How can I create a recipe that will populate its attributes using the fiels from an instance of an object in a generic way?
As an example, consider the following recipe:
component = $auth_docker
docker_image component.name do
registry component.registry
tag component.tag
action :pull
end
When you have 50s of recipes that look like this, maintaining them really gets overwhelming.
In Python, i would probably implement a solution that would look a bit like this:
docker_image = DockerImage(**$auth_docker)
Or, I would create some sort of helper function to build it for me:
def generate_docker_image_lwrp(attributes):
lwrp = DockerImage()
lwrp.registry = attributes.registry
lwrp.tag = attributes.tag
return lwrp
The goal is to reduce maintenance on the recipes. For instance this morning I wanted to add Chef's "retries" attribute on all recipes that pull an image. I had to edit all of them - I don't want that. I should've been able to a) add the attribute to the stack's JSON b) edit the Ruby wrapper class so that instances of it (i.e.: $auth_docker) get the "retries" field, then c) add the retries attribute to the lwrp-generator. Since all recipes would use the same generator, recipes wouldn't need to be edited at all.
Is this possible using Chef, in a way that 'notifies' still work?
Quoting the Documentation
A definition is code that is reused across recipes, similar to a
compile-time macro. A definition is created using arbitrary code
wrapped around built-in chef-client resources—file, execute, template,
and so on—by declaring those resources into the definition as if they
were declared in a recipe. A definition is then used in one (or more)
recipes as if it were a resource.
Though a definition behaves like a resource, some key differences
exist. A definition:
Is not a resource or a lightweight resource Is defined from within the
/definitions directory of a cookbook Is loaded before resources during
the chef-client run; this ensures the definition is available to all
of the resources that may need it May not notify resources in the
resource collection because a definition is loaded before the resource
collection itself is created; however, a resource in a definition may
notify a resource that exists within the same definition Automatically
supports why-run mode, unlike lightweight resources Use a defintion
when repeating patterns exist across resources and/or when a simple,
direct approach is desired. There is no limit to the number of
resources that may be included in a definition: use as many built-in
chef-client resources as necessary.
I.e: you can create a definition for this in a library cookbook used solely for this.
docker_library/defintions/default.rb
define :my_docker_image, :component => nil do
component = params[:component]
docker_image component.name do
registry component.registry
tag component.tag
action :pull
end
end
in your recipes (need to have a depends on the docker_library cookbook in the metadata.rb):
my_component = $auth_docker
my_docker_image my_component.name do
component my_component
end
A more complete exemple of definition is available in the logrotate cookbook
