gem_package resource¶

Warning

The chef_gem and gem_package resources are both used to install Ruby gems. For any machine on which the chef-client is installed, there are two instances of Ruby. One is the standard, system-wide instance of Ruby and the other is a dedicated instance that is available only to the chef-client. Use the chef_gem resource to install gems into the instance of Ruby that is dedicated to the chef-client. Use the gem_package resource to install all other gems (i.e. install gems system-wide).

Use the gem_package resource to manage gem packages that are only included in recipes. When a package is installed from a local file, it must be added to the node using the remote_file or cookbook_file resources.

Note

The gem_package resource must be specified as gem_package and cannot be shortened to package in a recipe.

Syntax¶

A gem_package resource block manages a package on a node, typically by installing it. The simplest use of the gem_package resource is:

gem_package 'package_name'

which will install the named package using all of the default options and the default action (:install).

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

gem_package 'name' do
  clear_sources              true, false
  include_default_source     true, false
  gem_binary                 String
  notifies                   # see description
  options                    String
  package_name               String, Array # defaults to 'name' if not specified
  source                     String, Array
  subscribes                 # see description
  timeout                    String, Integer
  version                    String, Array
  action                     Symbol # defaults to :install if not specified
end

where

gem_package tells the chef-client to manage a package
'name' is the name of the package
action identifies which steps the chef-client will take to bring the node into the desired state
clear_sources, include_default_source, gem_binary, options, package_name, source, timeout, and version 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.

Gem Package Options¶

The RubyGems package provider attempts to use the RubyGems API to install gems without spawning a new process, whenever possible. A gems command to install will be spawned under the following conditions:

When a gem_binary property is specified (as a hash, a string, or by a .gemrc file), the chef-client will run that command to examine its environment settings and then again to install the gem.
When install options are specified as a string, the chef-client will span a gems command with those options when installing the gem.
The Chef installer will search the PATH for a gem command rather than defaulting to the current gem environment. As part of enforce_path_sanity, the bin directories area added to the PATH, which means when there are no other proceeding RubyGems, the installation will still be operated against it.

Specify with Hash¶

If an explicit gem_binary parameter is not being used with the gem_package resource, it is preferable to provide the install options as a hash. This approach allows the provider to install the gem without needing to spawn an external gem process.

The following RubyGems options are available for inclusion within a hash and are passed to the RubyGems DependencyInstaller:

:env_shebang
:force
:format_executable
:ignore_dependencies
:prerelease
:security_policy
:wrappers

For more information about these options, see the RubyGems documentation: http://rubygems.rubyforge.org/rubygems-update/Gem/DependencyInstaller.html.

Example

gem_package 'bundler' do
  options(:prerelease => true, :format_executable => false)
end

Specify with String¶

When using an explicit gem_binary, options must be passed as a string. When not using an explicit gem_binary, the chef-client is forced to spawn a gems process to install the gems (which uses more system resources) when options are passed as a string. String options are passed verbatim to the gems command and should be specified just as if they were passed on a command line. For example, --prerelease for a pre-release gem.

Example

gem_package 'nokogiri' do
  gem_binary('/opt/ree/bin/gem')
  options('--prerelease --no-format-executable')
end

Specify with .gemrc File¶

Options can be specified in a .gemrc file. By default the gem_package resource will use the Ruby interface to install gems which will ignore the .gemrc file. The gem_package resource can be forced to use the gems command instead (and to read the .gemrc file) by adding the gem_binary attribute to a code block.

Example

A template named gemrc.erb is located in a cookbook’s /templates directory:

:sources:
- http://<%= node['gem_file']['host'] %>:<%= node['gem_file']['port'] %>/

A recipe can be built that does the following:

Builds a .gemrc file based on a gemrc.erb template
Runs a Gem.configuration command
Installs a package using the .gemrc file

template '/root/.gemrc' do
  source 'gemrc.erb'
  action :create
  notifies :run, 'ruby_block[refresh_gemrc]', :immediately
end

ruby_block 'refresh_gemrc' do
  action :nothing
  block do
    Gem.configuration = Gem::ConfigFile.new []
  end
end

gem_package 'di-ruby-lvm' do
  gem_binary '/opt/chef/embedded/bin/gem'
  action :install
end

Actions¶

This resource has the following actions:

:install: Default. Install a package. If a version is specified, install the specified version of the package.
: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.
:purge: Purge a package. This action typically removes the configuration files as well as the package.
:reconfig: Reconfigure a package. This action requires a response file.
:remove: Remove a package.
:upgrade: Install a package and/or ensure that a package is the latest version.

Properties¶

This resource has the following properties:

clear_sources

Ruby Type: true, false | Default Value: false

Set to true to download a gem from the path specified by the source property (and not from RubyGems).

include_default_source

Ruby Type: true, false | Default Value: true

Set to false to not include Chef::Config[:rubygems_url] in the sources.

New in Chef Client 13.0

gem_binary

Ruby Type: String

A property for the gem_package provider that is used to specify a gems binary. By default, the same version of Ruby that is used by the chef-client will be installed.

ignore_failure

Ruby Type: true, false | Default Value: false

Continue running a recipe if a resource fails for any reason.

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 notify 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:

:before: Specifies that the action on a notified resource should be run before processing the resource block in which the notification is located.
:delayed: Default. Specifies that a notification should be queued up, and then executed at the 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

options

Ruby Type: String

One (or more) additional options that are passed to the command.

package_name

Ruby Type: String, Array

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

retries

Ruby Type: Integer | Default Value: 0

The number of times to catch exceptions and retry the resource.

retry_delay

Ruby Type: Integer | Default Value: 2

The retry delay (in seconds).

source

Ruby Type: String, Array

Optional. The URL, or list of URLs, at which the gem package is located. This list is added to the source configured in Chef::Config[:rubygems_url] (see also include_default_source) to construct the complete list of rubygems sources. Users in an “airgapped” environment should set Chef::Config[:rubygems_url] to their local RubyGems mirror.

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.

Note that subscribes does not apply the specified action to the resource that it listens to - for example:

file '/etc/nginx/ssl/example.crt' do
   mode '0600'
   owner 'root'
end

service 'nginx' do
   subscribes :reload, 'file[/etc/nginx/ssl/example.crt]', :immediately
end

In this case the subscribes property reloads the nginx service whenever its certificate file, located under /etc/nginx/ssl/example.crt, is updated. subscribes does not make any changes to the certificate file itself, it merely listens for a change to the file, and executes the :reload action for its resource (in this example nginx) when a change is detected.

A timer specifies the point during the Chef Client run at which a notification is run. The following timers are available:

:before: Specifies that the action on a notified resource should be run before processing the resource block in which the notification is located.
:delayed: Default. Specifies that a notification should be queued up, and then executed at the 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

timeout

Ruby Type: String, Integer

The amount of time (in seconds) to wait before timing out.

version

Ruby Type: String, Array

The version of a package to be installed or upgraded.

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.

Install a gems file from the local file system

gem_package 'right_aws' do
  source '/tmp/right_aws-1.11.0.gem'
  action :install
end

Use the ignore_failure common attribute

gem_package 'syntax' do
  action :install
  ignore_failure true
end