[chef] 500 on client run

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Hi all,

for some reason my chef-client runs on all machines on which they've worked 
for
months have started returning a 500, with the server log showing the following
after I run 'sudo -E chef-client' on the client:

 ~ Started request handling: Tue Dec 22 18:51:13 -0500 2009
 ~ Params: {"format"=>nil, "action"=>"show", "id"=>"qafe01_example_com",
"controller"=>"chef_server_slice/nodes"}
 ~ Cannot load node qafe01.example.com - 
(Merb::ControllerExceptions::NotFound)
/usr/lib64/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/chef-server-slice-0.7.8/app/controllers/nodes.rb:39:in
`show'
/usr/lib64/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/merb-core-1.0.12/lib/merb-core/controller/abstract_controller.rb:315:in
`send'
/usr/lib64/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/merb-core-1.0.12/lib/merb-core/controller/abstract_controller.rb:315:in
`_call_action'
/usr/lib64/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/merb-core-1.0.12/lib/merb-core/controller/abstract_controller.rb:289:in
`_dispatch'
/usr/lib64/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/merb-core-1.0.12/lib/merb-core/controller/merb_controller.rb:252:in
`_dispatch'
/usr/lib64/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/merb-core-1.0.12/lib/merb-core/dispatch/dispatcher.rb:100:in
`dispatch_action'
/usr/lib64/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/merb-core-1.0.12/lib/merb-core/dispatch/dispatcher.rb:100:in
`synchronize'
/usr/lib64/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/merb-core-1.0.12/lib/merb-core/dispatch/dispatcher.rb:100:in
`dispatch_action'
/usr/lib64/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/merb-core-1.0.12/lib/merb-core/dispatch/dispatcher.rb:74:in
`handle'
/usr/lib64/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/merb-core-1.0.12/lib/merb-core/dispatch/dispatcher.rb:36:in
`handle'
/usr/lib64/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/merb-core-1.0.12/lib/merb-core/rack/application.rb:17:in
`call'
/usr/lib64/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/passenger-2.2.4/lib/phusion_passenger/rack/request_handler.rb:91:in
`process_request'
/usr/lib64/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/passenger-2.2.4/lib/phusion_passenger/abstract_request_handler.rb:206:in
`main_loop'
/usr/lib64/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/passenger-2.2.4/lib/phusion_passenger/rack/application_spawner.rb:118:in
`run'
/usr/lib64/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/passenger-2.2.4/lib/phusion_passenger/rack/application_spawner.rb:69:in
`spawn_application'
/usr/lib64/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/passenger-2.2.4/lib/phusion_passenger/utils.rb:182:in
`safe_fork'
/usr/lib64/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/passenger-2.2.4/lib/phusion_passenger/rack/application_spawner.rb:62:in
`spawn_application'
/usr/lib64/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/passenger-2.2.4/lib/phusion_passenger/rack/application_spawner.rb:45:in
`spawn_application'
/usr/lib64/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/passenger-2.2.4/lib/phusion_passenger/spawn_manager.rb:158:in
`spawn_application'
/usr/lib64/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/passenger-2.2.4/lib/phusion_passenger/spawn_manager.rb:286:in
`handle_spawn_application'
/usr/lib64/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/passenger-2.2.4/lib/phusion_passenger/abstract_server.rb:351:in
`__send__'
/usr/lib64/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/passenger-2.2.4/lib/phusion_passenger/abstract_server.rb:351:in
`main_loop'
/usr/lib64/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/passenger-2.2.4/lib/phusion_passenger/abstract_server.rb:195:in
`start_synchronously'
/usr/lib64/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/passenger-2.2.4/bin/passenger-spawn-server:61
 ~ Params: {"format"=>nil, "action"=>"show", "id"=>"qafe01.example.com",
"controller"=>"chef_server_slice/nodes"}
 ~ 

The web UI works fine, and registration and validations are also OK (i.e. if I
delete the node and its registration, and then re-run the client, I get a 401
and can then validate -- after that I start getting a 500 again). The server
version is 0.7.8, and I've tried every client version from 0.7.4 to 0.7.14
(also switched around ohai versions on both machines). Any ideas on what's
going wrong here? As far as I know no configurations have been changed.

thanks!
Kristof