podman start/stop/kill/restart commands can show an incorrect error message

[acshea]

Is this a BUG REPORT or FEATURE REQUEST? (leave only one on its own line)

/kind bug

Description

When running 'podman start/stop/kill/restart' and multiple containers match a given partial Container ID, the incorrect error message is displayed.

> podman ps

CONTAINER ID  IMAGE                           COMMAND           CREATED        STATUS            PORTS       NAMES
ecab208ac3d4  docker.io/library/httpd:latest  httpd-foreground  4 minutes ago  Up 4 minutes ago              serene_villani
e1f97e2c9bf1  docker.io/library/httpd:latest  httpd-foreground  4 minutes ago  Up 4 minutes ago              objective_dhawan

> podman stop e

Error: invalid character '{' after top-level value

Steps to reproduce the issue:

1. Create multiple containers until there are at least 2 with the same starting character(s)

2. Run a podman start/stop/kill/restart command such as 'podman stop abc'

3. Observe incorrect error message

Describe the results you received:
'Error: invalid character '{' after top-level value'

Describe the results you expected:
An error more in line with the error from running the 'podman rm' command such as:
'Error: more than one result for container ID '

Additional information you deem important (e.g. issue happens only occasionally):
Just an incorrect error message. Does not appear to have any other negative impact.

Output of podman version:

Client:
Version:      3.4.4
API Version:  3.4.4
Go Version:   go1.17.3
Built:        Wed Dec  8 18:41:11 2021
OS/Arch:      darwin/amd64

Server:
Version:      3.4.4
API Version:  3.4.4
Go Version:   go1.16.8
Built:        Wed Dec  8 21:45:07 2021
OS/Arch:      linux/amd64

Output of podman info --debug:

host:
  arch: amd64
  buildahVersion: 1.23.1
  cgroupControllers:
  - memory
  - pids
  cgroupManager: systemd
  cgroupVersion: v2
  conmon:
    package: conmon-2.0.30-2.fc35.x86_64
    path: /usr/bin/conmon
    version: 'conmon version 2.0.30, commit: '
  cpus: 1
  distribution:
    distribution: fedora
    variant: coreos
    version: "35"
  eventLogger: journald
  hostname: localhost.localdomain
  idMappings:
    gidmap:
    - container_id: 0
      host_id: 1000
      size: 1
    - container_id: 1
      host_id: 100000
      size: 65536
    uidmap:
    - container_id: 0
      host_id: 1000
      size: 1
    - container_id: 1
      host_id: 100000
      size: 65536
  kernel: 5.15.10-200.fc35.x86_64
  linkmode: dynamic
  logDriver: journald
  memFree: 1552265216
  memTotal: 2061385728
  ociRuntime:
    name: crun
    package: crun-1.4-1.fc35.x86_64
    path: /usr/bin/crun
    version: |-
      crun version 1.4
      commit: 3daded072ef008ef0840e8eccb0b52a7efbd165d
      spec: 1.0.0
      +SYSTEMD +SELINUX +APPARMOR +CAP +SECCOMP +EBPF +CRIU +YAJL
  os: linux
  remoteSocket:
    exists: true
    path: /run/user/1000/podman/podman.sock
  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: true
  serviceIsRemote: true
  slirp4netns:
    executable: /usr/bin/slirp4netns
    package: slirp4netns-1.1.12-2.fc35.x86_64
    version: |-
      slirp4netns version 1.1.12
      commit: 7a104a101aa3278a2152351a082a6df71f57c9a3
      libslirp: 4.6.1
      SLIRP_CONFIG_VERSION_MAX: 3
      libseccomp: 2.5.3
  swapFree: 0
  swapTotal: 0
  uptime: 46h 18m 20.23s (Approximately 1.92 days)
plugins:
  log:
  - k8s-file
  - none
  - journald
  network:
  - bridge
  - macvlan
  volume:
  - local
registries:
  search:
  - docker.io
store:
  configFile: /var/home/core/.config/containers/storage.conf
  containerStore:
    number: 0
    paused: 0
    running: 0
    stopped: 0
  graphDriverName: overlay
  graphOptions: {}
  graphRoot: /var/home/core/.local/share/containers/storage
  graphStatus:
    Backing Filesystem: xfs
    Native Overlay Diff: "true"
    Supports d_type: "true"
    Using metacopy: "false"
  imageStore:
    number: 4
  runRoot: /run/user/1000/containers
  volumePath: /var/home/core/.local/share/containers/storage/volumes
version:
  APIVersion: 3.4.4
  Built: 1638999907
  BuiltTime: Wed Dec  8 21:45:07 2021
  GitCommit: ""
  GoVersion: go1.16.8
  OsArch: linux/amd64
  Version: 3.4.4

Package info (e.g. output of rpm -q podman or apt list podman):

brew info podman

podman: stable 3.4.4 (bottled), HEAD
Tool for managing OCI containers and pods
https://podman.io/
/usr/local/Cellar/podman/3.4.4 (170 files, 40MB) *
  Poured from bottle on 2021-12-15 at 14:36:38
From: https://github.com/Homebrew/homebrew-core/blob/HEAD/Formula/podman.rb
License: Apache-2.0
==> Dependencies
Build: go ✘, go-md2man ✘
Required: qemu ✔
==> Options
--HEAD
	Install HEAD version
==> Caveats
zsh completions have been installed to:
  /usr/local/share/zsh/site-functions
==> Analytics
install: 9,725 (30 days), 35,068 (90 days), 84,575 (365 days)
install-on-request: 9,721 (30 days), 35,075 (90 days), 84,567 (365 days)

Have you tested with the latest version of Podman and have you checked the Podman Troubleshooting Guide? (https://github.com/containers/podman/blob/main/troubleshooting.md)

Yes

Additional environment details (AWS, VirtualBox, physical, etc.):
MacOS

[mheon]

Tagging for 4.0, I'd love to get a fix for this in before we release

[Luap99]

It looks like the client cannot decode the returned json?