[chef] Problem with chef recipe run order

[Avleen Vig < >]

This is bizarre - though it may be my lack of understanding of chef :-)
Anyone know what might cause this behaviour?


We have a Base role, which looks like this:
    "run_list": [
    ....
      "recipe[syslog-ng]",
    ....
    ]

And a more specific role, OurSite which looks like:
    "run_list": [
      "role[Base]",
      ....
      "recipe[syslog-ng::prod-web]"
    ]


The runlist for the node looks like:
    "run_list": [ "role[OurSite]" ]


Now, I was expecting that the default "recipe[syslog-ng]" would be
getting run quite early on.
It has a "not_if" statement on a cookbook_file, which causes it to
skip because we later want to use the syslog-ng::prod-web in this
specific role.

*BIZARRE THING*:
The syslog-ng isn't run until the syslog-ng::prod-web recipe is supposed to 
run.
I've verified this by moving syslog-ng::prod-web up and down in the
run_list and watching the debug output in chef-client.
And when the not_if kicks in, in the default recipe, the more specific
syslog-ng::prod-web isn't even run.

Help? I'm *guessing* this is happening because both recipes reference
the same cookbook_file, but that doesn't explain why the run for the
syslog-ng::default is delayed until much later, and why both recipes
aren't run.

I've included the pertinent bits of the recipes below.


syslog-ng::default:
cookbook_file "/etc/syslog-ng/syslog-ng.conf" do
  not_if "grep 'SPECIAL CONFIG' /etc/syslog-ng/syslog-ng.conf"
  source "genericv2.conf"
  owner "root"
  group "root"
  mode 00644
  notifies :restart, resources(:service => "syslog-ng")
end

syslog-ng::prod-web
cookbook_file "/etc/syslog-ng/syslog-ng.conf" do
  backup false
  source "prodweb-syslog-ng.conf"
  owner "root"
  group "root"
  mode 00644
  notifies :restart, resources(:service => "syslog-ng")
end