[chef] Re: Re: having problems getting jenkins cookbook to do anything

[Daniel DeLeo < >]

On Thursday, August 29, 2013 at 2:23 PM, Michael Hayes wrote:

Hm ok. I will look at this concept. I really don't understand chef all that well.

Here's the basic gist:

dependencies in metadata say "this cookbook has to be present". The reasons you need a cookbook present are usually:

* you're using `include_recipe` to run a recipe in that cookbook. Since `include_recipe` is a dynamic/late bound thing that happens when recipes are evaluated, chef/chef-server can't know that this dependency between cookbooks exists without a hint.

* you're using library code from that cookbook, such as LWRPs or whatever.

In any case, dependencies in metadata will only ensure that the cookbook gets copied to the client. To actually run a recipe from that cookbook, you need an `include_recipe` statement in a different recipe, or to put a recipe from that cookbook in your node's run_list.

-- 

Daniel DeLeo