PermissionError undefined on python 2.7

[Benjamin Dean]

running cloud-init-18.5-1.el7.x86_64 on RHEL 7.7

as non-root user when I run `cloud-init status` I get the following error.

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/usr/bin/cloud-init", line 9, in <module>
    load_entry_point('cloud-init==18.5', 'console_scripts', 'cloud-init')()
  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/site-packages/cloudinit/cmd/main.py", line 892, in main
    get_uptime=True, func=functor, args=(name, args))
  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/site-packages/cloudinit/util.py", line 2520, in log_time
    ret = func(*args, **kwargs)
  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/site-packages/cloudinit/cmd/status.py", line 53, in handle_status_args
    init.read_cfg()
  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/site-packages/cloudinit/stages.py", line 175, in read_cfg
    self._cfg = self._read_cfg(extra_fns)
  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/site-packages/cloudinit/stages.py", line 184, in _read_cfg
    return merger.cfg
  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/site-packages/cloudinit/helpers.py", line 278, in cfg
    self._cfg = self._read_cfg()
  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/site-packages/cloudinit/helpers.py", line 268, in _read_cfg
    cfgs.extend(self._get_instance_configs())
  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/site-packages/cloudinit/helpers.py", line 242, in _get_instance_configs
    except PermissionError:
NameError: global name 'PermissionError' is not defined

seems like it needs some workaround for python 2.7 similar to this one in some other project:
https://github.com/rpm-software-management/mock/commit/46596dfd425a5bac58f51029fdd8c620623e4bb4

[Benjamin Dean (bdean)]

Here's the commit that added this PermissionError:
https://github.com/cloud-init/cloud-init/commit/fc4b966ba928b30b1c586407e752e0b51b1031e8

in 18.4

[Ryan Harper (raharper)]

Thanks for submitting the bug.

[Henry Ford (hrford)]

Hi,
This error still occurs when trying to query for keys as non-root user on an Amazon Linux 2 EC2:
Their cloud-init version is /bin/cloud-init 19.3-3.amzn2

How do I find out if I need to report this to Amazon or this update here is ok?

[Scott Moser (smoser)]

I'm marking this as 'fix committed'.
In upstream/master at this point it would be considered "Not a bug" as upstream has dropped python2 support.

It is fixed in 'stable-19.4' branch here https://github.com/canonical/cloud-init/commit/c52e94fcc3e610a733a9247d63f9b0967ac4854c .

So the paths to this being fixed for you are:
 a.) amazon cherry-pick that change into their distribution package
 b.) upstream release a 19.5 and amazon pick that up into their distribution package.

Its unfortunate that the change missed the 19.4 release. I don't know if there are upstream plans to release 19.5 or not.

In my opinion, it seems worth reporting to amazon.

[James Falcon (falcojr)]

Tracked in Github Issues as https://github.com/canonical/cloud-init/issues/3384