#3868·kind

LXC: kind incorrectly claims "Delegate=yes" is not configured

Author: agowaCreated Feb 15, 2025Updated Sep 17, 2026

Labelskind/bug

What happened:

Seeing this error message despite it being configured.

enabling experimental podman provider
ERROR: failed to create cluster: running kind with rootless provider requires setting systemd property "Delegate=yes", see https://kind.sigs.k8s.io/docs/user/rootless/

What you expected to happen:

At least a different error message as Delegate=True (appears to be) properly configured.

How to reproduce it (as minimally and precisely as possible):

It's hard to provide minimalistic steps as I currently don't know what is going wrong and it very likely depends upon system specifics.

However what I can provide:

Edit /etc/systemd/system/[email protected]/delegate.conf as in the docs
Run systemctl daemon-reload
Reboot (or relogin/restart [email protected])
Verify output of systemctl --user status does not contain a cgroup1 tainted and in fact using cgroup2.
Run kind create cluster => Above error
For a quick test, also try the other suggestions from the documentation e.g. systemd-run --scope --user -p "Delegate=yes" kind cluster create => Same error.

Anything else we need to know?:

I'm on Debian Trixie within the Linux Environment of a Chromebook and using podman. Edit: Output of running with higher verbosity:

kind create cluster --verbosity 9999
enabling experimental podman provider
ERROR: failed to create cluster: running kind with rootless provider requires setting systemd property "Delegate=yes", see https://kind.sigs.k8s.io/docs/user/rootless/
Stack Trace: 
sigs.k8s.io/kind/pkg/errors.New
        sigs.k8s.io/kind/pkg/errors/errors.go:28
sigs.k8s.io/kind/pkg/cluster/internal/create.validateProvider
        sigs.k8s.io/kind/pkg/cluster/internal/create/create.go:253
sigs.k8s.io/kind/pkg/cluster/internal/create.Cluster
        sigs.k8s.io/kind/pkg/cluster/internal/create/create.go:70
sigs.k8s.io/kind/pkg/cluster.(*Provider).Create
        sigs.k8s.io/kind/pkg/cluster/provider.go:192
sigs.k8s.io/kind/pkg/cmd/kind/create/cluster.runE
        sigs.k8s.io/kind/pkg/cmd/kind/create/cluster/createcluster.go:110
sigs.k8s.io/kind/pkg/cmd/kind/create/cluster.NewCommand.func1
        sigs.k8s.io/kind/pkg/cmd/kind/create/cluster/createcluster.go:54
github.com/spf13/cobra.(*Command).execute
        github.com/spf13/[email protected]/command.go:983
github.com/spf13/cobra.(*Command).ExecuteC
        github.com/spf13/[email protected]/command.go:1115
github.com/spf13/cobra.(*Command).Execute
        github.com/spf13/[email protected]/command.go:1039
sigs.k8s.io/kind/cmd/kind/app.Run
        sigs.k8s.io/kind/cmd/kind/app/main.go:53
sigs.k8s.io/kind/cmd/kind/app.Main
        sigs.k8s.io/kind/cmd/kind/app/main.go:35
main.main
        sigs.k8s.io/kind/main.go:25
runtime.main
        runtime/proc.go:272
runtime.goexit
        runtime/asm_amd64.s:1700

Environment:

kind version: (use kind version): kind v0.27.0 go1.23.6 linux/amd64
Runtime info: (use docker info, podman info or nerdctl info):

yaml

host:
  arch: amd64
  buildahVersion: 1.38.1
  cgroupControllers: []
  cgroupManager: systemd
  cgroupVersion: v2
  conmon:
    package: conmon_2.1.12-3_amd64
    path: /usr/bin/conmon
    version: 'conmon version 2.1.12, commit: unknown'
  cpuUtilization:
    idlePercent: 99.98
    systemPercent: 0.01
    userPercent: 0.01
  cpus: 4
  databaseBackend: sqlite
  distribution:
    codename: trixie
    distribution: debian
    version: unknown
  eventLogger: journald
  freeLocks: 2048
  hostname: penguin
  idMappings:
    gidmap:
    - container_id: 0
      host_id: 1000
      size: 1
    - container_id: 1
      host_id: 165536
      size: 65536
    uidmap:
    - container_id: 0
      host_id: 1000
      size: 1
    - container_id: 1
      host_id: 165536
      size: 65536
  kernel: 6.6.56-05934-gf790fe104dba
  linkmode: dynamic
  logDriver: journald
  memFree: 2616881152
  memTotal: 2812977152
  networkBackend: netavark
  networkBackendInfo:
    backend: netavark
    dns:
      package: aardvark-dns_1.12.2-2_amd64
      path: /usr/lib/podman/aardvark-dns
      version: aardvark-dns 1.12.2
    package: netavark_1.12.1-9_amd64
    path: /usr/lib/podman/netavark
    version: netavark 1.12.1
  ociRuntime:
    name: crun
    package: crun_1.18.2-1_amd64
    path: /usr/bin/crun
    version: |-
      crun version 1.18.2
      commit: 00ab38af875ddd0d1a8226addda52e1de18339b5
      rundir: /run/user/1000/crun
      spec: 1.0.0
      +SYSTEMD +SELINUX +APPARMOR +CAP +SECCOMP +EBPF +WASM:wasmedge +YAJL
  os: linux
  pasta:
    executable: /usr/bin/pasta
    package: passt_0.0~git20250121.4f2c8e7-1_amd64
    version: |
      pasta 0.0~git20250121.4f2c8e7-1
      Copyright Red Hat
      GNU General Public License, version 2 or later
        <https://www.gnu.org/licenses/old-licenses/gpl-2.0.html>
      This is free software: you are free to change and redistribute it.
      There is NO WARRANTY, to the extent permitted by law.
  remoteSocket:
    exists: true
    path: /run/user/1000/podman/podman.sock
  rootlessNetworkCmd: pasta
  security:
    apparmorEnabled: false
    capabilities: CAP_CHOWN,CAP_DAC_OVERRIDE,CAP_FOWNER,CAP_FSETID,CAP_KILL,CAP_NET_BIND_SERVICE,CAP_SETFCAP,CAP_SETGID,CAP_SETPCAP,CAP_SETUID,CAP_SYS_CHROOT
    rootless: true
    seccompEnabled: true
    seccompProfilePath: /usr/share/containers/seccomp.json
    selinuxEnabled: false
  serviceIsRemote: false
  slirp4netns:
    executable: /usr/bin/slirp4netns
    package: slirp4netns_1.2.1-1+b1_amd64
    version: |-
      slirp4netns version 1.2.1
      commit: 09e31e92fa3d2a1d3ca261adaeb012c8d75a8194
      libslirp: 4.8.0
      SLIRP_CONFIG_VERSION_MAX: 4
      libseccomp: 2.5.5
  swapFree: 0
  swapTotal: 0
  uptime: 0h 43m 10.00s
  variant: ""
plugins:
  authorization: null
  log:
  - k8s-file
  - none
  - passthrough
  - journald
  network:
  - bridge
  - macvlan
  - ipvlan
  volume:
  - local
registries: {}
store:
  configFile: /home/user/.config/containers/storage.conf
  containerStore:
    number: 0
    paused: 0
    running: 0
    stopped: 0
  graphDriverName: overlay
  graphOptions: {}
  graphRoot: /home/user/.local/share/containers/storage
  graphRootAllocated: 10737418240
  graphRootUsed: 3600936960
  graphStatus:
    Backing Filesystem: btrfs
    Native Overlay Diff: "true"
    Supports d_type: "true"
    Supports shifting: "false"
    Supports volatile: "true"
    Using metacopy: "false"
  imageCopyTmpDir: /var/tmp
  imageStore:
    number: 0
  runRoot: /run/user/1000/containers
  transientStore: false
  volumePath: /home/user/.local/share/containers/storage/volumes
version:
  APIVersion: 5.3.2
  Built: 1737979078
  BuiltTime: Mon Jan 27 12:57:58 2025
  GitCommit: ""
  GoVersion: go1.23.5
  Os: linux
  OsArch: linux/amd64
  Version: 5.3.2

OS (e.g. from /etc/os-release):

ini

PRETTY_NAME="Debian GNU/Linux trixie/sid"
NAME="Debian GNU/Linux"
VERSION_CODENAME=trixie
ID=debian
HOME_URL="https://www.debian.org/"
SUPPORT_URL="https://www.debian.org/support"
BUG_REPORT_URL="https://bugs.debian.org/"

Kubernetes version: (use kubectl version): not present (yet)
Any proxies or other special environment settings?:
- systemd is invoked by using /sbin/init systemd.unified_cgroup_hierarchy=1 by LXC
- I also went into termina and reconfigured the penguin container (penguin is the "system" where systemd and kind are running in) to enable cgroup2 to begin with. I could still be missing some permissions, but kind doesn't provide a good enough error message for me to know. This is also why I'm reporting this as an invalid error message instead of a cluster creation issue. It is clear that something is causing kind to fail. However it isn't what kind reports it to be.

Source: kubernetes-sigs/kind

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