[chef-dev] possible fixes for COOK-1676 (mysql cookbook fails on first run on RHEL6)

[Jesse Campbell < >]

apologies, i can get a bit long-winded in my questions...
short version:

should I follow the fix for COOK-517, or the fix for COOK-727?

long version:

on RHEL/CentOS6, the current mysql cookbook installs the mysql server
package (which creates the mysql user and mysql group)
then it tries to create some folders and templates using the mysql
user and mysql group

since ruby caches the group names, this fails, as the group doesn't yet exist.
This is documented in COOK-1676, and has been occurring for a long
time, just didn't get a chance to write it up before, but now someone
else did.

I see two ways to fix this, neither have I completely tested, but both
theoretically will work.

In COOK-517, Seth Chisamore fixed the same bug in the users cookbook
by adding the following code:

ruby_block "reset group list" do
  block do
    Etc.endgrent
  end
  action :nothing
end

then adding a notifies line to whatever block creates the group.

I just finished completing a mirror fix for the mysql cookbook here:
https://github.com/jcam/mysql/commit/d57e4055e3ec6fe9f4c5d5a868f552a02e408133

In COOK-727, Joshua Timberman made a fix for the postgresql cookbook
for the same issue,
but instead of resetting the group list, he manually created the user
and group for postgresql "like the package will"
see here:
https://github.com/lamont-opscode/cookbooks/blob/COOK-716/postgresql/recipes/server_redhat.rb

I could follow Joshua's way of doing it, but I worry... **what happens
if the mysql upstream package changes**? Then it doesn't create it
"like the package will". Then I'll be screwed in the middle of the
night when i am rebuilding a failed server.

Thoughts?