Duplicate declaration error when managing /usr/local in Puppet Enterprise 3.8 to 2019.1

I added the following to a manifest to manage the ownership and permissions for /usr/local:

  file {'/usr/local':
    owner => root,
    group => root,
    mode => '0755',
  }

Now, when I run puppet agent -t, I get an Error 400 or 500. How do I resolve this?

Error message

Error: Could not retrieve catalog from remote server: Error 400 on SERVER: Duplicate declaration: File[/usr/local] is already declared in file <your manifest>; cannot redeclare at /opt/puppet/share/puppet/modules/puppet_enterprise/manifests/symlinks.pp:36 on node <your node> Warning: Not using cache on failed catalog Error: Could not retrieve catalog; skipping run

Or

Error: Could not retrieve catalog from remote server: Error 500 on SERVER: Server Error: Evaluation Error: Error while evaluating a Resource Statement, Evaluation Error: Error while evaluating a Resource Statement, Duplicate declaration: File[/usr/local] is already declared at (file: /opt/puppetlabs/puppet/modules/puppet_enterprise/manifests/symlinks.pp, line: 32); cannot redeclare

You received this error because the PE puppet_enterprise module manages symlinks for /usr/local and /usr/local/bin. The module includes file resources for both directories. PE management of these directories includes ensuring that resources exist before creating symlinks to Puppet Enterprise executables. To manage /usr/local and /usr/local/bin with your own manifests, thereby resolving the error, disable PE's management of symlinks for puppet_enterprise in either the console or Hiera.

Version and installation information

PE version: 3.8 to 2019.1

Solution

Disable Puppet Enterprise management of the /usr/local or /usr/local/bin directories in either the PE console or Hiera.

Note: Parameter values set in the console will override values set in Hiera.

To disable the setting in the console: Set the manage_symlinks parameter in the puppet_enterprise class in the PE Infrastructure node group to false.

1. Log into the console.

2. Navigate to Nodes > Classification. (In PE 3.8, navigate to Classification).

3. Click the PE Infrastructure node group. Click the Classes tab. Under the puppet_enterprise class, select the manage_symlinks parameter. In the Value field, enter false.

4. Click Add parameter. Click Commit changes.

OR

To disable the setting in Hiera: Add puppet_enterprise::symlinks::manage_symlinks: false to your default Hiera .yaml file.

Learn more about making updates to Hiera in our documentation. Use the version selector on our docs site to make sure you've got the right version of our docs for your deployment.