[Bug]: salt.utils.configparser conflicts with configparser from stdlib

[marmarek]

What happened?

When using salt-ssh, pkg.installed state cannot be found. After a bit of debugging, I found this:

[ERROR   ] Failed to import module yumpkg, this is due most likely to a syntax error:
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/var/tmp/.root_dd8a91_salt/pyall/salt/loader/lazy.py", line 902, in _load_module
    self.run(spec.loader.exec_module, mod)
    ~~~~~~~~^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
  File "/var/tmp/.root_dd8a91_salt/pyall/salt/loader/lazy.py", line 1365, in run
    return self._last_context.run(self._run_as, _func_or_method, *args, **kwargs)
           ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
  File "/var/tmp/.root_dd8a91_salt/pyall/salt/loader/lazy.py", line 1380, in _run_as
    ret = _func_or_method(*args, **kwargs)
  File "<frozen importlib._bootstrap_external>", line 1023, in exec_module
  File "<frozen importlib._bootstrap>", line 488, in _call_with_frames_removed
  File "/var/tmp/.root_dd8a91_salt/running_data/var/cache/salt/minion/extmods/modules/yumpkg.py", line 25, in <module>
    import configparser
  File "/var/tmp/.root_dd8a91_salt/running_data/var/cache/salt/minion/extmods/utils/configparser.py", line 12, in <module>
    class GitConfigParser(RawConfigParser):
                          ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
NameError: name 'RawConfigParser' is not defined

The test call was:

salt-ssh f42xtest-target state.single pkg.installed mc

Note yumpkg tries to import configparser from Python's stdlib, but got one from salt.utils instead. The salt.utils.configparser seems to be specific to gitfs, and even that fails for similar reason:

[ERROR   ] Failed to import fileserver gitfs, this is due most likely to a syntax error:
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/var/tmp/.root_dd8a91_salt/pyall/salt/loader/lazy.py", line 902, in _load_module
    self.run(spec.loader.exec_module, mod)
    ~~~~~~~~^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
  File "/var/tmp/.root_dd8a91_salt/pyall/salt/loader/lazy.py", line 1365, in run
    return self._last_context.run(self._run_as, _func_or_method, *args, **kwargs)
           ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
  File "/var/tmp/.root_dd8a91_salt/pyall/salt/loader/lazy.py", line 1380, in _run_as
    ret = _func_or_method(*args, **kwargs)
  File "<frozen importlib._bootstrap_external>", line 1023, in exec_module
  File "<frozen importlib._bootstrap>", line 488, in _call_with_frames_removed
  File "/var/tmp/.root_dd8a91_salt/pyall/salt/fileserver/gitfs.py", line 52, in <module>
    import salt.utils.gitfs
  File "/var/tmp/.root_dd8a91_salt/pyall/salt/utils/gitfs.py", line 31, in <module>
    import salt.utils.configparser
  File "/var/tmp/.root_dd8a91_salt/pyall/salt/utils/configparser.py", line 7, in <module>
    from configparser import *  # pylint: disable=no-name-in-module,wildcard-import,unused-wildcard-import
    ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
  File "/var/tmp/.root_dd8a91_salt/running_data/var/cache/salt/minion/extmods/utils/configparser.py", line 12, in <module>
    class GitConfigParser(RawConfigParser):
                          ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
NameError: name 'RawConfigParser' is not defined

This all seems to be caused by prepending /var/tmp/.root_dd8a91_salt/running_data/var/cache/salt/minion/extmods/utils into sys.path, so modules there take precedence over Python's stdlib. Looking at the content of that directory, there are likely more potential conflicts: functools, itertools, json, systemd...

If I change insert_system_path to append the dirs, not prepend them, the issue is gone:

diff --git a/salt/config/__init__.py b/salt/config/__init__.py
index 1a5068328e8..24ca6fec7cc 100644
--- a/salt/config/__init__.py
+++ b/salt/config/__init__.py
@@ -2309,7 +2309,7 @@ def insert_system_path(opts, paths):
         path_options = {"path": path, "root_dir": opts["root_dir"]}
         prepend_root_dir(path_options, path_options)
         if os.path.isdir(path_options["path"]) and path_options["path"] not in sys.path:
-            sys.path.insert(0, path_options["path"])
+            sys.path.append(path_options["path"])
 
 
 def minion_config(

Brief source inspection says things that really want to use modules from salt.utils, use them by full name, for example:

salt/utils/gitfs.py:import salt.utils.configparser
salt/utils/gitfs.py:        conf = salt.utils.configparser.GitConfigParser()
salt/utils/gitfs.py:            except salt.utils.configparser.NoSectionError:
salt/utils/gitfs.py:            except salt.utils.configparser.NoOptionError:
salt/utils/gitfs.py:            except salt.utils.configparser.NoSectionError:
salt/utils/gitfs.py:            except salt.utils.configparser.NoOptionError:

Just in case, I'm attaching full log of a salt-call --local done by salt-ssh internally (out of stuff left on the target in /var/tmp), with full logging enabled:

• without the change (failing call): salt-call-1771684063.log
• with the change (succeeding call): salt-call-1771684021-changed.log

Type of salt install

Official rpm

Major version

3007.x

What supported OS are you seeing the problem on? Can select multiple. (If bug appears on an unsupported OS, please open a GitHub Discussion instead)

fedora-42

salt --versions-report output

Salt Version:
          Salt: 3007.13
 
Python Version:
        Python: 3.10.19 (main, Feb  5 2026, 07:05:38) [GCC 11.2.0]
 
Dependency Versions:
          cffi: 2.0.0
      cherrypy: unknown
  cryptography: 42.0.5
      dateutil: 2.8.2
     docker-py: Not Installed
         gitdb: Not Installed
     gitpython: Not Installed
        Jinja2: 3.1.6
       libgit2: Not Installed
  looseversion: 1.3.0
      M2Crypto: Not Installed
          Mako: Not Installed
       msgpack: 1.0.7
  msgpack-pure: Not Installed
  mysql-python: Not Installed
     packaging: 24.0
     pycparser: 2.21
      pycrypto: Not Installed
  pycryptodome: 3.19.1
        pygit2: Not Installed
  python-gnupg: 0.5.2
        PyYAML: 6.0.1
         PyZMQ: 25.1.2
        relenv: 0.22.3
         smmap: Not Installed
       timelib: 0.3.0
       Tornado: 6.5.4
           ZMQ: 4.3.4
 
Salt Package Information:
  Package Type: onedir
 
System Versions:
          dist: fedora 42 
        locale: utf-8
       machine: x86_64
       release: 6.12.64-1.qubes.3.fc41.x86_64
        system: Linux
       version: Fedora Linux 42