The man page for the knife cookbook subcommand. a cookbook is the fundamental unit of configuration and policy distribution. each cookbook defines a scenario, such as everything needed to install and configure mysql, and then it contains all of the components that are required to support that scenario, including: attribute values that are set on nodes definitions that allow the creation of reusable collections of resources file distributions libraries that extend the chef-client and/or provide helpers to ruby code recipes that specify which resources to manage and the order in which those resources will be applied custom resources and providers templates versions metadata about recipes (including dependencies), version constraints, supported platforms, and so on the knife cookbook subcommand is used to interact with cookbooks that are located on the server or the local chef-repo.
The following options may be used with any of the arguments available to the knife cookbook subcommand:
--chef-zero-port PORT
The port on which chef-zero will listen.
-c CONFIG_FILE, --config CONFIG_FILE
The configuration file to use.
-d, --disable-editing
Indicates that $EDITOR will not be opened; data will be accepted as-is.
--defaults
Indicates that Knife will use the default value, instead of asking a user to provide one.
-e EDITOR, --editor EDITOR
The $EDITOR that is used for all interactive commands.
-E ENVIRONMENT, --environment ENVIRONMENT
The name of the environment. When this option is added to a command, the command will run only against the named environment.
-F FORMAT, --format FORMAT
The output format: summary (default), text, json, yaml, and pp.
-h, --help
Shows help for the command.
-k KEY, --key KEY
The private key that Knife will use to sign requests made by the API client to the server.
--[no-]color
Indicates whether colored output will be used.
--print-after
Indicates that data will be shown after a destructive operation.
-s URL, --server-url URL
The URL for the server.
-u USER, --user USER
The user name used by Knife to sign requests made by the API client to the server. Authentication will fail if the user name does not match the private key.
-V, --verbose
Set for more verbose outputs. Use -VV for maximum verbosity.
-v, --version
The version of the chef-client.
-y, --yes
Indicates that the response to all confirmation prompts will be "Yes" (and that Knife will not ask for confirmation).
-z, --local-mode
Indicates that the chef-client will be run in local mode, which allows all commands that work against the server to also work against the local chef-repo.
The bulk delete argument is used to delete cookbook files that match a pattern defined by a regular expression. The regular expression must be within quotes and not be surrounded by forward slashes (/).
Syntax
This argument has the following syntax:
$ knife cookbook bulk delete REGEX (options)
Options
This argument has the following options:
-p, --purge
Indicates that a cookbook (or cookbook version) will be removed entirely from the server. This action should be used carefully because only one copy of any single file is stored on the server. Consequently, purging a cookbook will disable any other cookbook that references one or more files from a cookbook that has been purged.
Examples
Use a regular expression to define the pattern used to bulk delete cookbooks:
$ knife cookbook bulk delete "^[0-9]{3}$" -p
The create argument is used to create a new cookbook directory on the local machine, including the following directories and files:
cookbook/attributes
cookbook/CHANGELOG.md
cookbook/definitions
cookbook/files/default
cookbook/libraries
cookbook/metadata.rb
cookbook/providers
cookbook/README.md (or .rdoc)
cookbook/recipes/default.rb
cookbook/resources
cookbook/templates/default
After the cookbook is created, it can be uploaded to the server using the knife upload argument.
Syntax
This argument has the following syntax:
$ knife cookbook create COOKBOOK_NAME (options)
Options
This argument has the following options:
-C COPYRIGHT_HOLDER, --copyright COPYRIGHT_HOLDER
The name of the copyright holder. This option will place a copyright notice that contains the name of the copyright holder in each of the pre-created files. If this option is not specified, a copyright name of "your_company_name" will be used instead; it can be easily modified later.
-I LICENSE, --license LICENSE
The type of license under which a cookbook is distributed: apachev2, gplv2, gplv3, mit, or none (default). This option will place the appropriate license notice in the pre-created files: Apache v2.0 (for apachev2), GPL v2 (for gplv2), GPL v3 (for gplv3), MIT (for mit), or license 'Proprietary - All Rights Reserved (for none). Be aware of the licenses for files inside of a cookbook and be sure to follow any restrictions they describe.
-m EMAIL, --email EMAIL
The email address for the individual who maintains the cookbook. This option will place an email address in each of the pre-created files. If this option is not specified, an email name of "your_email" will be used instead; it can be easily modified later.
-o PATH, --cookbook-path PATH
The directory in which cookbook are created. This can be a colon-separated path.
-r FORMAT, --readme-format FORMAT
The document format of the readme file: md (markdown) and rdoc (Ruby docs).
Examples
To create a cookbook named "my_cookbook" with copyright, email, license, and readme format options specified, enter:
$ knife cookbook create my_cookbook -C "My Name" -m "[email protected]" -I apachev2 -r md
to return something like:
** Creating cookbook my_cookbook ** Creating README for cookbook: my_cookbook ** Creating metadata for cookbook: my_cookbook
The delete argument is used to delete a specified cookbook or cookbook version on the server (and not locally).
Syntax
This argument has the following syntax:
$ knife cookbook delete COOKBOOK_NAME [COOKBOOK_VERSION] (options)
Options
This argument has the following options:
-a, --all
Indicates that a cookbook and every version of that cookbook will be deleted.
COOKBOOK_VERSION
The version of a cookbook to be deleted. If a cookbook has only one version, this option does not need to be specified. If a cookbook has more than one version and this option is not specified, Knife will prompt for a version.
-p, --purge
Indicates that a cookbook (or cookbook version) will be removed entirely from the server. This action should be used carefully because only one copy of any single file is stored on the server. Consequently, purging a cookbook will disable any other cookbook that references one or more files from a cookbook that has been purged.
Examples
$ knife cookbook delete cookbook_name version
For example:
$ knife cookbook delete smartmon 0.8
Type Y to confirm a deletion.
The download argument is used to download a cookbook from the server to the current working directory.
Syntax
This argument has the following syntax:
$ knife cookbook download COOKBOOK_NAME [COOKBOOK_VERSION] (options)
Options
This argument has the following options:
-d DOWNLOAD_DIRECTORY, --dir DOWNLOAD_DIRECTORY
The directory into which a cookbook will be downloaded.
-f, --force
Indicates that an existing directory will be overwritten.
-N, --latest
Indicates that the most recent version of a cookbook will be downloaded.
Examples
To download a cookbook named "smartmon", enter:
$ knife cookbook download smartmon
The list argument is used to view a list of cookbooks that are currently available on the server. The list will contain only the most recent version for each cookbook by default.
Syntax
This argument has the following syntax:
$ knife cookbook list (options)
Options
This argument has the following options:
-a, --all
Indicates that all available versions of each cookbook will be returned.
-w, --with-uri
Indicates that the corresponding URIs will be shown.
Examples
To view a list of cookbooks:
$ knife cookbook list
The metadata argument is used to generate the metadata for one or more cookbooks.
Syntax
This argument has the following syntax:
$ knife cookbook metadata (options)
Options
This argument has the following options:
-a, --all
Indicates that metadata should be generated for all cookbooks, and not just for a specified cookbook.
-o PATH:PATH, --cookbook-path PATH:PATH
The directory in which cookbook are created. This can be a colon-separated path.
Examples
$ knife cookbook metadata -a
The metadata from file argument is used to load the metadata for a cookbook from a file.
Syntax
This argument has the following syntax:
$ knife cookbook metadata from file FILE
Options
This command does not have any specific options.
Examples
$ knife cookbook metadta from file /path/to/file
The show argument is used to view information about a cookbook, parts of a cookbook (attributes, definitions, files, libraries, providers, recipes, resources, and templates), or a file that is associated with a cookbook (including attributes such as checksum or specificity).
Syntax
This argument has the following syntax:
$ knife cookbook show COOKBOOK_NAME [COOKBOOK_VERSION] [PART...] [FILE_NAME] (options)
Options
This argument has the following options:
COOKBOOK_VERSION
The version of a cookbook to be shown. If a cookbook has only one version, this option does not need to be specified. If a cookbook has more than one version and this option is not specified, a list of cookbook versions will be returned.
-f FQDN, --fqdn FQDN
The FQDN of the host.
FILE_NAME
The name of a file that is associated with a cookbook.
-p PLATFORM, --platform PLATFORM
The platform for which a cookbook is designed.
PART
The part of the cookbook to show: attributes, definitions, files, libraries, providers, recipes, resources, or templates. More than one part can be specified.
-V PLATFORM_VERSION, --platform-version PLATFORM_VERSION
The version of the platform.
-w, --with-uri
Indicates that the corresponding URIs will be shown.
Examples
To get the list of available versions of a cookbook named "getting-started", enter:
$ knife cookbook show getting-started
to return something like:
getting-started 0.3.0 0.2.0
To show a list of data about a cookbook using the name of the cookbook and the version, enter:
$ knife cookbook show getting-started 0.3.0
to return something like:
attributes: checksum: fa0fc4abf3f6787aeb5c3c5c35de667c name: default.rb path: attributes/default.rb specificity: default url: https://somelongurlhere.com chef_type: cookbook_version cookbook_name: getting-started definitions: [] files: [] frozen?: false json_class: Chef::CookbookVersion libraries: []
To only view data about "templates", enter:
$ knife cookbook show getting-started 0.3.0 templates
to return something like:
checksum: a29d6f254577b830091f140c3a78b1fe name: chef-getting-started.txt.erb path: templates/default/chef-getting-started.txt.erb specificity: default url: https://someurlhere.com
To view information in JSON format, use the -F common option as part of the command like this:
$ knife role show devops -F json
Other formats available include text, yaml, and pp.
The test argument is used to test a cookbook for syntax errors. This argument uses Ruby syntax checking to verify every file in a cookbook that ends in .rb and Embedded Ruby (ERB).
Syntax
This argument has the following syntax:
$ knife cookbook test COOKBOOK_NAME (options)
Options
This argument has the following options:
-a, --all
Indicates that all cookbooks will be tested.
-o PATH:PATH, --cookbook-path PATH:PATH
The directory in which cookbook are created. This can be a colon-separated path.
Examples
$ knife cookbook test cookbook_name
The upload argument is used to upload one or more cookbooks (and any files that are associated with those cookbooks) from a local repository to the server. Only files that do not already exist on the server will be uploaded.
Use a chefignore file to prevent the upload of specific files and file types, such as temporary files or files placed in folders by version control systems. The chefignore file must be located in the root of the cookbook repository and must use rules similar to filename globbing (as defined by the Ruby File.fnmatch syntax).
Syntax
This argument has the following syntax:
$ knife cookbook upload [COOKBOOK_NAME...] (options)
Options
This argument has the following options:
-a, --all
Indicates that all cookbooks will be uploaded.
-d, --include-dependencies
Indicates that when a cookbook has a dependency on one (or more) cookbooks, those cookbooks will also be uploaded.
--force
Indicates that a cookbook should be updated even if the --freeze flag has been set.
--freeze
Indicates that a cookbook cannot be modified; any changes to this cookbook must be included as a new version. Only the --force option can override this setting.
-o PATH:PATH, --cookbook-path PATH:PATH
The directory in which cookbook are created. This can be a colon-separated path.
Examples
$ knife cookbook upload cookbook_name
To upload a cookbook, and then prevent other users from being able to make changes to it, enter:
$ knife cookbook upload redis --freeze
to return something like:
Uploading redis... Upload completed
If a cookbook is frozen and the --force option is not specified, Knife will return an error message similar to the following:
Uploading redis... ERROR: Version 0.1.6 of cookbook redis is frozen. Use --force to override.
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