subversion Resource

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Use the subversion resource to manage source control resources that exist in a Subversion repository.

Syntax

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

subversion 'name' do
  destination        String # default value: 'name' unless specified
  environment        Hash
  group              String, Integer
  repository         String
  revision           String # default value: "HEAD"
  svn_arguments      String, false # default value: "--no-auth-cache"
  svn_binary         String
  svn_info_args      String, false # default value: "--no-auth-cache"
  svn_password       String
  svn_username       String
  timeout            Integer
  user               String, Integer
  action             Symbol # defaults to :sync if not specified
end

where:

• subversion is the resource.
• name is the name given to the resource block.
• action identifies which steps Chef Infra Client will take to bring the node into the desired state.
• destination, environment, group, repository, revision, svn_arguments, svn_binary, svn_info_args, svn_password, svn_username, timeout, and user are the properties available to this resource.

Actions

The subversion resource has the following actions:

:checkout

Clone or check out the source. When a checkout is available, this provider does nothing.

:export

Export the source, excluding or removing any version control artifacts.

:force_export

Export the source, excluding or removing any version control artifacts and force an export of the source that is overwriting the existing copy (if it exists).

:nothing

This resource block doesn’t act unless notified by another resource to take action. Once notified, this resource block either runs immediately or is queued up to run at the end of a Chef Infra Client run.

:sync

Update the source to the specified version, or get a new clone or checkout. This action causes a hard reset of the index and working tree, discarding any uncommitted changes. (default)

Properties

The subversion resource has the following properties:

destination

Ruby Type: String | Default Value: The resource block's name

The location path to which the source is to be cloned, checked out, or exported. Default value: the name of the resource block.

environment

Ruby Type: Hash

A Hash of environment variables in the form of ({‘ENV_VARIABLE’ => ‘VALUE’}).

group

Ruby Type: String, Integer

The system group that will own the checked-out code.

repository

Ruby Type: String

The URI of the code repository.

revision

Ruby Type: String | Default Value: HEAD

A branch, tag, or commit to be synchronized with git. This can be symbolic, like HEAD or it can be a source control management-specific revision identifier.

svn_arguments

Ruby Type: String, false | Default Value: --no-auth-cache

The extra arguments that are passed to the Subversion command.

svn_binary

Ruby Type: String

The location of the svn binary.

svn_info_args

Ruby Type: String, false | Default Value: --no-auth-cache

Use when the svn info command is used by Chef Infra Client and arguments need to be passed. The svn_arguments command does not work when the svn info command is used.

svn_password

Ruby Type: String

The password for a user that has access to the Subversion repository.

svn_username

Ruby Type: String

The user name for a user that has access to the Subversion repository.

timeout

Ruby Type: Integer

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

user

Ruby Type: String, Integer | Default Value: `HOME` environment variable of the user running chef-client

The system user that will own the checked-out code.

Common Resource Functionality

Chef resources include common properties, notifications, and resource guards.

Common Properties

The following properties are common to every resource:

compile_time

Ruby Type: true, false | Default Value: false

Control the phase during which the resource is run on the node. Set to true to run while the resource collection is being built (the compile phase). Set to false to run while Chef Infra Client is configuring the node (the converge phase).

ignore_failure

Ruby Type: true, false, :quiet | Default Value: false

Continue running a recipe if a resource fails for any reason. :quiet won’t display the full stack trace and the recipe will continue to run if a resource fails.

retries

Ruby Type: Integer | Default Value: 0

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

retry_delay

Ruby Type: Integer | Default Value: 2

The delay in seconds between retry attempts.

sensitive

Ruby Type: true, false | Default Value: false

Ensure that sensitive resource data isn’t logged by Chef Infra Client.

Notifications

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.

If the referenced resource doesn’t exist, an error is raised. In contrast, subscribes won’t fail if the source resource isn’t found.

A timer specifies the point during a Chef Infra 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 a Chef Infra Client run.

:immediate, :immediately

Specifies that a notification should be run immediately, for each 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 doesn’t 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 doesn’t 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.

If the other resource doesn’t exist, the subscription won’t raise an error. Contrast this with the stricter semantics of notifies, which will raise an error if the other resource doesn’t exist.

A timer specifies the point during a Chef Infra 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 a Chef Infra Client run.

:immediate, :immediately

Specifies that a notification should be run immediately, for each resource notified.

The syntax for subscribes is:

subscribes :action, 'resource[name]', :timer

Guards

A guard property can be used to evaluate the state of a node during the execution phase of a Chef Infra Client run. Based on the results of this evaluation, a guard property is then used to tell Chef Infra Client if it should continue executing a resource. A guard property accepts either a string value or a Ruby block value:

• A string is executed as a shell command. If the command returns 0, the guard is applied. If the command returns any other value, then the guard property isn’t applied. String guards in a powershell_script run Windows PowerShell commands and may return true in addition to 0.
• A block is executed as Ruby code that must return either true or false. If the block returns true, the guard property is applied. If the block returns false, the guard property isn’t applied.

A guard property is useful for ensuring that a resource is idempotent by allowing that resource to test for the desired state as it’s being executed, and then if the desired state is present, for Chef Infra Client to do nothing.

The following properties can be used to define a guard that’s evaluated during the execution phase of a Chef Infra Client run:

not_if

Prevent a resource from executing when the condition returns true.

only_if

Allow a resource to execute only if the condition returns true.

Examples

The following examples demonstrate various approaches for using the subversion resource in recipes:

Get the latest version of an application

subversion 'CouchDB Edge' do
  repository 'http://svn.apache.org/repos/asf/couchdb/trunk'
  revision 'HEAD'
  destination '/opt/my_sources/couch'
  action :sync
end