ServiceConnection.identity raises TypeError when a connection has no identity

[michaelm-devel]

Summary

ServiceConnection.identity raises TypeError for any connection that has no identity configured — every unix:// connection, and any ssh:// connection added without --identity.

Code (current main)

@cached_property
def identity(self):
    """Path: Returns Path to identity file for service connection."""
    if self.attrs.get("identity"):
        return Path(self.attrs.get("identity"))
    return Path(self.attrs.get("Identity"))

When neither key is present this is Path(None).

Reproducer

Any host with a local unix:// connection in podman system connection list:

from podman.domain.config import PodmanConfig

cfg = PodmanConfig()
for name, svc in cfg.services.items():
    print(name, svc.identity)

TypeError: argument should be a str or an os.PathLike object where
__fspath__ returns a str, not 'NoneType'

Merely enumerating the configured connections is enough to hit it — the caller does not have to be doing anything unusual.

Same result with a hand-written containers.conf containing an ssh destination with no identity = line, so it is not specific to unix sockets.

Expected

identity returns None when no identity is configured, and callers treat it as optional.

Environment

podman-py 5.6.0 (Fedora python3-podman-5.6.0-4.fc44), podman 5.8.4 client and server, rootless, Python 3.14. Code path re-checked against current main before filing.

Note

This also breaks PodmanClient(connection=...); filed separately since the fix there is different.

[Benzene071106]

@michaelm-devel
Hi, I was looking to make my first contribution to podman-py. I noticed that #652 is already being addressed by PR #656.

I saw that #654 (from_env() ignoring CONTAINER_CONNECTION) is a separate issue and may be a follow-up to #656. Would it be okay if I work on #654 and submit a PR for it?

I’d be happy to first discuss the approach before starting, if preferred.