ruby_block

Use the ruby_block resource to execute Ruby code during a chef-client run. Ruby code in the ruby_block resource is evaluated with other resources during convergence, whereas Ruby code outside of a ruby_block resource is evaluated before other resources, as the recipe is compiled.

Syntax

A ruby_block resource block executes a block of arbitrary Ruby code. For example, to reload the client.rb file during the chef-client run:

ruby_block 'reload_client_config' do
  block do
    Chef::Config.from_file("/etc/chef/client.rb")
  end
  action :run
end

The full syntax for all of the properties that are available to the ruby_block resource is:

ruby_block 'name' do
  block                      Block
  block_name                 String # defaults to 'name' if not specified
  notifies                   # see description
  provider                   Chef::Provider::RubyBlock
  subscribes                 # see description
  action                     Symbol # defaults to :run if not specified
end

where

• ruby_block is the resource
• name is the name of the resource block
• block is the block of Ruby code to be executed
• :action identifies the steps the chef-client will take to bring the node into the desired state
• block, block_name, and provider are properties of this resource, with the Ruby type shown. See “Properties” section below for more information about all of the properties that may be used with this resource.

Actions

This resource has the following actions:

:create

The same as :run.

:nothing

Define this resource block to do nothing until notified by another resource to take action. When this resource is notified, this resource block is either run immediately or it is queued up to be run at the end of the chef-client run.

:run

Default. Run a Ruby block.

Properties

This resource has the following properties:

block

Ruby Type: Block

A block of Ruby code.

block_name

Ruby Type: String

The name of the Ruby block. Default value: the name of the resource block See “Syntax” section above for more information.

ignore_failure

Ruby Types: TrueClass, FalseClass

Continue running a recipe if a resource fails for any reason. Default value: false.

notifies

Ruby Type: Symbol, ‘Chef::Resource[String]’

A resource may notify another resource to take action when its state changes. Specify a 'resource[name]', the :action that resource should take, and then the :timer for that action. A resource may notifiy more than one resource; use a notifies statement for each resource to be notified.

A timer specifies the point during the chef-client run at which a notification is run. The following timers are available:

:delayed

Default. Specifies that a notification should be queued up, and then executed at the very end of the chef-client run.

:immediate, :immediately

Specifies that a notification should be run immediately, per resource notified.

The syntax for notifies is:

notifies :action, 'resource[name]', :timer

provider

Ruby Type: Chef Class

Optional. Explicitly specifies a provider.

retries

Ruby Type: Integer

The number of times to catch exceptions and retry the resource. Default value: 0.

retry_delay

Ruby Type: Integer

The retry delay (in seconds). Default value: 2.

subscribes

Ruby Type: Symbol, ‘Chef::Resource[String]’

A resource may listen to another resource, and then take action if the state of the resource being listened to changes. Specify a 'resource[name]', the :action to be taken, and then the :timer for that action.

A timer specifies the point during the chef-client run at which a notification is run. The following timers are available:

:delayed

Default. Specifies that a notification should be queued up, and then executed at the very end of the chef-client run.

:immediate, :immediately

Specifies that a notification should be run immediately, per resource notified.

The syntax for subscribes is:

subscribes :action, 'resource[name]', :timer

Examples

The following examples demonstrate various approaches for using resources in recipes. If you want to see examples of how Chef uses resources in recipes, take a closer look at the cookbooks that Chef authors and maintains: https://github.com/chef-cookbooks.

Re-read configuration data

ruby_block 'reload_client_config' do
  block do
    Chef::Config.from_file('/etc/chef/client.rb')
  end
  action :run
end

Install repositories from a file, trigger a command, and force the internal cache to reload

The following example shows how to install new Yum repositories from a file, where the installation of the repository triggers a creation of the Yum cache that forces the internal cache for the chef-client to reload:

execute 'create-yum-cache' do
 command 'yum -q makecache'
 action :nothing
end

ruby_block 'reload-internal-yum-cache' do
  block do
    Chef::Provider::Package::Yum::YumCache.instance.reload
  end
  action :nothing
end

cookbook_file '/etc/yum.repos.d/custom.repo' do
  source 'custom'
  mode '0755'
  notifies :run, 'execute[create-yum-cache]', :immediately
  notifies :create, 'ruby_block[reload-internal-yum-cache]', :immediately
end

Use an if statement with the platform recipe DSL method

The following example shows how an if statement can be used with the platform? method in the Recipe DSL to run code specific to Microsoft Windows. The code is defined using the ruby_block resource:

# the following code sample comes from the ``client`` recipe
# in the following cookbook: https://github.com/chef-cookbooks/mysql

if platform?('windows')
  ruby_block 'copy libmysql.dll into ruby path' do
    block do
      require 'fileutils'
      FileUtils.cp "#{node['mysql']['client']['lib_dir']}\\libmysql.dll",
        node['mysql']['client']['ruby_dir']
    end
    not_if { File.exist?("#{node['mysql']['client']['ruby_dir']}\\libmysql.dll") }
  end
end

Stash a file in a data bag

The following example shows how to use the ruby_block resource to stash a BitTorrent file in a data bag so that it can be distributed to nodes in the organization.

# the following code sample comes from the ``seed`` recipe
# in the following cookbook: https://github.com/mattray/bittorrent-cookbook

ruby_block 'share the torrent file' do
  block do
    f = File.open(node['bittorrent']['torrent'],'rb')
    #read the .torrent file and base64 encode it
    enc = Base64.encode64(f.read)
    data = {
      'id'=>bittorrent_item_id(node['bittorrent']['file']),
      'seed'=>node.ipaddress,
      'torrent'=>enc
    }
    item = Chef::DataBagItem.new
    item.data_bag('bittorrent')
    item.raw_data = data
    item.save
  end
  action :nothing
  subscribes :create, "bittorrent_torrent[#{node['bittorrent']['torrent']}]", :immediately
end

Update the /etc/hosts file

The following example shows how the ruby_block resource can be used to update the /etc/hosts file:

# the following code sample comes from the ``ec2`` recipe
# in the following cookbook: https://github.com/chef-cookbooks/dynect

ruby_block 'edit etc hosts' do
  block do
    rc = Chef::Util::FileEdit.new('/etc/hosts')
    rc.search_file_replace_line(/^127\.0\.0\.1 localhost$/,
       '127.0.0.1 #{new_fqdn} #{new_hostname} localhost')
    rc.write_file
  end
end

Set environment variables

The following example shows how to use variables within a Ruby block to set environment variables using rbenv.

node.set[:rbenv][:root] = rbenv_root
node.set[:ruby_build][:bin_path] = rbenv_binary_path

ruby_block 'initialize' do
  block do
    ENV['RBENV_ROOT'] = node[:rbenv][:root]
    ENV['PATH'] = "#{node[:rbenv][:root]}/bin:#{node[:ruby_build][:bin_path]}:#{ENV['PATH']}"
  end
end

Set JAVA_HOME

The following example shows how to use a variable within a Ruby block to set the java_home environment variable:

ruby_block 'set-env-java-home' do
  block do
    ENV['JAVA_HOME'] = java_home
  end
end

Reload the configuration

The following example shows how to reload the configuration of a chef-client using the remote_file resource to:

• using an if statement to check whether the plugins on a node are the latest versions
• identify the location from which Ohai plugins are stored
• using the notifies property and a ruby_block resource to trigger an update (if required) and to then reload the client.rb file.

directory 'node[:ohai][:plugin_path]' do
  owner 'chef'
  recursive true
end

ruby_block 'reload_config' do
  block do
    Chef::Config.from_file('/etc/chef/client.rb')
  end
  action :nothing
end

if node[:ohai].key?(:plugins)
  node[:ohai][:plugins].each do |plugin|
    remote_file node[:ohai][:plugin_path] +"/#{plugin}" do
      source plugin
      owner 'chef'
              notifies :run, 'ruby_block[reload_config]', :immediately
    end
  end
end