Argument required not found while using Terraform validate - terraform

Question

My Terraform directory structure looks something like :
├── deploy
│ ├── dev.tfvars
│ └── qa.tfvars
├── modules
│ ├── private
│ │ ├── bastion.tf
│ ├── db.tf
│ │ └── variables.tf
│ └── public
│ ├── web.tf
│ └── variables.tf
├── main.tf
In bastion.tf, I am trying to call a variable from variables.tf like this :
resource "aws_eip" "bastion" {
instance = "var.eip"
vpc = true
}
where, eip = 10.x.x.x is set in say, dev.tfvars.
And the configuration for main.tf looks like :
provider "aws" {}
terraform {
backend "s3" {}
}
module "private" {
source = "./modules/private"
}
While running terraform validate, it gives me an error that - The argument "eip" is required, but no definition was found. Even if I try giving eip to module like :
module "private" {
source = "./modules/private"
eip = var.eip
}
it gives me another error :
An input variable with the name "eip" has not been declared.
This variable can be declared with a variable "eip" {} block
I have variable "eip" {} already defined in my variables.tf such that it takes the values from .tfvars file, but somehow it isn't. Can anyone suggest what else could I be missing?

Answer 1

Sounds like you are missing variables declarations...
From your file structure:
├── deploy
│ ├── dev.tfvars
│ └── qa.tfvars
├── modules
│ ├── private
│ │ ├── bastion.tf
│ ├── db.tf
│ │ └── variables.tf
│ └── public
│ ├── web.tf
│ └── variables.tf
├── main.tf
There does not seem to be a companion variables.tf for the main.tf each level needs to declare the variables that will be used by resources or submodules.
If you upload your code to GitHub and post a link I could help to get you unblocked.