Example of generate('...') use in puppet

Question

I am trying to learn how to use puppet, following along with their Quick Start Guide.

I would like to add a time stamp using generate:

$timestamp = generate('/bin/date')

class helloworld::motd {
    file { '/etc/motd':
    owner => 'root',
    group => 'root',
    mode => '0644',
    content => "Production puppetmaster is in control. Last run: ${timestamp}\n",
    }
}

But the resulting motd file has no date/time:

Production puppetmaster is in control. Last run:

What am I doing wrong?

Try moving the $timestamp assignment into the class block. – jordanm Sep 11 '16 at 19:25 — jordanm, Sep 11 '16 at 19:25

score 4 · Accepted Answer · answered Sep 19 '16 at 12:57

I wouldn't use generate() at all, that is something to be avoided at all costs.

Instead, take a look at the stdlib Puppet module, and the following functions in particular:

strftime()
time()

Example: The following function call would result in a timestamp in the YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS format:

$timestamp = stftime("%Y-%m-%d %k:%M:%S")

score 0 · Answer 2 · edited Jun 11 '20 at 10:02

If you insist on using the built-in function generate() from the puppet language you can use it this way:

$timestamp = generate('/bin/date', '+%Y%d%m %H:%M:%S')

A more elaborate example is:

$myuptime = generate("/bin/sh", "-c", "/usr/bin/uptime | /usr/bin/awk '{ print \$3}' | cut -d, -f 1 ")

Please note the use of the quotes and the escaped $-sign.
I'm using the name $myuptime for my variable because $uptime is also available as a builtin.
Tested on puppet version 6.4.2 on Ubuntu 16.04.

Example of generate('...') use in puppet

2 Answers2