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rfc017-file-specificity.md

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RFC Author Status Type Chef-Version
15
Noah Kantrowitz <[email protected]>
Accepted
Standards Track
12

File Specificity Overhaul

The file specificity system allows overriding templates and cookbook files on a per-platform or per-host basis. It is used relatively infrequently, but can be invaluable when it is used. Unfortunately it adds significant mental overhead to new users that don't understand the meaning of the default/ folder. It is also relatively inflexible, the lookup path is fixed to use the node name and platform information. This can be improved on both counts, simplifying the default case as well as improving flexibility for cases when it is needed.

Specification

The current file specificity lookup process is governed by two things, the lookup path and the source attribute. The current lookup path is:

  1. /host-$fqdn/$source
  2. /$platform-$platform_version/$source
  3. /$platform/$source
  4. /default/$source

The first of these paths that exists is used, or an error is raised in none exist.

The revised default lookup path would add / to the end:

  1. /host-$fqdn/$source
  2. /$platform-$platform_version/$source
  3. /$platform/$source
  4. /default/$source
  5. /$source

If the source attribute is given as an array, this will be used instead of the default lookup path.

The default lookup path can be deprecated in the future, but this is outside the scope of this RFC.

Motivation

The motivation for this change is two-fold; to reduce the difficulty of creating a cookbook and improving flexibility for conditional file selection. The first goal is addressed by removing the need for the default/ folder when adding templates and cookbook files. This is currently a stumbling block for new users that don't yet know about the file specificity system and don't need the features it provides.

The latter goal is addressed by adding support for an explicit lookup path by giving an array for the source attribute:

template '/test' do
  source ["#{node.chef_environment}.erb", 'default.erb']
end

This allows for far more flexibility in file selection while reducing the magic of the default lookup path.

The default lookup path can be emulated explicitly:

template '/test' do
  source %W{
    host-#{node['fqdn']}/test.erb
    #{node['platform']}-#{node['platform_version']}/test.erb
    #{node['platform']}/test.erb
    default/test.erb
  }
end

Compatibility

This change is effectively backwards compatible. It is possible some recipe code which currently results in an error will now converge successfully, but the impact of this is likely to be infinitesimal. By keeping the default lookup path for now, full compatibility with current cookbooks is maintained.

Copyright

This work is in the public domain. In jurisdictions that do not allow for this, this work is available under CC0. To the extent possible under law, the person who associated CC0 with this work has waived all copyright and related or neighboring rights to this work.