[chef] chef-server(-api) not starting on starting after fresh install [CHEF-2827]

[Infor Mation < >]

Hi,

I've been trying to learn chef for two days now, and can't get it to run.

I'm installing chef on Debain (Wheezy/sid) on bare iron, and from the  
repositories opscodes provides. (I'm a package manager junkie, shoot me)

I'm using the world's most generic x86_64 hardware.

chef-server will.not.start.

regardless from which repo i try to install from (i.e. wheezy-0.10,  
squeeze-0.10, or sid-0.10) nor which version i try. (i.e. -0.10.8-1 or  
-0.10.4-1)

everything fails identically.

Someone brought up that my hostname might be an issue, it's  
mamabear.ross154 (no trailing .com or .net or whatever, just the  
.domain at the end. having a trailing "." makes no difference), but  
I'm not convinced this isn't a red herring. (double negative! my bad)

The failure is the same when run from the /etc/init.d script or run  
from the command line, or during the installation of the package:

from dpkg....
Setting up chef-server-api (0.10.4-1) ...

Creating config file /etc/chef/server.rb with new version
Starting chef-server : ~ In 3405
 failed!

from the command line (with log_level set to :debug in server.rb):

mamabear:/etc# sudo -u chef chef-server -p 4000 -e production -a thin
Loading init file from /usr/share/chef-server-api/config/init.rb
[Wed, 21 Dec 2011 17:11:01 -0800] DEBUG: Sending HTTP Request via GET  
to localhost:5984/_all_dbs
[Wed, 21 Dec 2011 17:11:01 -0800] DEBUG: Sending HTTP Request via GET  
to localhost:5984/chef/_design/id_map
[Wed, 21 Dec 2011 17:11:01 -0800] DEBUG: Sending HTTP Request via GET  
to localhost:5984/chef/_design/nodes
[Wed, 21 Dec 2011 17:11:01 -0800] DEBUG: Sending HTTP Request via GET  
to localhost:5984/chef/_design/roles
[Wed, 21 Dec 2011 17:11:01 -0800] DEBUG: Sending HTTP Request via GET  
to localhost:5984/chef/_design/data_bags
[Wed, 21 Dec 2011 17:11:01 -0800] DEBUG: Sending HTTP Request via GET  
to localhost:5984/chef/_design/clients
[Wed, 21 Dec 2011 17:11:01 -0800] DEBUG: Sending HTTP Request via GET  
to localhost:5984/chef/_design/users
[Wed, 21 Dec 2011 17:11:01 -0800] DEBUG: Sending HTTP Request via GET  
to localhost:5984/chef/_design/cookbooks
[Wed, 21 Dec 2011 17:11:01 -0800] DEBUG: Sending HTTP Request via GET  
to localhost:5984/chef/_design/sandboxes
[Wed, 21 Dec 2011 17:11:01 -0800] DEBUG: Sending HTTP Request via GET  
to localhost:5984/chef/_design/checksums
[Wed, 21 Dec 2011 17:11:01 -0800] DEBUG: Sending HTTP Request via GET  
to localhost:5984/chef/_design/environments
[Wed, 21 Dec 2011 17:11:01 -0800] DEBUG: Sending HTTP Request via GET  
to localhost:5984/chef/_design/id_map/_view/name_to_id
[Wed, 21 Dec 2011 17:11:01 -0800] INFO: HTTP Request Returned 500  
Internal Server Error: compilation_error
[Wed, 21 Dec 2011 17:11:01 -0800] ERROR: Server returned error for  
http://localhost:5984/chef/_design/id_map/_view/name_to_id?include_docs=true&key=[%22client%22,%22chef-validator%22], retrying 1/5 in  
3s
[Wed, 21 Dec 2011 17:11:04 -0800] INFO: HTTP Request Returned 500  
Internal Server Error: compilation_error
[Wed, 21 Dec 2011 17:11:04 -0800] ERROR: Server returned error for  
http://localhost:5984/chef/_design/id_map/_view/name_to_id?include_docs=true&key=[%22client%22,%22chef-validator%22], retrying 2/5 in  
8s
[Wed, 21 Dec 2011 17:11:12 -0800] INFO: HTTP Request Returned 500  
Internal Server Error: compilation_error
[Wed, 21 Dec 2011 17:11:12 -0800] ERROR: Server returned error for  
http://localhost:5984/chef/_design/id_map/_view/name_to_id?include_docs=true&key=[%22client%22,%22chef-validator%22], retrying 3/5 in  
11s
[Wed, 21 Dec 2011 17:11:23 -0800] INFO: HTTP Request Returned 500  
Internal Server Error: compilation_error
[Wed, 21 Dec 2011 17:11:23 -0800] ERROR: Server returned error for  
http://localhost:5984/chef/_design/id_map/_view/name_to_id?include_docs=true&key=[%22client%22,%22chef-validator%22], retrying 4/5 in  
23s
[Wed, 21 Dec 2011 17:11:46 -0800] INFO: HTTP Request Returned 500  
Internal Server Error: compilation_error
[Wed, 21 Dec 2011 17:11:46 -0800] ERROR: Server returned error for  
http://localhost:5984/chef/_design/id_map/_view/name_to_id?include_docs=true&key=[%22client%22,%22chef-validator%22], retrying 5/5 in  
47s
^[[Wed, 21 Dec 2011 17:12:33 -0800] INFO: HTTP Request Returned 500  
Internal Server Error: compilation_error
/usr/lib/ruby/1.8/net/http.rb:2105:in `error!': 500 "Internal Server  
Error" (Net::HTTPFatalError)
        from /usr/lib/ruby/vendor_ruby/chef/rest.rb:237:in `api_request'
        from /usr/lib/ruby/vendor_ruby/chef/rest.rb:288:in  
`retriable_rest_request'
        from /usr/lib/ruby/vendor_ruby/chef/rest.rb:218:in `api_request'
        from /usr/lib/ruby/vendor_ruby/chef/rest.rb:114:in `get_rest'
        from /usr/lib/ruby/vendor_ruby/chef/couchdb.rb:225:in `get_view'
        from /usr/lib/ruby/vendor_ruby/chef/couchdb.rb:210:in `find_by_name'
        from /usr/lib/ruby/vendor_ruby/chef/couchdb.rb:135:in `load'
        from /usr/lib/ruby/vendor_ruby/chef/api_client.rb:201:in `cdb_load'
        from /usr/lib/ruby/vendor_ruby/chef/certificate.rb:140:in  
`gen_validation_key'
        from /usr/share/chef-server-api/config/init.rb:84
        from /usr/lib/ruby/1.8/merb-core/bootloader.rb:521:in `load'
        from /usr/lib/ruby/1.8/merb-core/bootloader.rb:521:in `load_initfile'
        from /usr/lib/ruby/1.8/merb-core/bootloader.rb:388:in `run'
        from /usr/lib/ruby/1.8/merb-core/bootloader.rb:99:in `run'
        from /usr/lib/ruby/1.8/merb-core/server.rb:172:in `bootup'
        from /usr/lib/ruby/1.8/merb-core/server.rb:42:in `start'
        from /usr/lib/ruby/1.8/merb-core.rb:170:in `start'
        from /usr/sbin/chef-server:86


it was suggested (in http://tickets.opscode.com/browse/CHEF-2827 that  
i consult the mailing list and) that I try a curl command on the URL  
that fails. the output is just as opaque to me..

it says...

# curl  
http://localhost:5984/chef/_design/id_map/_view/name_to_id?include_docs=true\&key=[%22client%22,%22chef-validator%22]
{"error":"compilation_error","reason":"Expression does not eval to a  
function. ((new String(\"                function(doc) {\\n             
      emit([ doc.chef_type, doc.name], doc._id);\\n                 
}\\n\")))"}


So far, it appears two different people have been unable to reproduce  
this problem (one was in an aws session, i believe, i don't know about  
the other), and I'd be as happy as a clam to deduce that this is an  
environmental problem, but since I'm only just trying to learn chef at  
all to begin with, I'm really short on further ideas. After googling  
and wikiing and IRCing, I'm now mailing-listing

any help would be appreciated, tia.
-m