[Puppet Users] Error 400 on SERVER: Puppet::Parser::AST::Resource failed with error ArgumentError: Invalid resource type ruby::gemInstall at myFile.pp:82

A few updates, comment inline with original post.
I refactored and made some changes in testing a few things, current version
is:

define ruby::gemInstall (
r_gem = $name,
r_path = hiera('v_rubygem_path')
){

r_gemName = regsubst($r_gem, '([^-]+)-.*\.gem', '\1')

exec { "gem_install_${r_gemName}":
command => "/usr/local/bin/gem install ${r_gemName}",
cwd => $r_path,
unless => "gem list -i ${r_gemName}",
require => Package['rubygems'],
}
}

Hi,

I don't really know how this even compiles, but here's what I think
needs changin.

Before you go on with this - do you have pressing reasons for not using
package { "gemname": provider => "gem" } ?
HTH,
Felix

That may have been an issue, but it still doesn't work. I get the same
error.


That provider is not available on this system, I tried that first.

Then I shall go on a limb an suggest you forego camel-case (*cringe*)
and rename to ruby::gem_install, see if that helps. Otherwise I'd be
grateful for yet another verbatim copy of your defined type, also the
information in which manifest file the type declaration resides.
I suppose the provider in and of itself is included in your puppet
distribution (anything else would be madness).
It makes sense that it won't work, seeing as your gem binary is
installed in /usr/local.
What does *not* compute is the fact that you are in fact installing a
"rubygems" package. Huh? Is this package installing binaries to
/usr/local? Are there other reasons for gem being installed there?

I would still try and go for a working gem provider, but be that as it
may, your defined type really Should Work.

Regards,
Felix

define ruby::gem_install (
$r_gem = $name,
$r_path = hiera('v_rubygem_path')
){

$r_gemName = regsubst($r_gem, '([^-]+)-.*\.gem', '\1')

exec { "gem_install_${r_gem}":
command => "/usr/local/bin/gem install ${r_gem}",
cwd => $r_path,
unless => "gem list -i ${r_gemName}",
require => [ Package['rubygems'], File['gem_repo'] ],
}
}


This works, but it appears to be executing for the whole list of gems I am
passing it, even though those gems are already installed and the unless
command should prevent it. But that's another matter that I should be able
to figure out on my own.

I did some other testing, and I noticed something that took me off guard
and ready to file a bug report, though after a little research seems to at
least be somewhat documented as intended behavior.

I was trying to debug why it was still running the install command, so I
changed my define slightly:

define ruby::gem_install (
$r_gem = $name,
$r_path = hiera('v_rubygem_path')
){

$r_gemName = regsubst($r_gem, '([^-]+)-.*\.gem', '\1')
$r_gemVer = regsubst($r_gem, '[^-]+-(.*)\.gem', '\1')
notify{"notify_1_${r_gem}":
message => "r_path is: ${r_path} || r_gem is: ${r_gem} || r_gemName is:
${r_gemName} || r_gemVer is: ${r_gemVer}",
}
}

This has all the expected values, and it lives in
/etc/puppet/environments/test/modules/ruby/manifests/gem_install.pp.

I then copied the file, renamed it to
/etc/puppet/environments/test/modules/ruby/manifests/gemInstall.pp.

I changed the first line, and ONLY the first line to:

define ruby::gemInstall (

In my node def I am working on, I have the following:

ruby::gem_install { 'actionmailer':
r_gem => 'actionmailer-3.1.3.gem',
r_path => hiera('v_rubygem_path'),
}

ruby::gemInstall { 'actionmailer':
r_gem => 'actionmailer-3.1.3.gem',
r_path => hiera('v_rubygem_path'),
}


And I get the following (same error as before):

err: Could not retrieve catalog from remote server: Error 400 on SERVER:
Puppet::Parser::AST::Resource failed with error ArgumentError: Invalid
resource type ruby::gemInstall at
/etc/puppet/environments/test/manifests/nodes/MyTestNodeDef.pp:69 on node X


I could have sworn I saw something that said acceptable names for
classes/defines/variables was [a-z][a-zA-Z0-9]*, but when I went looking
what I found was instead:

"Class names, module names, and the names of defined and custom resource
types should be restricted to lowercase alphanumeric characters and
underscores, and should begin with a lowercase letter; that is, they should
match the expression [a-z][a-z0-9_]*. Although some names that violate
these restrictions currently work, using them is not recommended."

But this was somewhat buried in the Language Guide
(http://docs.puppetlabs.com/guides/language_guide.html), and I (later)
found something along the same lines at
http://docs.puppetlabs.com/puppet/2.7/reference/modules_fundamentals.html.

The Style Guide (http://docs.puppetlabs.com/guides/style_guide) only says
"When defining variables you should only use letters, numbers and
underscores. You should specifically not make use of dashes." and makes no
mention of not using camelCase. This document also makes no mention of case
restrictions on class and define names.

From the tutorial section on defines
(http://docs.puppetlabs.com/learning/definedtypes.html) no mention of an
all lowercase requirement is made at all, though all examples are in all
lowercase. Then again, none of the examples would be cases where people are
likely to have wanted to use mixed case.

On a second reading of the tutorial I did find a brief mention that class
names have to be all lowercase, which I seem to have missed.

The other rather interesting thing is that when I had my define in the same
file as a class definition, it worked as expected. It was only after I
moved the defines to their own files (as per the style guide) that I
started having this problem.

So... long story short, this is the second time in two weeks I am having to
refactor all my code in order to prepare for a point release upgrade.

While the overall software is very nice, and the support I have received
when I have needed it has been very helpful, I am less than happy with this
software right now.

And while I do recognize that both rewrites could have been avoided with a
more careful reading of the documentation, I and my team should not have to
pick through the documentation line by line like it was some sort of
contract I was getting ready to sign.

For what it is worth, I think the forcing of all lowercase
variables/classes/defines/modules is serious design flaw - even worse than
not allowing hyphens, which I consider to be a pretty serious flaw (and
from reading this list and various other bug reports, a lot of people agree)

Hi,
I noticed that in your unless parameter, you use "gem" without a path.
It's possibly always failing if puppet cannot find the binary.

Please note that exec takes an actual "path" parameter as well, that you
should use to define the search path.
Ugh, I feel your pain. Sorry for the hassle. Have you been using puppet
for long? I believe that it really takes quite some time to find the
best practices on one's own. The Puppet Labs style guide e.g. has helped
me very little in that respect, personally.
I can agree about the case notion, although allowing mixed case is
problematic in puppet: file { } and File { } are semantically different,
so defined types cannot ever be named with a capital first letter. So
conditionally allowing mixed case would be potentially confusing (or so
I believe).

About the dashes, well - I don't really see the issue. In languages like
C, the dash has been a reserved word for decades. When the lexer sees a
dash, it will make it a standalone token, and the parser will recognize
it as an operator. It all adheres niceley to the KISS principle. It's my
firm belief that making the dash stop being an operator in certain
contexts does much more harm than good. (Specifically, in hindsight it's
really terrible that puppet ever allowed dashes in class names.)

Sincerely,
Felix