#Concat

####Table of Contents

1. Overview
2. Module Description - What the module does and why it is useful
3. Setup - The basics of getting started with concat
   • What concat affects
   • Setup requirements
   • Beginning with concat
4. Usage - Configuration options and additional functionality
   • API deprecations
5. Reference - An under-the-hood peek at what the module is doing and how
6. Limitations - OS compatibility, etc.
7. Development - Guide for contributing to the module

##Overview

This module constructs files from multiple fragments in an ordered way.

##Module Description

This module lets you use many concat::fragment{} resources throughout your modules to construct a single file at the end. It does this through a shell (or ruby) script and a temporary holding space for the fragments.

##Setup

###What concat affects

• Installs concatfragments.[sh|rb] based on platform.
• Adds a concat/ directory into Puppets vardir.

###Beginning with concat

To start using concat you need to create:

• A concat{} resource for the final file.
• One or more concat::fragment{}'s.

A minimal example might be:

concat { '/tmp/file':
  ensure => present,
}

concat::fragment { 'tmpfile':
  target  => '/tmp/file',
  content => 'test contents',
  order   => '01'
}

##Usage

Please be aware that there have been a number of API deprecations.

If you wanted a /etc/motd file that listed all the major modules on the machine. And that would be maintained automatically even if you just remove the include lines for other modules you could use code like below, a sample /etc/motd would be:

Puppet modules on this server:

    -- Apache
    -- MySQL

Local sysadmins can also append to the file by just editing /etc/motd.local their changes will be incorporated into the puppet managed motd.

class motd {
  $motd = '/etc/motd'

  concat { $motd:
    owner => 'root',
    group => 'root',
    mode  => '0644'
  }

  concat::fragment{ 'motd_header':
    target  => $motd,
    content => "\nPuppet modules on this server:\n\n",
    order   => '01'
  }

  # local users on the machine can append to motd by just creating
  # /etc/motd.local
  concat::fragment{ 'motd_local':
    target => $motd,
    source => '/etc/motd.local',
    order  => '15'
  }
}

# used by other modules to register themselves in the motd
define motd::register($content="", $order='10') {
  if $content == "" {
    $body = $name
  } else {
    $body = $content
  }

  concat::fragment{ "motd_fragment_$name":
    target  => '/etc/motd',
    order   => $order,
    content => "    -- $body\n"
  }
}

To use this you'd then do something like:

class apache {
  include apache::install, apache::config, apache::service

  motd::register{ 'Apache': }
}

##Reference

###Classes

####Public classes

####Private classes

• concat::setup: Sets up the concat script/directories.

###Parameters

###Defines

####concat

#####ensure Controls if the combined file is present or absent.

######Example

• ensure => present
• ensure => absent

#####path Controls the destination of the file to create.

######Example

• path => '/tmp/filename'

#####owner Set the owner of the combined file.

######Example

• owner => 'root'

#####group Set the group of the combined file.

######Example

• group => 'root'

#####mode Set the mode of the combined file.

######Example

• mode => '0644'

#####warn Determine if a warning message should be added at the top of the file to let users know it was autogenerated by Puppet. It should be a boolean or a string containing the contents of the warning message.

######Example

• warn => true
• warn => false
• warn => '# This file is autogenerated!'

#####force Determine if empty files are allowed when no fragments were added.

######Example

• force => true
• force => false

#####backup Controls the filebucket behavior used for the file.

######Example

• backup => 'puppet'

#####replace Controls if Puppet should replace the destination file if it already exists.

######Example

• replace => true
• replace => false

#####order Controls the way in which the shell script chooses to sort the files. It's rare you'll need to adjust this.

######Allowed Values

• order => 'alpha'
• order => 'numeric'

#####ensure_newline Ensure there's a newline at the end of the fragments.

######Example

• ensure_newline => true
• ensure_newline => false

#####validate_cmd Ensure the destination file passes the following validation command.

######Example

• validate_cmd => '/usr/sbin/apache2 -t -f %'
• validate_cmd => '/usr/sbin/visudo -c -f %'

####concat::fragment

#####target Choose the destination file of the fragment.

######Example

• target => '/tmp/testfile'

#####content Create the content of the fragment.

######Example

• content => 'test file contents'

#####source Find the sources within Puppet of the fragment.

######Example

• source => 'puppet:///modules/test/testfile'
• source => ['puppet:///modules/test/1', 'puppet:///modules/test/2']

#####order Order the fragments.

######Example

• order => '01'

Best practice is to pass a string to this parameter but integer values are accepted.

#####ensure Control the file of fragment created.

######Example

• ensure => 'present'
• ensure => 'absent'

#####mode Set the mode of the fragment.

######Example

• mode => '0644'

#####owner Set the owner of the fragment.

######Example

• owner => 'root'

#####group Set the group of the fragment.

######Example

• group => 'root'

#####backup Control the filebucket behavior for the fragment.

######Example

• backup => 'puppet'

API deprecations

Since version 1.0.0

concat{} warn parameter

concat { '/tmp/file':
  ensure => present,
  warn   => 'true',  # generates stringified boolean value warning
}

Using stringified Boolean values as the warn parameter to concat is deprecated, generates a catalog compile time warning, and will be silently treated as the concatenated file header/warning message in a future release.

The following strings are considered a stringified Boolean value:

• 'true'
• 'yes'
• 'on'
• 'false'
• 'no'
• 'off'

Please migrate to using the Puppet DSL's native Boolean data type.

concat{} gnu parameter

concat { '/tmp/file':
  ensure => present,
  gnu    => $foo,    # generates deprecation warning
}

The gnu parameter to concat is deprecated, generates a catalog compile time warning, and has no effect. This parameter will be removed in a future release.

Note that this parameter was silently ignored in the 1.0.0 release.

concat::fragment{} ensure parameter

concat::fragment { 'cpuinfo':
  ensure => '/proc/cpuinfo', # generates deprecation warning
  target => '/tmp/file',
}

Passing a value other than 'present' or 'absent' as the ensure parameter to concat::fragment is deprecated and generates a catalog compile time warning. The warning will become a catalog compilation failure in a future release.

This type emulates the Puppet core file type's disfavored ensure semantics of treating a file path as a directive to create a symlink. This feature is problematic in several ways. It copies an API semantic of another type that is both frowned upon and not generally well known. It's behavior may be surprising in that the target concatenated file will not be a symlink nor is there any common file system that has a concept of a section of a plain file being symbolically linked to another file. Additionally, the behavior is generally inconsistent with most Puppet types in that a missing source file will be silently ignored.

If you want to use the content of a file as a fragment please use the source parameter.

concat::fragment{} mode/owner/group parameters

concat::fragment { 'foo':
  target  => '/tmp/file',
  content => 'foo',
  mode    => $mode,       # generates deprecation warning
  owner   => $owner,      # generates deprecation warning
  group   => $group,      # generates deprecation warning
}

The mode parameter to concat::fragment is deprecated, generates a catalog compile time warning, and has no effect.

The owner parameter to concat::fragment is deprecated, generates a catalog compile time warning, and has no effect.

The group parameter to concat::fragment is deprecated, generates a catalog compile time warning, and has no effect.

These parameters had no user visible effect in version 1.0.0 and will be removed in a future release.

concat::fragment{} backup parameter

concat::fragment { 'foo':
  target  => '/tmp/file',
  content => 'foo',
  backup  => 'bar',       # generates deprecation warning
}

The backup parameter to concat::fragment is deprecated, generates a catalog compile time warning, and has no effect. It will be removed in a future release.

In the 1.0.0 release this parameter controlled file bucketing of the file fragment. Bucketting the fragment(s) is redundant with bucketting the final concatenated file and this feature has been removed.

class { 'concat::setup': }

include concat::setup     # generates deprecation warning

class { 'concat::setup': } # generates deprecation warning

The concat::setup class is deprecated as a public API of this module and should no longer be directly included in the manifest. This class may be removed in a future release.

Parameter validation

While not an API depreciation, users should be aware that all public parameters in this module are now validated for at least variable type. This may cause validation errors in a manifest that was previously silently misbehaving.

##Limitations

This module has been tested on:

• RedHat Enterprise Linux (and Centos) 5/6
• Debian 6/7
• Ubuntu 12.04

Testing on other platforms has been light and cannot be guaranteed.

#Development

Puppet Labs modules on the Puppet Forge are open projects, and community contributions are essential for keeping them great. We can’t access the huge number of platforms and myriad of hardware, software, and deployment configurations that Puppet is intended to serve.

We want to keep it as easy as possible to contribute changes so that our modules work in your environment. There are a few guidelines that we need contributors to follow so that we can have a chance of keeping on top of things.

You can read the complete module contribution guide on the Puppet Labs wiki.

###Contributors

The list of contributors can be found at:

https://github.com/puppetlabs/puppetlabs-concat/graphs/contributors