--dns-linode-credential specified but still prompted "How would you like to authenticate..."

[jabowery]

My domain is:
fairchurch.org

I ran this command:
docker run -a=STDERR -a=STDOUT --rm --name certbot -v /root/.linode_api:/root/.linode_api -v /etc/letsencrypt:/etc/letsencrypt -v /var/lib/letsencrypt:/var/lib/letsencrypt -v /var/log:/var/log certbot/dns-linode certonly --dry-run --dns-linode-propagation-seconds 400 --dns-linode-credentials /root/.linode_api/certbot -d fairchurch.org -d aethercollege.com -d sortocracy.org -d countycurrency.org -d spasim.org -d gutocp.com -d toesettast.one -d diogenesinstitute.org -d delegate.network -d *.fairchurch.org -d *.aethercollege.com -d *.sortocracy.org -d *.countycurrency.org -d *.spasim.org -d *.gutocp.com -d *.toesettast.one -d *.diogenesinstitute.org -d *.delegate.network

It produced this output:

How would you like to authenticate with the ACME CA?
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
1: Obtain certs using a DNS TXT record (if you are using Linode for DNS).
(dns-linode)
2: Spin up a temporary webserver (standalone)
3: Place files in webroot directory (webroot)
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Select the appropriate number [1-3] then [enter] (press 'c' to cancel): An unexpected error occurred:
EOFError
Please see the logfiles in /var/log/letsencrypt for more details.

My web server is (include version):
n/a
The operating system my web server runs on is (include version):

root@debian:~# cat /etc/debian_version 
10.10

My hosting provider, if applicable, is:
linode
I can login to a root shell on my machine (yes or no, or I don't know):
yes
I'm using a control panel to manage my site (no, or provide the name and version of the control panel):
no
The version of my client is (e.g. output of certbot --version or certbot-auto --version if you're using Certbot):

root@debian:~# docker run -a=STDERR -a=STDOUT --rm --name certbot -v /root/.linode_api:/root/.linode_api -v /etc/letsencrypt:/etc/letsencrypt -v /var/lib/letsencrypt:/var/lib/letsencrypt -v /var/log:/var/log certbot/dns-linode certonly --version
certbot 1.9.0

[Osiris]

That's probably because you didn't "select" the acutal plugin on the command line using the --dns-linode option. The option --dns-linode-credentials option is just for that: specifying the credential file, not the actual plugin.

I can understand why you didn't actually think of this yourself, as this is actually lacking from the documentation. If you check out User Guide — Certbot 1.19.0.dev0 documentation it does NOT specify how to actually select the plugin on the command line, NOR does the plugin documentation at Welcome to certbot-dns-linode’s documentation! — certbot-dns-linode 0 documentation specify this literally. It only shows you this in the Examples, but that's it..

I might file an issue on the certbot github page for this. Or someone else might do it. Or perhaps no-one does that.