python-ironicclient — Errors

Errors — python-ironicclient — branch stable/2026.2

Branch stable/2026.2 @ af2ceeb9c4f2 — repository https://opendev.org/openstack/python-ironicclient — analysed on 2026-11-01

[observed] means reproduced against a local stub, in _rewrite/scenarios_stable-2026.2.json under the id given in brackets. The stub is not Ironic. It shows how the client reacts to a response, not that Ironic sends this response.

1. Exit codes

No take_action in the plugin returns a value from a plain Command, so the exit code trap of python-openstackclient does not occur here. This was checked by walking the AST of ironicclient/osc/v1/*.py: the only returns outside Lister and ShowOne carry no value.

Exception text is all the user sees. A Python error therefore appears as bare text, such as id or 'links', with exit 1.

2. From an HTTP response to a message

ironicclient/common/http.py:427 handles each response:

Reading the message (ironicclient/common/http.py:95):

1. the body is JSON, and has error_message;
2. that value is itself parsed as JSON; if it has faultstring or description, that text is the message;
3. if it does not parse, the raw string is the message [observed err-400-plain-error-message];
4. debuginfo goes into details.

If X-OpenStack-Request-Id is on the response, the message ends with (Request-ID: …) [observed err-404-request-id]. If not, x-compute-request-id is tried (ironicclient/common/apiclient/exceptions.py:437).

**Without error_message**, the message is only the class default [observed err-400-other-body, err-500-html]: Bad Request (HTTP 400), Internal Server Error (HTTP 500). exc.from_response replaces the body read by the shared code with a dict built from those fields (ironicclient/exc.py:81), so a message or faultstring elsewhere in the body is never seen.

Frame sent by Ironic, per its code (ironic:ironic/api/middleware/parsable_error.py:71), as scripted on the stub:

{"error_message": "{\"faultcode\": \"Client\", \"faultstring\": \"Node x could not be found.\", \"debuginfo\": null}"}

gives Node x could not be found. (HTTP 404) [observed err-404-ironic-body].

3. Exception classes

43 classes in ironicclient/common/apiclient/exceptions.py, listed in _inventory/inventory_stable-2026.2.md, and 4 in ironicclient/exc.py. None of them has an HTTP role beyond the mapping below.

NotFound is raised without a response by show --instance, port show --address and port group show --address: the text is Not Found (HTTP 404) although the service answered 200 [observed in _rewrite/wire-options_stable-2026.2.json] (ironicclient/v1/node.py:366).

4. Messages

Raised in the managers and the HTTP layer

Raised in the commands (generated from the catalogue)

Found by walking the code from take_action, so this table is a floor. "Message built at run time" groups the Failed to delete … families.

Logged, not raised

5. Defects

Each was reproduced against the stub or read in the code, as marked. Only the client is at fault here, unless stated. "Real Ironic" says whether a conforming server would trigger it, from reading its code only.

Traps that are not bugs:

• POST is retried on 409, 503 and connection failures, so a request that the server applied before the connection dropped could be sent twice [inferred]. err-409-exhausts-retries shows 6 POST.
• --wait may return at once if the node still shows the expected state, for service and rebuild where start and end state are both active [observed wait-service-already-active with a scripted answer; whether Ironic can answer this was not checked] (ironicclient/v1/node.py:1134).
• _get returns None for {} and the wait loop treats that as "not yet", so a stuck endpoint with no --wait timeout polls forever (ironicclient/v1/node.py:1132, ironicclient/common/utils.py:438) [read].
• Unit tests pass for all of these, since they mock the managers (ironicclient/tests/unit/osc/v1/fakes.py:367).

Source: reverse-spec-python-ironicclient/02-errors_stable-2026.2.md. The _rewrite/ and _inventory/ files are not published on the site.