[chef] Re: Remote file considered harmful

[Ian Ragsdale < >]

I strongly agree with everything here.  This sounds like a huge  
improvement to me.  That would also open up the remote_file resource  
to actually refer to a remote file on a different server, which could  
be downloaded or updated as necessary.

- Ian

On Oct 21, 2009, at 1:40 PM, 
<
 >
 wrote:

> I'd like to examine the division between the "file", "remote_file" and
> "tempate" resources.
>
> First of all, they are badly named. Why isn't there a  
> remote_template to
> correspond with remote_file? What's "remote" about remote_file in  
> Chef Solo?
> Can we at least rename the little-used "file" to be "file_touch" so  
> we can use
> "file" instead of "remote_file" everywhere?
>
> Second, the 3 types are similar in my mind because the 'flow' of  
> data is 99.9%
> the same: "I need a file to exist on disk right HERE (with or  
> without an ERB
> step)".
>
> My current workflow looks like this: I start off by copying a config  
> file into
> "/files" and create a "remote_file" resource. But then I discover I  
> need an
> attribute in the config file, so I have to move the config file  
> (from "/files"
> to "/templates") and change the resource type (from "remote_file" to
> "template") and sometimes edit the name (from "config" to  
> "config.erb").
> Sometimes I break up the config file to sub-configs. But these go into
> different directories depending on if they need ERB attributes or not.
> Logically, the sub-configs should be siblings, but physically they  
> go in
> different directories. Sometimes I find myself moving the files back  
> and forth
> as I refactor the config file and sub-config files and move  
> attributes around.
>
> It would make more sense to set an attribute ("oh, by the way, that  
> file needs
> ERB now") on the existing resource. I also think it's better if I  
> don't have to
> move the file from /files to /templates.
>
> Imagine merging these resources into one "file" resource:
>
> # touch a file
> file "/tmp/touch_me" do
> action :touch
> end
>
> # copy file
> file "/tmp/blob" do
> # source "blob" is implicit. Looks in /files/default/blob
> end
>
> # Some files are so small, it's silly to create a
> # new file in a new directory just to hold the contents
> file "/tmp/blob" do
>  contents "dude"
> end
>
> # Some generated files don't benifit from ERB.
> file "database.yml" do
>  contents do @node.database_settings.to_yaml; end
> end
>
> # switching from a static file to a template
> # shouldn't require a new resource.
> file "/tmp/blob" do
>  filter :erb  # process source file with ERB
>  # Not sure if it should default to source 'blob' or 'blob.erb'
>  # also not sure if it should look in /templates or just in /files
> end
>
>
> I know it's a major change, but hey, now is the time for big  
> changes, right?
> What do you think?
>
> -=Dan=-