[chef] Re: Re: Re: Should I be using roles?

["Eric G. Wolfe" < >]

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I believe the reasoning behind this doesn't really end at versioning,
and that is too much of an oversimplification to be useful to the
casual reader.

Roles are just data.  You can in some cases screw up your data, and
since the data is not "software" it makes it harder to test those data
inputs on their own.

If you do a role, or wrapper, cookbook.  That cookbook, or even a
recipe within a cookbook is still a role.  The cookbook happens to
take the shape and properties of software.  Software
(cookbooks/recipes) can be easily tested and controlled with the tools
we have like Jenkins, Kitchen, Foodcritic, and Chefspec.  If it is
one's goal to set up a delivery pipeline with quality controlled
(tested) software with released artifacts, then cookbooks make more
sense than pure data roles.  Its just easier that way.

However, we are still doing data-driven configuration with either
model.  There is nothing inherently wrong with using roles.  Its not a
bad starting point for discovery of what could work for an
organization.  For some people roles are good enough, and they might
have only a few static edge cases which can be covered by roles and
commodity cookbooks alone.

Adding versions to roles, does not solve a quality control problem
with those data objects.  That alone, is a superficial reason to avoid
them.


Eric G. Wolfe
email: 

 
cell: 304.942.3970
twitter: @atomic_penguin

Cycle Computing
Leader in Utility HPC Software

http://www.cyclecomputing.com
twitter: @cyclecomputing

On 09/15/2014 07:47 PM, Kenneth Barry wrote:
> There is a strong argument for not using roles all together.
> 
> One of the main arguments is that they are not versioned. Instead,
> going with more, and more granular cookbooks (Which are versioned).
> Not an expert on it, but this is a core philosophy or the
> "BerkShelf" way.
> 
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