macos_userdefaults resource¶

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Use the macos_userdefaults resource to manage the macOS user defaults system. The properties of the resource are passed to the defaults command, and the parameters follow the conventions of that command. See the defaults man page for additional information.

New in Chef Client 14.0.

Syntax¶

The macos_userdefaults resource has the following syntax:

macos_userdefaults 'name' do
  domain                String # required
  global                true, false # default value: 'false'
  key                   String
  notifies              # see description
  subscribes            # see description
  sudo                  true, false # default value: 'false'
  type                  String # default value: ""
  user                  String
  value                 Integer, Float, String, true, false, Hash, Array
  action                Symbol # defaults to :write if not specified
end

where:

macos_userdefaults is the resource.
name is the name given to the resource block.
action identifies which steps the chef-client will take to bring the node into the desired state.
domain, global, is_set, key, sudo, type, user, and value are the properties available to this resource.

Actions¶

The macos_userdefaults resource has the following actions:

:write: Default. Writes the setting to the specified domain.
: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.

Properties¶

The macos_userdefaults resource has the following properties:

domain

Ruby Type: String | REQUIRED

The domain that the user defaults belong to.

global

Ruby Type: true, false | Default Value: false

Determines whether or not the domain is global.

key

Ruby Type: String

The preference key.

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

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

sudo

Ruby Type: true, false | Default Value: false

Set to true if the setting you wish to modify requires privileged access.

type

Ruby Type: String | Default Value: ""

The value type of the preference key.

user

Ruby Type: String

The system user that the default will be applied to.

value

Ruby Type: Integer, Float, String, true, false, Hash, Array | REQUIRED

The value of the key.

Examples¶

Specify a global domain

macos_userdefaults 'full keyboard access to all controls' do
  domain 'AppleKeyboardUIMode'
  global true
  value '2'
end

Use an integer value

macos_userdefaults 'enable macOS firewall' do
  domain '/Library/Preferences/com.apple.alf'
  key 'globalstate'
  value '1'
  type 'int'
end

Use a boolean value

macos_userdefaults 'finder expanded save dialogs' do
  domain 'NSNavPanelExpandedStateForSaveMode'
  global true
  value 'TRUE'
  type 'bool'
end