From b4aaaee3063a2998ce169ea2da5d9c85c75f4c10 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Paul Holzinger <pholzing@redhat.com>
Date: Tue, 30 Jun 2026 12:58:11 +0200
Subject: [PATCH] podman log-level debug must produce the same oci runtime
 errors

I do not understand this condition in the code, not passing the log file
to the runtime when run with log level debug makes no sense. It means we
do not get the proper error message from the runtime so debug logging
shows a much worse error:
"container create failed (no logs from conmon)..."

When the actual error is the command is not in $PATH for example. So to
fix this just remove the log level check. Also not the support json flag
condition is done inside execOCILog().

Signed-off-by: Paul Holzinger <pholzing@redhat.com>
---
 libpod/oci_conmon_common.go      |  2 +-
 libpod/oci_conmon_exec_common.go | 15 +++------------
 test/e2e/exec_test.go            | 15 +++++++++++++++
 3 files changed, 19 insertions(+), 13 deletions(-)

diff --git a/libpod/oci_conmon_common.go b/libpod/oci_conmon_common.go
index ef707238f4..28108dab48 100644
--- a/libpod/oci_conmon_common.go
+++ b/libpod/oci_conmon_common.go
@@ -1009,7 +1009,7 @@ func (r *ConmonOCIRuntime) createOCIContainer(ctr *Container, restoreOptions *Co
 	defer errorhandling.CloseQuiet(parentStartPipe)
 
 	var ociLog string
-	if logrus.GetLevel() != logrus.DebugLevel && r.supportsJSON {
+	if r.supportsJSON {
 		ociLog = filepath.Join(ctr.state.RunDir, "oci-log")
 	}
 
diff --git a/libpod/oci_conmon_exec_common.go b/libpod/oci_conmon_exec_common.go
index c002e04f2f..8ff2019378 100644
--- a/libpod/oci_conmon_exec_common.go
+++ b/libpod/oci_conmon_exec_common.go
@@ -47,10 +47,7 @@ func (r *ConmonOCIRuntime) ExecContainer(c *Container, sessionID string, options
 		attachStdin = streams.AttachInput
 	}
 
-	var ociLog string
-	if logrus.GetLevel() != logrus.DebugLevel && r.supportsJSON {
-		ociLog = c.execOCILog(sessionID)
-	}
+	ociLog := c.execOCILog(sessionID)
 
 	execCmd, pipes, err := r.startExec(c, sessionID, options, attachStdin, ociLog)
 	if err != nil {
@@ -115,10 +112,7 @@ func (r *ConmonOCIRuntime) ExecContainerHTTP(ctr *Container, sessionID string, o
 		attachStdin = streams.Stdin
 	}
 
-	var ociLog string
-	if logrus.GetLevel() != logrus.DebugLevel && r.supportsJSON {
-		ociLog = ctr.execOCILog(sessionID)
-	}
+	ociLog := ctr.execOCILog(sessionID)
 
 	execCmd, pipes, err := r.startExec(ctr, sessionID, options, attachStdin, ociLog)
 	if err != nil {
@@ -163,10 +157,7 @@ func (r *ConmonOCIRuntime) ExecContainerDetached(ctr *Container, sessionID strin
 		return -1, fmt.Errorf("must provide exec options to ExecContainerHTTP: %w", define.ErrInvalidArg)
 	}
 
-	var ociLog string
-	if logrus.GetLevel() != logrus.DebugLevel && r.supportsJSON {
-		ociLog = ctr.execOCILog(sessionID)
-	}
+	ociLog := ctr.execOCILog(sessionID)
 
 	execCmd, pipes, err := r.startExec(ctr, sessionID, options, stdin, ociLog)
 	if err != nil {
diff --git a/test/e2e/exec_test.go b/test/e2e/exec_test.go
index 4009445d1e..817f1c7f5b 100644
--- a/test/e2e/exec_test.go
+++ b/test/e2e/exec_test.go
@@ -671,4 +671,19 @@ RUN useradd -u 1000 auser`, FEDORA_MINIMAL)
 		execSession.WaitWithDefaultTimeout()
 		Expect(execSession).Should(ExitWithError(137, ""))
 	})
+
+	It("podman exec command not in $PATH error", func() {
+		session := podmanTest.RunTopContainer("testctr")
+		session.WaitWithDefaultTimeout()
+		Expect(session).Should(ExitCleanly())
+
+		execResult := podmanTest.Podman([]string{"exec", "testctr", "kjhasdf"})
+		execResult.WaitWithDefaultTimeout()
+		Expect(execResult).Should(ExitWithError(127, "not found in $PATH"))
+
+		// Test again with log level debug, this must produce the same error
+		execResult = podmanTest.Podman([]string{"--log-level=debug", "exec", "testctr", "kjhasdf"})
+		execResult.WaitWithDefaultTimeout()
+		Expect(execResult).Should(ExitWithError(127, "not found in $PATH"))
+	})
 })