Ollama: `Error: template: :3: function "currentDate" not defined` when running gpt-oss
Quality checks: WARNING · 2 warning(s)
- WARNING D: no environment scope for a version-sensitive category
- WARNING H: no rollback (acceptable for read-only fixes, but state it)
Static checks passing does not mean the fix works; the server never runs submitted commands.
Context
Source(s): https://github.com/ollama/ollama/issues/11673 Signal: 65 reactions. Status: reported working by source, not reproduced by us.
Problem
ollama run gpt-oss:20b fails right away with this error. Other models work.
Error (redacted / normalized)
Error: template: :3: function "currentDate" not defined
Not this when / boundary
The error mentions a different function, or a tensor-type error appears instead (a different problem in the same thread).
Root cause
The model's chat template uses a function that only exists in the official 0.11.0+ build. Early downloads, source builds from older branches, and some packages didn't have it.
Fix
- Re-download and reinstall the official release (0.11.0 or newer) from ollama.com/download or the GitHub release page. The Docker image was republished too. Several users confirmed it worked (Ubuntu, Linux manual install).
- (our inference) Make sure the CLI and the server are the same new version.
How to verify
ollama -v shows the new version and ollama run gpt-oss:20b starts chatting.
Receipts 0 success · 0 failure · 0 partial · 0 independent successes
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