---
id: "bug-1906"
status: "fixed"
status_updated: "2026-10-01"
status_note: ""
component: "xcecli"
severity: "wrong-result"
timestamp: "2026-10-01T14:32:21Z"
last_seen: "2026-10-01T14:32:21Z"
occurrences: 1
files: ["src/frontend/xcecli/cmd/jobs/list.go"]
tags: ["job-array", "error-message", "selection"]
related: []
fix_commits: ["6e631caa"]
---

# bug-1906: xcecli jobs list drops the selection and its brackets from rejection messages

## Description
**Observed:**
```
$ xcecli jobs list '1-0-1790863351-0[1,3]'
failed to get parameter: [expected <job-id>, <array-id>k or <array-id>a-b]
$ xcecli jobs kill '1-0-1790863351-0[1,3]'
invalid job identity or element selection '1-0-1790863351-0[1,3]': expected <job-id>, <array-id>[k] or <array-id>[a-b]
```
`jobs list` passed local selection-parse errors through `request.ExtractErrorMessage`, which strips every `[`/`]` and keeps only the text after the last `": "`.

**Expected:** the rejection names the selection as written and keeps the `[k]` syntax, as `jobs kill` does (job-array-one-based-index Requirement 5: a rejection names the rejected selection).
**Impact:** users of `jobs list` cannot tell which selection was rejected, and the hint shows `<array-id>k` instead of `<array-id>[k]`.
**Found by:** spec task (job-array-one-based-index task 10.2 live REST flow)

## Environment
- OS: no /etc/os-release; Docker container; NixOS kernel; kernel Linux 6.18.33 x86_64
- libc: none (xcecli is a statically linked Go binary, CGO_ENABLED=0; host glibc 2.42-47)
- Toolchain: gcc (GCC) 15.2.0, meson 1.9.1
- Build: asan (src/build.jai)
- Code: scheduler-framework @ 6439e585-dirty
- Deployment: none needed (client-side parse error); seen against a single-host 3-node HA deploy

## Reproduction
1. `xcecli jobs list 'garbage' </dev/null` (any rejected selection; no server needed).
- Frequency: deterministic (4/4 selections, 2026-10-01)
- Evidence: not kept (the new test guards it)

## Root cause
`cmd/jobs/list.go` (`RunJobsList`, `runArrayJobStats`) formatted `HandleJobFilter` errors with `request.ExtractErrorMessage`, a sanitizer meant for transport errors: it removes all brackets and keeps only the last `": "`-separated part, which drops the quoted selection.

## Fix
Both sites report the local parse error as written (`failed to get parameter: [%v]`, err), without `ExtractErrorMessage`.

## Verification
- Test: `TestRunJobsListReportsRejectedSelectionVerbatim` in `src/frontend/xcecli/cmd/jobs/list_test.go`; RED before the fix (6 assertion failures), GREEN after
- Suites: xcecli `go vet ./...` clean, `go test ./...` all ok (CGO_ENABLED=0); `/xce-build xcecli` asan rc=0
- Live: rebuilt xcecli against the deployment: `jobs list` rejections now read e.g. `invalid element selection '1-0-1790863351-0[40000]': element numbers must be at most 32767`

## References
- Related: none