Puppet users - Dec 2006 - $name causes weird behavior

I tried using $name in this manner:

remotefile { "/etc/auto_direct.local":
        mode => 644,
        source => "solall/$name"
}

(The remotefile function is handy, BTW)

When I use $name here, instead of specifying the actual path to the
file (solall/etc/auto_direct.local), puppetd ends up making
/etc/auto_direct.local an empty directory.

Shouldn''t $name just expand to the string
"/etc/auto_direct.local" and
work the way I expect? :)

 -Charlie

On Dec 18, 2006, at 5:36 PM, Charlie Schluting wrote:
> I tried using $name in this manner:
>
> remotefile { "/etc/auto_direct.local":
>         mode => 644,
>         source => "solall/$name"
> }
>
> (The remotefile function is handy, BTW)
>
> When I use $name here, instead of specifying the actual path to the
> file (solall/etc/auto_direct.local), puppetd ends up making
> /etc/auto_direct.local an empty directory.
>
> Shouldn''t $name just expand to the string
"/etc/auto_direct.local" and
> work the way I expect? :)
No, because $name is bound to the calling block, not the block inside  
remotefile.

Imagine this code:

remotefile { "/path/to/$name": source => "/nfs/$name" }

Clearly the $name in the name cannot be bound to the name itself;  
instead, $name is looked up in the current, calling block (i.e.,  
whatever class or definition is calling ''remotefile'').

In cases where you want to do this, you should create a
''sourcebase''
parameter, something like the following:

     define remotefile($sourcebase = false, $source = false) {
         if $source { $realsource = $source }
         else {
             if $sourcebase { $realsource = "$sourcebase/$name" }
             else { fail("You must provide a source or a sourcebase")
         }

         file { $name:
             source => $source
         }
     }

I haven''t verified that exactly this works (in particular, I
don''t
use ''if/else'' very much), but you should get the basic idea: 
The
caller should either provide an explicit source, which will be used  
directly, or a sourcebase, which will have $name (inside the  
remotefile block) appended.


  --
  Good judgment comes from experience, and experience comes from bad
  judgment.     --Barry LePatner
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  Luke Kanies | http://reductivelabs.com | http://madstop.com