[chef-dev] Re: Re: Accepted RFCs for October 15th

[Mike < >]

Thanks Noah for the summaries!

> ## RFC 26: Remove HTTP Config Files

>
> https://github.com/opscode/chef-rfc/blob/master/rfc026-remove-http-config-files.md
> 
> This deprecates a relatively unknown feature whereby chef-client can download its configuration directly from an HTTP server. Given how little this feature is believed to be used, an aggressive deprecation schedule will be used such that the feature will throw a warning in future Chef 11 versions and be entirely removed in Chef 12.

Sorry I missed the discussion on this particular RFC on chef-rfc repo, and am unsure how to continue discussion on an already-accepted RFC - is that detailed somewhere?

One point I'd like to ask about here is the "warning and deprecation" model - it appears that this is going to be removed completely in Chef 12, and a deprecation warning will be added to Chef 11.

I've seen mention that there may not be any further Chef 11.x releases until Chef 12 is out, which actually makes the deprecation warning a little "too late" for anyone looking to upgrade and retain functionality.

Now, I don't think this is The Most Important Feature that is likely to cause massive breakage for users, but it does surface the need to describe a clear deprecation methodology for anything that is going to be changed significantly in Chef 12 and onwards.

RFC015 [1] does a good job of defining a few of changes that are not backwards compatible, but I don't believe there's any mention of adding deprecation warnings in current Chef 11 for users of these features/code paths.

From SemVer doc [2]:

| How should I handle deprecating functionality?

| Deprecating existing functionality is a normal part of software development and is often required to make forward progress. When you deprecate part of your public API, you should do two things: (1) update your documentation to let users know about the change, (2) issue a new minor release with the deprecation in place. Before you completely remove the functionality in a new major release there should be at least one minor release that contains the deprecation so that users can smoothly transition to the new API.

So it seems that the first part about updating documentation is happening now, as well as will most likely be in the Chef 12 release notes, but the second part about issuing a minor release of Chef 11 with deprecation warnings (and any cookbooks that have deprecated code) should happen before the Chef 12 release.

[1]: https://github.com/opscode/chef-rfc/blob/master/rfc015-chef-12.md

[2]: http://semver.org/

Best,

-M

On Thu, Oct 16, 2014 at 2:51 AM, Aimelyne Mochiron < " target="_blank"> > wrote:

+1 for the idea of having reports such as this one on RFCs being accepted/merged. Just like btm's Developer Office Hours reports, this is very useful/convenient to keep on top of things when one's bandwidth is limited, as you say. Thanks! :-)

am

On 16 Oct 2014, at 09:18, Noah Kantrowitz < "> > wrote:

> I think maybe it would be good for the editor team to notify this mailing list when new RFCs are accepted and merged, for those that don't have the bandwidth to keep up with the whole RFC process. Do people feel I should CC the Chef ML too?
>
> This week five RFCs have been accepted, all planned for inclusion in Chef 12:
>
> ## RFC 22: Arbitrary Cookbook Identifiers
>
> https://github.com/opscode/chef-rfc/blob/master/rfc022-arbitrary-cookbook-identifiers.md
>
> This defines a new API to manage cookbooks with identifiers other the current three-integer-semver structure in use now.
>
> ## RFC 23: Chef 12 Attributes Changes
>
> https://github.com/opscode/chef-rfc/blob/master/rfc023-chef-12-attributes-changes.md
>
> This defines several new methods on Node to manipulate attributes. This will restore some functionality that was lost during the Chef 11 attributes rewrite, including safely deleting attributes and assigning over an existing hash.
>
> ## RFC 24: Local Mode Default
>
> https://github.com/opscode/chef-rfc/blob/master/rfc024-local-mode-default.md
>
> This outlines plans to change chef-client and knife to use local-mode by default if no server URL is specified.
>
> ## RFC 25: Multitenant Chef Client Support
>
> https://github.com/opscode/chef-rfc/blob/master/rfc025-multitenant-chef-client-support.md
>
> This adds additional configuration options to better support multi tenant Chef Servers, such as Chef Server 12.
>
> ## RFC 26: Remove HTTP Config Files
>
> https://github.com/opscode/chef-rfc/blob/master/rfc026-remove-http-config-files.md
>
> This deprecates a relatively unknown feature whereby chef-client can download its configuration directly from an HTTP server. Given how little this feature is believed to be used, an aggressive deprecation schedule will be used such that the feature will throw a warning in future Chef 11 versions and be entirely removed in Chef 12.
>
> Thats all for this week. If you have thoughts on this bulletin, please let me know!
>
> --Noah