How can I upload more than one file with vagrant file provisioning?

Question

In a Vagrant setup, I have to upload a couple of files from the host to the guest during the provisioning phase.

In https://docs.vagrantup.com/v2/provisioning/file.html I can see how to upload a single file, from a source to a destination, but how can I upload multiple files or a folder structure?

NOTE: I know I can do that using the shell provisioner, but in this particular case a set of file uploads would be more appropriate.

Answer 1

You would need a separate config.vim.provision section for each file. You can add multiple of those sections to your Vagrantfile, like this:

config.vm.provision :file do |file|
  file.source = "/etc/file1.txt"
  file.destination = "/tmp/1.txt"
end

config.vm.provision :file do |file|
  file.source = "/etc/file2.txt"
  file.destination = "/tmp/2.txt"
end

Output:

[default] Running provisioner: file...
[default] Running provisioner: file...

You see it is executing both provisioning actions. You can verify the file presence inside the virtual machine:

vagrant ssh -- ls -al /tmp/{1,2}.txt
-rw-r--r-- 1 vagrant vagrant 4 Aug 27 08:22 /tmp/1.txt
-rw-rw-r-- 1 vagrant vagrant 4 Aug 27 08:22 /tmp/2.txt

Answer 2

Folder content uploads seem to work as well (I've only tried it with files, not nested folders):

config.vm.provision :file, source: '../folder', destination: "/tmp/folder"

Answer 3

In case anybody else just needs a quick and dirty hack to copy a directory structure from the host to the guest, this is how I finally did it:

require 'pathname' # at the beginning of the Vagrantfile

Vagrant.configure(VAGRANTFILE_API_VERSION) do |config|

  # more configuration here

  r = Pathname.new 'root'
  Dir.glob(File.join("root", File.join("**","*"))) do |f|
    if !File.directory?(f) then
      s = Pathname.new f
      t = s.relative_path_from r
      config.vm.provision "file" do |fp|
        fp.source = s.to_s
        fp.destination = "/tmp/root/" + t.to_s
      end
    end
  end

  # more configuration here

end

Thanks to @hek2mgl for getting me on the right track.

Answer 4

This works for me, cd to your vagrant then run

vagrant up
vagrant ssh

vagrant@yourvagrant: sudo chown -R testuser:testuser /var/www/ or whatever folder you want to upload your files

and in you Vagrantfile, add

# we create add script to upload folder to a vagrant guest from local file
config.vm.provision :file, source: '/wamp/www/ian_loans', destination:  "/var/www/solidbond"

just replace the file directory to your needs.Exit and and don't forget to run in your vagrant directory

vagrant provision

finally go to your Ubuntu directory and see if the file you want to upload is there.

vagrant@yourvagrant: cd /var/your file directory

Answer 5

You can use file provisioner, as others had mentioned but it's still worth noting that it's possible to use a synced folder functionality with type set to rsync: http://docs.vagrantup.com/v2/synced-folders/rsync.html:

Vagrant can use rsync as a mechanism to sync a folder to the guest machine. This synced folder type is useful primarily in situations where other synced folder mechanisms are not available, such as when NFS or VirtualBox shared folders aren't available in the guest machine.

The rsync synced folder does a one-time one-way sync from the machine running to the machine being started by Vagrant.

On the first vagrant up syncing happens before provisioners are executed. Sample configuration in Vagrantfile would look like this:

config.vm.synced_folder "upload/", "/home/vagrant", type: "rsync"

Answer 6

This is a little old but I'll throw another answer in here for entire directory structures for Windows users using PowerShell.

First, create a Powershell script that copies over an entire folder structure from a shared folder.

#Check if the directory you're copying already exists on the VM
$foldercheck = "path\to\folder\on\vm"
if (test-path $foldercheck)
{
    Write-Host "Folder 'path\to\folder\on\vm' already exists..."
}
else {
    #Create the new directory
    New-Item -ItemType Directory -Force -Path "path\to\folder\on\vm"

    #Copy over contents to the directory
    Copy-Item "\\VBOXSRV\<share_name>\path\to\folder\to\copy\*" -Destination "path\to\folder\on\vm" -recurse
}

Then, configure your Vagrantfile to automount a sharedfolder, copy over PowerShell scripts, and then run them in the order specified.

Vagrant.configure(2) do |config|
    config.vm.provider "virtualbox" do |vb|
        # Other settings
        # ...
        # Add shared folders
        vb.customize ["sharedfolder", "add", :id, "--name", "<share_name>", "--hostpath", "path/to/host/folder/location", "--automount"]
    end
    # =================================================================
    # PROVISIONING
    # =================================================================
    # Load up the files to the Guest environment for use by PowerShell
    config.vm.provision "file", source: "path/to/provisioning/files/powershellfile.ps1", destination: "path/to/temporary/location/powershellfile.ps1"
    # Rinse/repeat for additional provisioning files

    # Now provision files in the order they are specified
    config.vm.provision "shell", inline: "path/to/temporary/location/powershellfile.ps1"
    # Rinse/repeat to run PowerShell scripts
end