, 0 to change, 0 to destroy.

template_body: "" => "Error parsing JSON: invalid character '$' looking for beginning of value"**

radeksimko · 2016-03-25T22:52:04Z

See #3076 which I believe is caused by the same bug.

comerford · 2016-05-09T19:18:45Z

Can confirm that I am seeing this with 0.6.15 too - plan errors parsing the JSON but the apply succeeds and is using the correct policy

mitchellh · 2016-10-28T23:49:24Z

This is fixed on master as I also can't reproduce the exact copy/paste example above (even using the deprecated template_file resource). Closing!

puttagunta · 2018-03-22T16:46:14Z

I found this issue today, when I'm trying to populate "template_body" of the resource, "azurerm_template_deployment", with the rendered content of a template. The plan failed with the message, "Error parsing JSON: invalid character '$' looking for beginning of value", but the apply succeded.
Terraform version: 0.11.4

ghost · 2020-04-04T02:09:51Z

I'm going to lock this issue because it has been closed for 30 days ⏳. This helps our maintainers find and focus on the active issues.

If you have found a problem that seems similar to this, please open a new issue and complete the issue template so we can capture all the details necessary to investigate further.

phinze added bug core labels Mar 4, 2016

radeksimko mentioned this issue Mar 25, 2016

Error when using a template as the policy for an s3 bucket #3076

Closed

eedwardsdisco mentioned this issue May 23, 2016

0.6.16 BUG with IAM Role Attribute Mismatch #6834

Closed

mitchellh closed this as completed Oct 28, 2016

puttagunta mentioned this issue Mar 23, 2018

apply succeeds even with "Error parsing JSON: invalid character '$' looking for beginning of value" with template for template_body of azurerm_template_deployment #17684

Closed

ghost locked and limited conversation to collaborators Apr 4, 2020

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aws_cloudformation_stack: template_body not interpolated? #5462

aws_cloudformation_stack: template_body not interpolated? #5462

alsonkemp commented Mar 4, 2016

phinze commented Mar 4, 2016

alsonkemp commented Mar 5, 2016

alsonkemp commented Mar 5, 2016

alsonkemp commented Mar 5, 2016

radeksimko commented Mar 6, 2016

alsonkemp commented Mar 7, 2016

alsonkemp commented Mar 9, 2016

phinze commented Mar 25, 2016

alsonkemp commented Mar 25, 2016

alsonkemp commented Mar 25, 2016

radeksimko commented Mar 25, 2016

comerford commented May 9, 2016

mitchellh commented Oct 28, 2016

puttagunta commented Mar 22, 2018

ghost commented Apr 4, 2020

aws_cloudformation_stack: template_body not interpolated? #5462

aws_cloudformation_stack: template_body not interpolated? #5462

Comments

alsonkemp commented Mar 4, 2016

phinze commented Mar 4, 2016

alsonkemp commented Mar 5, 2016

alsonkemp commented Mar 5, 2016

alsonkemp commented Mar 5, 2016

radeksimko commented Mar 6, 2016

alsonkemp commented Mar 7, 2016

alsonkemp commented Mar 9, 2016

phinze commented Mar 25, 2016

alsonkemp commented Mar 25, 2016

alsonkemp commented Mar 25, 2016

radeksimko commented Mar 25, 2016

comerford commented May 9, 2016

mitchellh commented Oct 28, 2016

puttagunta commented Mar 22, 2018

ghost commented Apr 4, 2020