This is antithetical to the way Puppet is normally used, but what you're asking for is possible if you look for custom facts in /etc/facter/facts.d and use them as triggers for specific software installs. Basically, you can create one or more .txt files in that location containing one or more 'key=value' pairs, then use those fact values with a selector to, for example, have puppet install a specific apache build.
See the puppet docs for specifics: http://docs.puppetlabs.com/guides/custom_facts.html#external-facts Note that I'm not condoning this particular use of puppet, just saying that it's possible. -- Peter Bukowinski > On Jan 2, 2014, at 6:39 PM, Shark Laser <[email protected]> wrote: > > > I'm a puppet newbie but have gone through the tutorial and now read most of a > book on the subject. (So please tell me if I am approaching the problem > wrong conceptually). > > Problem: We want a directory where any user can put a file which will > signify a program that is to be installed by Puppet. i.e. If one were to > go to this special location and do 'touch someSpecialCompileOfApache' then > Puppet would see the new file in the directory and we would have additional > logic to then install a special compile of apache. (just a simple contrived > example) > > The first hurdle seems to be that 'notify' s don't get triggered on a > directory if files are merely put in the directory. Are my findings here > correct? It seems the directory itself would have to change to trigger the > notify? ie the name of the directory or a permission? That seems to nix the > first attempt. > > Assuming I am right so far, I thought of a second possibly simpler > approach. I wanted to have one text file. Each line in the text file > would contain an entry for a program that was to be installed. I'm sure I > can get notify's when the single file is changed. Is puppet sophisticated > enough that I could see what the change was in the text file and then > determine an action based on that? > > Thanks in advance. > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "Puppet Users" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to [email protected]. > To view this discussion on the web visit > https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/puppet-users/7f71bfe0-2310-474b-a55e-f3bf9bfc3bf8%40googlegroups.com. > For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Puppet Users" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/puppet-users/92634EA9-7719-44E3-9D9D-488BF9C4B220%40gmail.com. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
