[chef] sending notifications to resources that don't exist yet

["Leo Dirac (SR)" < >]

Is it possible to send a notification to a resource if the resource hasn't been created yet?  When I try this it blows up complaining that the resource is unknown.  But I don't see any other way to do what I need to.

My application needs a server-specific configuration file, which I create with a template.  The app needs this when it deploys, so I create the template (in /srv/app/shared/) before the app resource, and then symlink it in before deploy.  This basically works.

But the config file itself is templated with attributes.  When those attributes change, I want to restart the application.  But I can't send a notification because the config file needs to be defined before the app.

I tried defining the template inside the application's before_deploy callback, but that doesn't seem to do anything.  This kind of circular dependency problem has to have a standard solution, right?