[chef] What are you guys using dynamic resources for? (was: Notifying Resources within Ruby Block Resource)

[Daniel DeLeo < >]

On Monday, November 28, 2011 at 2:46 PM, Bryan Baugher wrote:

> I just ran into this problem myself. It seems that notifications are only 
> handled by Chef::Runner, in which the runner holds the list of 
> notifications (in order to check for duplicates) and only its run_action 
> command can write to the list of notifications. 
> 
> So when you run, r.run_action you are running the resource without the 
> runner meaning the notification won't be handled.
> 
> I spent awhile trying to find a way to inject a resource into the runner's 
> list of resources or get access to the runner itself but for obvious 
> reasons you can't (or it is difficult). 
> 
> One hack I found that does work is this,
Questions about creating and using resources defined via ruby blocks comes up 
often enough that I think it's worthwhile to find a more elegant solution, if 
possible. Can you guys explain what it is you're commonly doing with these?

Off the top of my head, I can see two sorts of scenarios:
1. You need to set a value on a resource during the convergence phase of the 
Chef run (why?). Adding a means to have lazily evaluated values would be a 
pretty easy fix.
2. You need to create multiple resources during converge based on some state 
created by prior actions in the converge phase (again, why?). An elegant 
solution to this would require a lot more thought.

I know I've asked people about this individually before, but it would be nice 
to get this on the record and maybe get a feature proposal out of it.

Thanks,

-- 
Dan DeLeo