From ec097e9d693f295f7f9eb3e5bbc44b3091353b41 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: =?UTF-8?q?Vin=C3=ADcius=20Ferr=C3=A3o?=
 <2031761+viniciusferrao@users.noreply.github.com>
Date: Sun, 26 Apr 2026 17:06:44 -0300
Subject: [PATCH 1/2] fix: show useful error when mkdef is called without
 attributes

When mkdef is called with an object name but no attributes (e.g.
mkdef -t node -o mynode), setFINALattrs produces an empty hash
and the OBJ loop has nothing to iterate. The code falls through to
"0 object definitions have been created or modified" with no
explanation of what went wrong.

Add a check after setFINALattrs: if FINALATTRS is empty, tell the
user what's missing. For nodes, mention that 'groups' is required.

Fixes #2765
---
 xCAT-server/lib/xcat/plugins/DBobjectdefs.pm | 18 ++++++++++++
 xCAT-test/autotest/testcase/mkdef/cases0     | 31 ++++++++++++++++++++
 2 files changed, 49 insertions(+)

diff --git a/xCAT-server/lib/xcat/plugins/DBobjectdefs.pm b/xCAT-server/lib/xcat/plugins/DBobjectdefs.pm
index ae64092ef..52e5b5845 100644
--- a/xCAT-server/lib/xcat/plugins/DBobjectdefs.pm
+++ b/xCAT-server/lib/xcat/plugins/DBobjectdefs.pm
@@ -1676,6 +1676,24 @@ sub defmk
         $error = 1;
     }
 
+    # If no object definitions ended up in FINALATTRS, there is nothing to create
+    if (!$error && !%::FINALATTRS)
+    {
+        my $rsp;
+        my $is_node_type = (grep { $_ eq "node" } @::finalTypeList) ||
+                           ($::opt_t && $::opt_t =~ /\bnode\b/);
+        if ($is_node_type)
+        {
+            $rsp->{data}->[0] = "No object definitions have been created or modified: no attributes were specified. The \'groups\' attribute is required when creating node definitions.";
+        }
+        else
+        {
+            $rsp->{data}->[0] = "No object definitions have been created or modified: no attributes were specified.";
+        }
+        xCAT::MsgUtils->message("E", $rsp, $::callback);
+        return 1;
+    }
+
     # we need a list of objects that are
     #    already defined for each type.
     foreach my $t (@::finalTypeList)
diff --git a/xCAT-test/autotest/testcase/mkdef/cases0 b/xCAT-test/autotest/testcase/mkdef/cases0
index 832b02956..16a18eefe 100644
--- a/xCAT-test/autotest/testcase/mkdef/cases0
+++ b/xCAT-test/autotest/testcase/mkdef/cases0
@@ -411,3 +411,34 @@ check:rc==0
 cmd:rmdef -t osimage -o rhels7.3-test
 check:rc==0
 end
+
+start:mkdef_node_no_attrs
+description:mkdef -t node with no attributes should fail and mention groups
+label:mn_only,ci_test,db
+cmd:mkdef -t node -o testnode_noattr
+check:rc!=0
+check:output=~groups
+cmd:lsdef testnode_noattr
+check:rc!=0
+end
+
+start:mkdef_node_no_groups
+description:mkdef -t node with attributes but no groups should fail
+label:mn_only,ci_test,db
+cmd:mkdef -t node -o testnode_nogrp ip=10.0.0.99
+check:rc!=0
+check:output=~groups
+cmd:lsdef testnode_nogrp
+check:rc!=0
+cmd:rmdef -t node -o testnode_nogrp
+end
+
+start:mkdef_nonnode_no_attrs
+description:mkdef with non-node type and no attributes should fail with generic message
+label:mn_only,ci_test,db
+cmd:mkdef -t network -o testnet_noattr
+check:rc!=0
+check:output=~no attributes were specified
+cmd:rmdef -t network -o testnet_noattr
+end
+

From 57aa99e64e0ad76a55fdb0c63ab87be0361a89b2 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: =?UTF-8?q?Vin=C3=ADcius=20Ferr=C3=A3o?=
 <2031761+viniciusferrao@users.noreply.github.com>
Date: Sun, 26 Apr 2026 21:18:19 -0300
Subject: [PATCH 2/2] retrigger CI