chef (executable)

The chef executable is a command-line tool that does the following:

Generates repositories, cookbooks, recipes, attributes, templates, and custom resources.
Installs gems into the Chef development environment’s Ruby installation.

chef capture

Use the chef capture subcommand to capture a node’s state as a local chef-repo. Use the generated repository if you need to converge a node locally.

Syntax

This subcommand has the following syntax:

chef capture NODE-NAME [options]

Options

-c, --credentials: Credentials file (default $HOME/.chef/credentials).
-d, --with-data-bags: Download all data bags as part of node capture.
-h, --help: Show help for the command.
-k, --client-key: Chef Infra Server API client key.
-n, --client-name: Chef Infra Server API client name.
-o, --ssl-no-verify: Do not verify SSL when connecting to Chef Infra Server (default: verify).
-p, --profile: Profile to use from credentials file (default “default”).
-s, --chef-server-url: Chef Infra Server URL.

Examples

Capture a node

To capture a node in a local repository, run a command similar to:

chef capture test-server

This will return something similar to:

- Setting up local repository
 - Capturing node object 'test-server'
 - Capturing policy data...
 - Capturing cookbook artifacts...
 - Writing kitchen configuration...

Repository has been created in './node-test-server-repo'.

Next, locate version-controlled copies of the cookbooks. This is
important so that you can track changes to the cookbooks as you
edit them. You may have one or more existing paths where you have
checked out cookbooks. If not, now is a good time to open a
separate terminal and clone or check out the cookbooks.

If all cookbooks are not available in the same base location,
you will have a chance to provide additional locations.

Press Enter to Continue:

You're ready to begin!
Start with 'cd ./node-test-server-repo; kitchen converge'.
As you identify issues, you can modify cookbooks in their
original checkout locations or in the repository's cookbooks
directory and they will be picked up on subsequent runs
of 'kitchen converge'.

See the Upgrade Lab documentation for additional information on upgrading Chef Infra Client.

chef env

Use the chef env subcommand to configure the environment for Chef Workstation.

Syntax

This subcommand has the following syntax:

chef env

Options

This command does not have any specific options.

Examples

None.

chef exec

Use the chef exec subcommand to run arbitrary shell commands with the PATH environment variable and the GEM_HOME and GEM_PATH Ruby environment variables pointed at Chef Workstation.

Syntax

This subcommand has the following syntax:

chef exec SYSTEM_COMMAND (options)

Options

This subcommand has the following options:

-h, --help: Show help for the command.
-v, --version: The Chef Infra Client version.

Examples

None.

chef gem

The chef gem subcommand is a wrapper around the gem command in RubyGems and is used by Chef to install RubyGems into Chef Workstation development environment. All knife plugins, drivers for Kitchen, and other Ruby applications that are not packaged within Chef Workstation will be installed to the .Chef Workstation path in the home directory: ~/.Chef Workstation/gem/ruby/ver.si.on/bin (where ver.si.on is the version of Ruby that is packaged within Chef Workstation).

Syntax

This subcommand has the following syntax:

chef gem GEM_COMMAND GEM_OPTIONS (options)

Options

This subcommand has the following options:

-h, --help: Show help for the command.
-v, --version: The Chef Infra Client version.

Examples

Show an existing gem in Chef Workstation

To show a gem, run a command similar to:

chef gem list cookstyle

to return something similar to:

*** LOCAL GEMS ***

cookstyle (5.20.0)

List all local gems

To list all of the installed gems on your development environment, use the list command without any arguments:

chef gem list

Search for local gems

The list command can also be used to search for locally installed gems. For example, to list all of the gems with knife in their title:

chef gem list knife

which returns the following output:

*** LOCAL GEMS ***

knife-opc (0.3.2)
knife-push (1.0.2)
knife-windows (1.9.0)

Search remote gems

Use the search command to search for remote gems available for installation:

chef gem search kitchen

to return something similar to:

*** REMOTE GEMS ***

chefkitchen_cli (0.0.1)
gst-kitchen (0.9.0)
guard-kitchen (0.0.2)
jackal-kitchen (0.1.2)
jackal-kitchen-slack (0.1.2)
kitchen (0.0.3)

Install a gem

To install a gem, run a command similar to:

chef gem install knife-config

to return something similar to:

Successfully installed knife-config-1.1.0
1 gem installed

Uninstall a gem

To uninstall a gem from Chef Workstation environment:

chef gem uninstall knife-config

to return something similar to:

Successfully uninstalled knife-config-1.1.0

View the contents of a gem

To view the contents of a gem, run a command similar to:

chef gem content knife-config

to return something similar to:

/Users/user/.chefdk/gem/ruby/2.1.0/gems/knife-config-1.1.0/LICENSE
/Users/user/.chefdk/gem/ruby/2.1.0/gems/knife-config-1.1.0/README.md
/Users/user/.chefdk/gem/ruby/2.1.0/gems/knife-config-1.1.0/lib/chef/knife/config.rb
/Users/user/.chefdk/gem/ruby/2.1.0/gems/knife-config-1.1.0/lib/knife-config.rb

chef generate attribute

Use the chef generate attribute subcommand to generate an attribute file in the /attributes directory.

Syntax

This subcommand has the following syntax:

chef generate attribute COOKBOOK_PATH NAME (options)

Options

This subcommand has the following options:

-g GENERATOR_COOKBOOK_PATH, --generator-cookbook GENERATOR_COOKBOOK_PATH: The path at which a cookbook named code_generator is located. This cookbook is used by the chef generate subcommands to generate cookbooks, cookbook files, templates, attribute files, and so on. Default value: lib/chef-dk/skeletons, under which is the default code_generator cookbook that is included as part of Chef Workstation.
-h, --help: Show help for the command.
-v, --version: The Chef Infra Client version.

Examples

Create an attribute

To generate an attribute, run a command similar to:

chef generate attribute /path/to/cookbook FOO

will return something similar to:

Recipe: code_generator::attribute
  * directory[/Users/grantmc/chef-repo/cookbooks/chef-repo/attributes] action create
    - create new directory /Users/grantmc/chef-repo/cookbooks/chef-repo/attributes

  * template[/Users/grantmc/chef-repo/cookbooks/chef-repo/attributes/FOO.rb] action create
    - create new file /Users/grantmc/chef-repo/cookbooks/chef-repo/attributes/FOO.rb

chef generate cookbook

Use the chef generate cookbook subcommand to generate a cookbook.

Note

Cookbook and custom resource names should contain only alphanumeric characters. A hyphen (-) is a valid character and may be used in cookbook and custom resource names, but it is discouraged. Chef Infra Client will return an error if a hyphen is not converted to an underscore (_) when referencing from a recipe the name of a custom resource in which a hyphen is located.

Syntax

This subcommand has the following syntax:

chef generate cookbook COOKBOOK_PATH/COOKBOOK_NAME (options)

Options

This subcommand has the following options:

-g GENERATOR_COOKBOOK_PATH, --generator-cookbook GENERATOR_COOKBOOK_PATH: The path at which a cookbook named code_generator is located. This cookbook is used by the chef generate subcommands to generate cookbooks, cookbook files, templates, attribute files, and so on. Default value: lib/chef-dk/skeletons, under which is the default code_generator cookbook that is included as part of Chef Workstation.
-b, --berks: Create a Berksfile in the cookbook. Default: disabled. Optional. Use to create a berksfile by overriding default creation of a Policyfile.
-C COPYRIGHT, --copyright COPYRIGHT: Specify the copyright holder for copyright notices in generated files. Default value: The Authors
-d, --delivery: Generate a delivery config file and build cookbook inside the new cookbook. Default value: disabled. This option is disabled. It has no effect and exists only for compatibility with past releases
-m EMAIL, --email EMAIL: Specify the email address of the author. Default value: [email protected].
-a KEY=VALUE, --generator-arg KEY=VALUE: Sets a property named KEY to the given VALUE on the generator context object in the generator cookbook. This allows custom generator cookbooks to accept optional user input on the command line.
-I LICENSE, --license LICENSE: Sets the license. Valid values are all_rights, apache2, mit, gplv2, or gplv3. Default value: all_rights.
-P, --policy: Create a Policyfile in the cookbook instead of a Berksfile. Default: enabled.
-h, --help: Show help for the command.
-v, --version: The Chef Infra Client version.

Examples

Create a cookbook

To generate a cookbook, run a command similar to:

chef generate cookbook chefdocs

will return something similar to:

Recipe: code_generator::cookbook
  * directory[/Users/grantmc/chefdocs] action create
    - create new directory /Users/grantmc/chefdocs

  * template[/Users/grantmc/chefdocs/metadata.rb] action create
    - create new file /Users/grantmc/chefdocs/metadata.rb

  * template[/Users/grantmc/chefdocs/README.md] action create
    - create new file /Users/grantmc/chefdocs/README.md

  * cookbook_file[/Users/grantmc/chefdocs/chefignore] action create
    - create new file /Users/grantmc/chefdocs/chefignore

  * cookbook_file[/Users/grantmc/chefdocs/Berksfile] action create
    - create new file /Users/grantmc/chefdocs/Berksfile

  * template[/Users/grantmc/chefdocs/kitchen.yml] action create
    - create new file /Users/grantmc/chefdocs/kitchen.yml

  * directory[/Users/grantmc/chefdocs/recipes] action create
    - create new directory /Users/grantmc/chefdocs/recipes

  * template[/Users/grantmc/chefdocs/recipes/default.rb] action create
    - create new file /Users/grantmc/chefdocs/recipes/default.rb

  * execute[initialize-git] action run
    - execute git init .

  * cookbook_file[/Users/grantmc/chefdocs/.gitignore] action create
    - create new file /Users/grantmc/chefdocs/.gitignore

and which creates a directory structure similar to:

/chefdocs
  /.git
  .gitignore
  kitchen.yml
  Berksfile
  chefignore
  metadata.rb
  README.md
  /recipes
    default.rb

Create a cookbook using a custom skeleton cookbook

If a custom skeleton cookbook is located on a macOS desktop (and in this example, the chef_generator cookbook is simply a copy of the same cookbook that ships in Chef Workstation), the following command will use the skeleton cookbook at the custom location to generate a cookbook into the repository from which the chef command is run:

chef generate cookbook --generator-cookbook ~/Desktop testcookbook

Note

The code_generator cookbook itself is not specified as part of the path.

will return something similar to:

Compiling Cookbooks...
Recipe: code_generator::cookbook
  * directory[/Users/grantmc/Desktop/chef-repo/test-cookbook] action create
    - create new directory /Users/grantmc/Desktop/chef-repo/test-cookbook

  * template[/Users/grantmc/Desktop/chef-repo/test-cookbook/metadata.rb] action create
    - create new file /Users/grantmc/Desktop/chef-repo/test-cookbook/metadata.rb

  * template[/Users/grantmc/Desktop/chef-repo/test-cookbook/README.md] action create
    - create new file /Users/grantmc/Desktop/chef-repo/test-cookbook/README.md

  * cookbook_file[/Users/grantmc/Desktop/chef-repo/test-cookbook/chefignore] action create
    - create new file /Users/grantmc/Desktop/chef-repo/test-cookbook/chefignore

  * cookbook_file[/Users/grantmc/Desktop/chef-repo/test-cookbook/Berksfile] action create
    - create new file /Users/grantmc/Desktop/chef-repo/test-cookbook/Berksfile

  * template[/Users/grantmc/Desktop/chef-repo/test-cookbook/kitchen.yml] action create
    - create new file /Users/grantmc/Desktop/chef-repo/test-cookbook/kitchen.yml

  * directory[/Users/grantmc/Desktop/chef-repo/test-cookbook/recipes] action create
    - create new directory /Users/grantmc/Desktop/chef-repo/test-cookbook/recipes

  * template[/Users/grantmc/Desktop/chef-repo/test-cookbook/recipes/default.rb] action create
    - create new file /Users/grantmc/Desktop/chef-repo/test-cookbook/recipes/default.rb

chef generate build-cookbook

Use the chef generate build-cookbook subcommand to generate a delivery configuration file and build cookbook.

Syntax

This subcommand has the following syntax:

chef generate build-cookbook COOKBOOK_PATH/COOKBOOK_NAME (options)

Options

This subcommand has the following options:

-g GENERATOR_COOKBOOK_PATH, --generator-cookbook GENERATOR_COOKBOOK_PATH: The path at which a cookbook named code_generator is located. This cookbook is used by the chef generate subcommands to generate cookbooks, cookbook files, templates, attribute files, and so on. Default value: lib/chef-dk/skeletons, under which is the default code_generator cookbook that is included as part of Chef Workstation.
-C COPYRIGHT, --copyright COPYRIGHT: Specify the copyright holder for copyright notices in generated files. Default value: The Authors
-m EMAIL, --email EMAIL: Specify the email address of the author. Default value: [email protected].
-a KEY=VALUE, --generator-arg KEY=VALUE: Sets a property named KEY to the given VALUE on the generator context object in the generator cookbook. This allows custom generator cookbooks to accept optional user input on the command line.
-I LICENSE, --license LICENSE: Sets the license. Valid values are all_rights, apache2, mit, gplv2, or gplv3. Default value: all_rights.
-h, --help: Show help for the command.
-v, --version: The Chef Infra Client version.

Examples

None.

chef generate file

Use the chef generate file subcommand to generate a file in the /files directory.

Syntax

This subcommand has the following syntax:

chef generate file COOKBOOK_PATH NAME (options)

Options

This subcommand has the following options:

-g GENERATOR_COOKBOOK_PATH, --generator-cookbook GENERATOR_COOKBOOK_PATH: The path at which a cookbook named code_generator is located. This cookbook is used by the chef generate subcommands to generate cookbooks, cookbook files, templates, attribute files, and so on. Default value: lib/chef-dk/skeletons, under which is the default code_generator cookbook that is included as part of Chef Workstation.
-h, --help: Show help for the command.
-s SOURCE_FILE, --source SOURCE_FILE: Copy the contents from a source file.
-v, --version: The Chef Infra Client version.

Examples

None.

chef generate resource

Use the chef generate resource subcommand to generate a custom resource in the /resources directory.

Note

Syntax

This subcommand has the following syntax:

chef generate resource COOKBOOK_PATH NAME (options)

Options

This subcommand has the following options:

-g GENERATOR_COOKBOOK_PATH, --generator-cookbook GENERATOR_COOKBOOK_PATH: The path at which a cookbook named code_generator is located. This cookbook is used by the chef generate subcommands to generate cookbooks, cookbook files, templates, attribute files, and so on. Default value: lib/chef-dk/skeletons, under which is the default code_generator cookbook that is included as part of Chef Workstation.
-h, --help: Show help for the command.
-v, --version: The Chef Infra Client version.

Examples

None.

chef generate recipe

Use the chef generate recipe subcommand to generate a recipe in the /recipes directory.

Syntax

This subcommand has the following syntax:

chef generate recipe COOKBOOK_PATH NAME (options)

Options

This subcommand has the following options:

-g GENERATOR_COOKBOOK_PATH, --generator-cookbook GENERATOR_COOKBOOK_PATH: The path at which a cookbook named code_generator is located. This cookbook is used by the chef generate subcommands to generate cookbooks, cookbook files, templates, attribute files, and so on. Default value: lib/chef-dk/skeletons, under which is the default code_generator cookbook that is included as part of Chef Workstation.
-h, --help: Show help for the command.
-v, --version: The Chef Infra Client version.

Examples

None.

chef generate repo

Use the chef generate repo subcommand to create a chef-repo. By default, the repo is a cookbook repo with options available to support generating a cookbook that supports Policyfile.

Syntax

This subcommand has the following syntax:

chef generate repo REPO_NAME (options)

Options

This subcommand has the following options:

-h, --help: Show help for the command.
-p, --policy-only: Create a repository that does not store cookbook files, only Policyfile files.
-P, --policy: Use Policyfile instead of Berkshelf.
-r, --roles: Create directories for /roles and /environments instead of creating directories for Policyfile.
-v, --version: The Chef Infra Client version.

Examples

None.

chef generate template

Use the chef generate template subcommand to generate a template in the /templates directory.

Syntax

This subcommand has the following syntax:

chef generate template COOKBOOK_PATH NAME (options)

Options

This subcommand has the following options:

-g GENERATOR_COOKBOOK_PATH, --generator-cookbook GENERATOR_COOKBOOK_PATH: The path at which a cookbook named code_generator is located. This cookbook is used by the chef generate subcommands to generate cookbooks, cookbook files, templates, attribute files, and so on. Default value: lib/chef-dk/skeletons, under which is the default code_generator cookbook that is included as part of Chef Workstation.
-h, --help: Show help for the command.
-s SOURCE_FILE, --source SOURCE_FILE: Copy the contents from a source file.
-v, --version: The Chef Infra Client version.

Examples

None.

chef report cookbooks

Use the chef report cookbooks subcommand to generate a cookbook-oriented report for your Chef Infra environment. This report provides details about upgrade compatibility errors and node cookbook usage.

Syntax

This subcommand has the following syntax:

chef report cookbooks [options]

Options

This subcommand has the following options:

-a, --anonymize: Replace cookbook and node names with hash values to protect the sensitive information.
-c, --credentials string: Credentials file (default $HOME/.chef/credentials).
-f, --format: Output format: txt is human readable, csv is machine readable (default “txt”).
-F, --node-filter: Search filter to apply to nodes.
-h, --help: Show help for the command.
-k, --client-key: Chef Infra Server API client key.
-n, --client-name: Chef Infra Server API client name.
-o, --ssl-no-verify: Do not verify SSL when connecting to Chef Infra Server (default: verify).
-p, --profile: Profile to use from credentials file (default “default”).
-s, --chef-server-url: Chef Infra Server URL.
-u, --only-unused: Generate a report that only includes cookbooks that are not included in any node’s runlist.
-V, --verify-upgrade: Verify the upgrade compatibility of every cookbook.
-w, --workers: Maximum number of parallel workers at once (default 50).

Examples

Generate a report

To generate a cookbook oriented report, run a command similar to:

chef report cookbooks

will return something similar to:

Finding available cookbooks... (5 found)
Analyzing cookbooks...
5 / 5 [----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------] 100.00% 13 p/s

-- REPORT SUMMARY --

  Cookbook   Version   Policy Group   Policy   Nodes Affected
-----------+---------+--------------+--------+-----------------
  apt        2.7.0                             2
  Go         0.1.0                             3
  java       0.3.0                             4
  java                 Production     K8s      1
  K8s                  Production     K8s      1


Cookbooks report saved to .chef-workstation/reports/cookbooks-20200722120938.txt

More details of this summary report can be viewed in the text file, the location for which is given at the end of the summary.

See the Upgrade Lab documentation for additional information on upgrading Chef Infra Client.

chef report nodes

Use the chef report nodes subcommand to generate a nodes-oriented report for your chef environment. This report provides details about nodes, applied policies and the cookooks used during the most recent chef-client run.

Syntax

This subcommand has the following syntax:

chef report nodes [options]

Options

This subcommand has the following options:

-a, --anonymize: Replace cookbook and node names with hash values to protect the sensitive information.
-c, --credentials string: Credentials file (default $HOME/.chef/credentials).
-f, --format: Output format: txt is human readable, csv is machine readable (default “txt”).
-F, --node-filter: Search filter to apply to nodes.
-h, --help: Show help for the command.
-k, --client-key: Chef Infra Server API client key.
-n, --client-name: Chef Infra Server API client name.
-o, --ssl-no-verify: Do not verify SSL when connecting to Chef Infra Server (default: verify).
-p, --profile: Profile to use from credentials file (default “default”).
-s, --chef-server-url: Chef Infra Server URL.

Examples

Generate a report

To generate a nodes oriented report, run a command similar to:

chef report nodes

will return something similar to:

Analyzing nodes...

-- REPORT SUMMARY --

      Node Name        Chef Version   Operating System   Number Cookbooks
---------------------+--------------+------------------+-------------------
  dev-server-backend   16.1.16        redhat v8.2                       3
  dev-server-web       16.1.16        redhat v8.2                       1
  production-server    16.1.16        redhat v8.2                       2
  staging-server       16.1.16        redhat v8.2                       4
  test-server          16.1.16        redhat v8.2                       3

Nodes report saved to .chef-workstation/reports/nodes-20200722130502.txt

More details of this summary report can be viewed in the text file, the location for which is given at the end of the summary.

Upgrade Lab provides further details on how this command can be used in Chef Infra Client upgrade process.

chef shell-init

Use the chef shell-init subcommand to set the Ruby included in Chef Workstation as the system Ruby. Chef Workstation is designed to allow the isolation of applications used by Chef Workstation from other Ruby development tools that may be present on the workstation. This supports Bash, fish, Windows PowerShell (posh), and zsh.

bash zsh fish PowerShell (posh)

Syntax

This subcommand has the following syntax:

chef shell-init SHELL_NAME (options)

Options

This subcommand has the following options:

-h, --help: Show help for the command.
-v, --version: The Chef Infra Client version.

Examples

Set PowerShell

You can use the chef shell-init command with Windows PowerShell to add the appropriate variables to your environment.

To try it in your current session:

chef shell-init powershell | Invoke-Expression

To enable it permanently:

"chef shell-init powershell | Invoke-Expression" >> $PROFILE

Set the execution policy on new machines

On new Windows machines, PowerShell scripts will not work until an administrator runs the following command:

Set-ExecutionPolicy RemoteSigned

Create a $PROFILE on new machines

On new Windows machines, commands cannot be appended to $PROFILE if the folder does not exist, or if there is a new user profile. This will result in an error similar to the following:

PS C:\Users\Stuart> "chef shell-init powershell | Invoke-Expression" >> $PROFILE
out-file : Could not find a part of the path
'C:\Users\Stuart\Documents\WindowsPowerShell\Microsoft.PowerShell_profile.ps1'.
At line:1 char:1
+ "chef shell-init powershell | Invoke-Expression" >> $PROFILE
+ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    + CategoryInfo          : OpenError: (:) [Out-File], DirectoryNotFoundException
    + FullyQualifiedErrorId : FileOpenFailure,Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.OutFileCommand

In this situation, run the following chef shell-init command instead:

if(Test-Path $PROFILE){ chef shell-init powershell | Add-Content $PROFILE } else { New-Item -Force -ItemType File $PROFILE; chef shell-init powershell | Add-Content $PROFILE }

Policyfile Commands

The following commands are built into the chef executable and support the use of Policyfile files.

chef clean-policy-cookbooks

Use the chef clean-policy-cookbooks subcommand to delete cookbooks that are not used by Policyfile files. Cookbooks are considered unused when they are not referenced by any policy revisions on the Chef Infra Server.

Note

Cookbooks that are referenced by orphaned policy revisions are not removed. Use chef clean-policy-revisions to remove orphaned policies.

Syntax

This subcommand has the following syntax:

chef clean-policy-cookbooks (options)

Options

This subcommand has the following options:

-c CONFIG_FILE, --config CONFIG_FILE: The path to the knife configuration file.
-D, --debug: Enable stack traces and other debug output. Default value: false.
-h, --help: Show help for the command.
-v, --version: The Chef Infra Client version.

Examples

None.

chef clean-policy-revisions

Use the chef clean-policy-revisions subcommand to delete orphaned policy revisions to Policyfile files from the Chef Infra Server. An orphaned policy revision is not associated to any policy group and therefore is not in active use by any node. Use chef show-policy --orphans to view a list of orphaned policy revisions.

Syntax

This subcommand has the following syntax:

chef clean-policy-revisions (options)

Options

This subcommand has the following options:

-c CONFIG_FILE, --config CONFIG_FILE: The path to the knife configuration file.
-D, --debug: Enable stack traces and other debug output. Default value: false.
-h, --help: Show help for the command.
-v, --version: The Chef Infra Client version.

Examples

None.

chef delete-policy

Use the chef delete-policy subcommand to delete all revisions of the named policy that exist on the Chef Infra Server. (The state of the policy revision is backed up locally and may be restored using the chef undelete subcommand.)

Syntax

This subcommand has the following syntax:

chef delete-policy POLICY_NAME (options)

Options

This subcommand has the following options:

-c CONFIG_FILE, --config CONFIG_FILE: The path to the knife configuration file.
-D, --debug: Enable stack traces and other debug output. Default value: false.
-h, --help: Show help for the command.
-v, --version: The Chef Infra Client version.

Examples

None.

chef delete-policy-group

Use the chef delete-policy-group subcommand to delete the named policy group from the Chef Infra Server. Any policy revision associated with that policy group is not deleted. (The state of the policy group is backed up locally and may be restored using the chef undelete subcommand.)

Syntax

This subcommand has the following syntax:

chef delete-policy-group POLICY_GROUP (options)

Options

This subcommand has the following options:

-c CONFIG_FILE, --config CONFIG_FILE: The path to the knife configuration file.
-D, --debug: Enable stack traces and other debug output. Default value: false.
-h, --help: Show help for the command.
-v, --version: The Chef Infra Client version.

Examples

None.

chef diff

Use the chef diff subcommand to display an itemized comparison of two revisions of a Policyfile.lock.json file.

Syntax

This subcommand has the following syntax:

chef diff POLICY_FILE --head | --git POLICY_GROUP | POLICY_GROUP...POLICY_GROUP (options)

Options

This subcommand has the following options:

-c CONFIG_FILE, --config CONFIG_FILE: The path to the knife configuration file.
-D, --debug: Enable stack traces and other debug output. Default value: false.
-g GIT_REF, --git GIT_REF: Compare the specified git reference against the current revision of a Policyfile.lock.json file or against another git reference.
-h, --help: Show help for the command.
--head: A shortcut for chef diff --git HEAD. When a git-specific flag is not provided, the on-disk Policyfile.lock.json file is compared to one on the Chef Infra Server or (if a Policyfile.lock.json file is not present on-disk) two Policyfile.lock.json files in the specified policy group on the Chef Infra Server are compared.
--[no-]pager: Use --pager to enable paged output for a Policyfile.lock.json file. Default value: --pager.
-v, --version: The Chef Infra Client version.

Examples

Compare current lock to latest commit on latest branch

chef diff --git HEAD

Compare current lock with latest commit on master branch

chef diff --git master

Compare current lock to specified revision

chef diff --git v1.0.0

Compare lock on master branch to lock on revision

chef diff --git master...dev

Compare lock for version with latest commit on master branch

chef diff --git v1.0.0...master

Compare current lock with latest lock for policy group

chef diff staging

Compare locks for two policy groups

chef diff production...staging

chef export

Use the chef export subcommand to create a chef-zero-compatible chef-repo that contains the cookbooks described by a Policyfile.lock.json file. After a chef-zero-compatible chef-repo is copied to a node, the policy can be applied locally on that machine by running chef-client -z (local mode).

Syntax

This subcommand has the following syntax:

chef export POLICY_FILE DIRECTORY (options)

Configuration Settings

The client.rb file on that machine requires the following settings:

deployment_group: This setting should be set to '$POLICY_NAME-local'.
policy_document_native_api: This setting should be set to false.
use_policyfile: This setting should be set to true.
versioned_cookbooks: This setting should be set to true.

Options

This subcommand has the following options:

-a, --archive: Export an archive as a tarball, instead as a directory. Default value: false.
-D, --debug: Enable stack traces and other debug output. Default value: false.
-f, --force: Remove the contents of the destination directory if that directory is not empty. Default value: false.
-h, --help: Show help for the command.
-v, --version: The Chef Infra Client version.

Examples

None.

chef generate policyfile

Use the chef generate policyfile subcommand to generate a file to be used with Policyfile.

Syntax

This subcommand has the following syntax:

chef generate policyfile POLICY_NAME (options)

Options

This subcommand has the following options:

-h, --help: Show help for the command.
-v, --version: The Chef Infra Client version.

Examples

None.

chef install

Use the chef install subcommand to evaluate a policy file and find a compatible set of cookbooks, build a run-list, cache it locally, and then emit a Policyfile.lock.json file that describes the locked policy set. The Policyfile.lock.json file may be used to install the locked policy set to other machines and may be pushed to a policy group on the Chef Infra Server to apply that policy to a group of nodes that are under management by Chef.

Syntax

This subcommand has the following syntax:

chef install POLICY_FILE (options)

Options

This subcommand has the following options:

-D, --debug: Enable stack traces and other debug output.
-h, --help: Show help for the command.
-v, --version: The Chef Infra Client version.

Policyfile.lock.json

When the chef install command is run, Chef Workstation caches any necessary cookbooks and emits a Policyfile.lock.json file that describes:

The versions of cookbooks in use
A Hash of cookbook content
The source for all cookbooks

A Policyfile.lock.json file is associated with a specific policy group, i.e. is associated with one (or more) nodes that use the same revision of a given policy.

A Policyfile.lock.json file is similar to:

{
  "revision_id": "288ed244f8db8bff3caf58147e840bbe079f76e0",
  "name": "jenkins",
  "run_list": [
    "recipe[java::default]",
    "recipe[jenkins::master]",
    "recipe[policyfile_demo::default]"
  ],
  "cookbook_locks": {
    "policyfile_demo": {
      "version": "0.1.0",
      "identifier": "f04cc40faf628253fe7d9566d66a1733fb1afbe9",
      "dotted_decimal_identifier": "67638399371010690.23642238397896298.25512023620585",
      "source": "cookbooks/policyfile_demo",
      "cache_key": null,
      "scm_info": null,
      "source_options": {
        "path": "cookbooks/policyfile_demo"
      }
    },
  "java": {
    "version": "1.24.0",
    "identifier": "4c24ae46a6633e424925c24e683e0f43786236a3",
    "dotted_decimal_identifier": "21432429158228798.18657774985439294.16782456927907",
    "cache_key": "java-1.24.0-supermarket.chef.io",
    "origin": "https://supermarket.chef.io/api/v1/cookbooks/java/versions/1.24.0/download",
    "source_options": {
      "artifactserver": "https://supermarket.chef.io/api/v1/cookbooks/java/versions/1.24.0/download",
      "version": "1.24.0"
    }

Examples

None.

chef push

Use the chef push subcommand to upload an existing Policyfile.lock.json file to the Chef Infra Server, along with all of the cookbooks that are contained in the file. The Policyfile.lock.json file will be applied to the specified policy group, which is a set of nodes that share the same run-list and cookbooks.

Syntax

This subcommand has the following syntax:

chef push POLICY_GROUP POLICY_FILE (options)

Options

This subcommand has the following options:

-c CONFIG_FILE, --config CONFIG_FILE: The path to the knife configuration file.
-D, --debug: Enable stack traces and other debug output.
-h, --help: Show help for the command.
-v, --version: The Chef Infra Client version.

Examples

None.

chef push-archive

The chef push-archive subcommand is used to publish a policy archive file to the Chef Infra Server. (A policy archive is created using the chef export subcommand.) The policy archive is assigned to the specified policy group, which is a set of nodes that share the same run-list and cookbooks.

Syntax

This subcommand has the following syntax:

chef push-archive POLICY_GROUP ARCHIVE_FILE (options)

Options

This subcommand has the following options:

-c CONFIG_FILE, --config CONFIG_FILE: The path to the knife configuration file.
-D, --debug: Enable stack traces and other debug output. Default value: false.
-h, --help: Show help for the command.
-v, --version: The Chef Infra Client version.

Examples

None.

chef show-policy

Use the chef show-policy subcommand to display revisions for every Policyfile.rb file that is on the Chef Infra Server. By default, only active policy revisions are shown. When both a policy and policy group are specified, the contents of the active Policyfile.lock.json file for the policy group is returned.

Syntax

This subcommand has the following syntax:

chef show-policy POLICY_NAME POLICY_GROUP (options)

Options

This subcommand has the following options:

-c CONFIG_FILE, --config CONFIG_FILE: The path to the knife configuration file.
-D, --debug: Enable stack traces and other debug output. Default value: false.
-h, --help: Show help for the command.
-o, --orphans: Show policy revisions that are not currently assigned to any policy group.
--[no-]pager: Use --pager to enable paged output for a Policyfile.lock.json file. Default value: --pager.
-v, --version: The Chef Infra Client version.

Examples

None.

chef undelete

Use the chef undelete subcommand to recover a deleted policy or policy group. This command:

Does not detect conflicts. If a deleted item has been recreated, running this command will overwrite it
Does not include cookbooks that may be referenced by policy files; cookbooks that are cleaned after running this command may not be fully restorable to their previous state
Does not store access control data

Syntax

This subcommand has the following syntax:

chef undelete (options)

When run with no arguments, returns a list of available operations.

Options

This subcommand has the following options:

-c CONFIG_FILE, --config CONFIG_FILE: The path to the knife configuration file.
-D, --debug: Enable stack traces and other debug output.
-h, --help: Show help for the command.
-i ID, --id ID: Undo the delete operation specified by ID.
-l, --last: Undo the most recent delete operation.
--list: Default. Return a list of available operations.
-v, --version: The Chef Infra Client version.

Examples

None.

chef update

Use the chef update subcommand to read the Policyfile.rb file, and then apply any changes. This will resolve dependencies and will create a Policyfile.lock.json file. The locked policy will reflect any changes to the run-list and will pull in any cookbook updates that are compatible with any version constraints defined in the Policyfile.rb file.

Syntax

This subcommand has the following syntax:

chef update POLICY_FILE (options)

Options

This subcommand has the following options:

-a, --attributes: Update attributes. Default value: false.
-D, --debug: Enable stack traces and other debug output. Default value: false.
-h, --help: Show help for the command.
-v, --version: The Chef Infra Client version.

Examples

None.

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