terraform force-unlock: Failed to load state:remote workspace Terraform version "0.13.5" does not match local Terraform version "0.15.4"

[ecerulm]

Terraform Version

Terraform v0.15.4
on darwin_amd64
+ provider registry.terraform.io/hashicorp/aws v3.42.0
+ provider registry.terraform.io/hashicorp/helm v2.1.2
+ provider registry.terraform.io/hashicorp/kubernetes v2.2.0

Terraform Configuration Files

...

Debug Output

Crash Output

Expected Behavior

terraform force-unlock xxxx should just unlock the state. Or at least tell me exactly which remote state is the offending one as I can think of several

• The backend "remote" that hold the state of this terraform configuration
• Any of the 5 data "terraform_remote_state" "xxx" that are used in this terraform configuration (I checked in Terraform Cloud and they are have "terraform_version": "0.15.4",

Actual Behavior

terraform force-unlock xxxxxx seems to remove the lock, but immediatelly after terraform fails with

 Failed to load state: Remote workspace Terraform version "0.13.5" does not match local Terraform version "0.15.4"

leaving the state locked again (with a new lock ID)

Steps to Reproduce

I'm not sure how I landed in this state

Additional Context

I tried to

terraform apply -refresh-only -lock=false
terraform force-unlock 85f52642-4dc4-379f-8031-a286b7db6aa9

but I still get the `Failed to load state: Remote workspace Terraform version "0.13.5" does not match local Terraform version "0.15.4"

At this point all the remote workspaces referenced in the terraform configuration are already on 0.15.4 (both the backend "remote" and the 5 data "terraform_remote_state "xxx") , I've checke on Terraform Cloud and all of them have "terraform_version": "0.15.4",

References

[ecerulm]

I tried

terraform destroy -lock=false # Destroy complete! Resources: 9 destroyed
terraform plan -out latest.tfplan # Error: Error acquiring the state lock
terraform force-unlock e1adafcd-a7f2-d6d0-95ef-055b3b92e3cd
Failed to load state: Remote workspace Terraform version "0.13.5" does not match local Terraform version "0.15.4"

[ecerulm]

I deleted the workspace from terraform cloud (the backend "remote")
and

terraform init
# change execution plan to local in terraform cloud
terraform plan # now works

So well, I could not wait and I managed to circumvent the problem since I destroyed everything first and then deleted the remote workspace from terraform cloud.

But I guess this still needs to be looked into .

[ecerulm]

After googling more on this I believe that most likely the remote workspace in Terraform Cloud was locked to 0.13.5 (I guess because at some point I did Terraform Cloud > workspace-xxx > Settings > General > Execution Mode: Remote > Terraform version 0.13.5 )

Most likely I could have just updated that in terraform cloud or used terraform force-unlock -ignore-remote-version as documented on https://www.terraform.io/docs/language/settings/backends/remote.html#command-line-arguments

But even then... should terraform leave the state locked in this case? I believe not.

[ecerulm]

This happend to me again so and I think the correct procedure to get rid of this now is:

• Terraform Cloud > workspace-xxx > Settings > General > Execution Mode: Remote (change to Remote so that the terraform version dropdown box appears)
• Terraform Cloud > workspace-xxx > Settings > General > Execution Mode: Remote > Terraform version xxxx
• Terraform Cloud > workspace-xxx > Settings > General > Execution Mode: Local (change back to local execution mode)
• Delete the lock / remove the lock with terraform force-unlock 'orgname/workspaceshortname'(note that the LOCKID is NOT. a UUID )

[acdha]

Most likely I could have just updated that in terraform cloud or used terraform force-unlock -ignore-remote-version as documented on https://www.terraform.io/docs/language/settings/backends/remote.html#command-line-arguments

In case anyone else is wondering, -ignore-remote-version was removed at some point.

[github-actions]

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