internal/apply/apply.go

@@ -1458,6 +1458,15 @@ func remove(ctx context.Context, sys system.System, a store.Applied, run Runner,
 // undo is never reported as done; not fatal for a former target, which was never dropped by anyone.
 var errNoRemoval = errors.New("no way to remove")
 
+// exited is a command that ran and exited non-zero: its words, and the exit itself.
+type exited struct {
+	words string
+	exit  *exec.ExitError
+}
+
+func (e *exited) Error() string { return e.words }
+func (e *exited) Unwrap() error { return e.exit }
+
 // ExecRunner runs a real command, with stdin closed and output captured.
 func ExecRunner(ctx context.Context, name string, args ...string) (string, error) {
 	cmd := exec.CommandContext(ctx, name, args...)
@@ -1466,8 +1475,12 @@ func ExecRunner(ctx context.Context, name string, args ...string) (string, error
 	if err != nil {
 		var exit *exec.ExitError
 		if errors.As(err, &exit) {
-			return string(out), fmt.Errorf("%s exited %d: %s",
+			// The words as they always were, and the exit underneath them, so a caller asks the
-				name, exit.ExitCode(), strings.TrimSpace(string(exit.Stderr)))
+			// code (system.ExitCode) rather than matching text that this line is free to reword.
+			return string(out), &exited{
+				words: fmt.Sprintf("%s exited %d: %s", name, exit.ExitCode(), strings.TrimSpace(string(exit.Stderr))),
+				exit:  exit,
+			}
 		}
 		return string(out), fmt.Errorf("%s: %w", name, err)
 	}

internal/system/lookup_exit_test.go

@@ -0,0 +1,40 @@
+package system
+
+import (
+	"context"
+	"errors"
+	"os/exec"
+	"testing"
+)
+
+// A user that does not exist yet is "absent", in the words the host's own runner uses
+// ("getent exited 2"), not only Go's ("exit status 2"). Matched as text, the runner's wording read as
+// a user database that did not answer, and the controller's account was never created.
+func TestAMissingUserIsAbsentInTheRunnersWords(t *testing.T) {
+	for _, words := range []string{"getent exited 2: ", "exit status 2"} {
+		run := func(context.Context, string, ...string) (string, error) { return "", errors.New(words) }
+		_, found, err := LookUpUser(context.Background(), run, "nobody-here")
+		if err != nil || found {
+			t.Errorf("%q: found %v, err %v; want absent", words, found, err)
+		}
+	}
+	run := func(context.Context, string, ...string) (string, error) { return "", errors.New("getent exited 1: ") }
+	if _, _, err := LookUpUser(context.Background(), run, "x"); err == nil {
+		t.Error("a database that failed read as an answer")
+	}
+}
+
+// The real command, through a real exit: getent's code for a key not found.
+func TestAMissingUserIsAbsentFromTheRealGetent(t *testing.T) {
+	if _, err := exec.LookPath("getent"); err != nil {
+		t.Skip("no getent here")
+	}
+	run := func(ctx context.Context, name string, args ...string) (string, error) {
+		out, err := exec.CommandContext(ctx, name, args...).Output()
+		return string(out), err
+	}
+	_, found, err := LookUpUser(context.Background(), run, "mesh-no-such-user-0b1f")
+	if err != nil || found {
+		t.Errorf("found %v, err %v; want absent", found, err)
+	}
+}

internal/system/system.go

@@ -19,6 +19,9 @@ import (
 	"context"
 	"errors"
 	"fmt"
+	"os/exec"
+	"regexp"
+	"strconv"
 	"strings"
 
 	"github.com/novox/mesh-host/internal/declaration"
@@ -95,8 +98,10 @@ func LookUpUser(ctx context.Context, run Runner, name string) (Login, bool, erro
 	out, err := run(ctx, "getent", "passwd", name)
 	if err != nil {
 		// getent's own convention: 2 means the key was not found, which is the only failure that
-		// means "no such user".
+		// means "no such user". Asked of the exit code: matched as text, it looked for Go's wording
-		if strings.Contains(err.Error(), "exit status 2") {
+		// ("exit status 2") while the host's runner says "getent exited 2", so a user that did not
+		// exist yet read as a database that did not answer, and no account was ever created.
+		if code, ok := ExitCode(err); ok && code == 2 {
 			return Login{}, false, nil
 		}
 		return Login{}, false, fmt.Errorf(
@@ -221,3 +226,27 @@ func For(name string) (System, error) {
 func All() []System {
 	return []System{arch{}, alpine{}, android{}}
 }
+
+// ExitCode is the code a command exited with, when err says one: from the exit itself where the
+// runner kept it, else from the words either runner shape uses ("exit status N", "<cmd> exited N").
+func ExitCode(err error) (int, bool) {
+	if err == nil {
+		return 0, false
+	}
+	var exit *exec.ExitError
+	if errors.As(err, &exit) {
+		return exit.ExitCode(), true
+	}
+	if m := exitWords.FindStringSubmatch(err.Error()); len(m) == 3 {
+		for _, g := range m[1:] {
+			if g != "" {
+				if n, convErr := strconv.Atoi(g); convErr == nil {
+					return n, true
+				}
+			}
+		}
+	}
+	return 0, false
+}
+
+var exitWords = regexp.MustCompile(`exit status (\d+)|exited (\d+)`)