---
id: "bug-1953"
status: "open"
status_updated: "2026-10-10"
status_note: "newly logged"
component: "apiserver"
severity: "wrong-result"
timestamp: "2026-10-10T08:42:56Z"
last_seen: "2026-10-10T08:42:56Z"
occurrences: 1
files: ["src/frontend/apiserver/controllers/jobs.go"]
tags: ["apiserver", "submit", "validation"]
related: ["bug-1936"]
---

# bug-1953: apiserver skips submit validation and limit conversion for any job submitted with a job name

## Description
**Observed:** (source reading, confirmed against the code on 2026-10-10)
`preCheckJobRequest()` (`src/frontend/apiserver/controllers/jobs.go:1308`)
returns from inside its job-name branch, before the rest of the checks run:
```go
if req.JobName != "" {
    if strings.ContainsAny(req.JobName, "[]") {
        ...
        return count, true, nil      // jobs.go:1346, array name
    }
    ...
    return 1, false, nil             // jobs.go:1366, plain name
}
```
Everything after the branch is skipped for every named job (and every array
job): the job-description, project-name and resreq length checks, resreq
validation, the `shell_limit` → limit conversion (`jobs.go:1405-1434`), and
the later env / launch-type validation and transfer-file parsing. Reported by
the bug-1936 fix: a named job with transfer files fails with
`failed to parse ExtendData JSON`.

**Expected:** every submission gets the same validation and conversions,
named or not; the name only decides array handling.
**Impact:** wrong result and missing validation: named and array jobs bypass
length and resreq checks (bad input reaches the controller and scheduler),
lose their shell limits, and fail at the worker when they carry transfers.
**Found by:** fix of bug-1936 (submit exdata), 2026-10-10.
## Environment
- OS: no /etc/os-release; Docker container; NixOS kernel; kernel Linux 6.18.33 x86_64
- libc: glibc 2.42-47 (interpreter /nix/store/wb6rhpznjfczwlwx23zmdrrw74bayxw4-glibc-2.42-47/lib/ld-linux-x86-64.so.2)
- Toolchain: gcc (GCC) 15.2.0, meson 1.9.1
- Build: asan (xce.build)
- Code: scheduler-framework @ b9747ad2-dirty
- Deployment: any (apiserver request validation; no cluster needed to show it)

## Reproduction
1. Submit `xcecli jobs submit -J myjob --cpu_limit 60000 sleep 1` and the same
   job without `-J`.
2. Without a name the CPU limit is converted into the job's limits; with
   `-J myjob` it is not. Likewise an over-long resreq or project name is
   rejected only for the unnamed job.
- Frequency: deterministic (code path)
- Evidence: the code quoted in Description; no logs kept.
## Root cause
TODO: required for fixed/partial

## Fix
TODO: required for fixed/partial

## Verification
- Test: TODO: name + file; RED before the fix, GREEN after
- Suites: TODO: suite results and build profile
- Live: TODO: soak/deploy run, or n/a and why

## References
- Related: none