Install of Executable Package inside Chef Cookbook

Question

On some of the networks that we will be provisioning the software/configuration of our applications they are closed and do not have access to the internet. Additionally, all our clients have different networks, drive layouts and so on, so there is no central location that we can use to obtain the installer packages, such as jdk-8u172-windows-x64.exe for installing Java 8 on Windows.

To get around this, I would like to put the exe/msi files within the cookbook and reference them directly. I thought I found a way to do this by putting the exe in an assets folder under the cookbook and referencing the files inside that folder, but it doesn't appear to be enough.

jdk_package = 'jdk-8u172-windows-x64.exe'
jdk_identifier = File.basename( jdk_package, File.extname( jdk_package ) )
jdk_package_installer = File.join( Chef::Config[:file_cache_path], 'cookbooks', cookbook_name, 'assets', jdk_package )

java_attr = node['myapp']['java']
jdk_home = java_attr['jdk_home']
jre_home = java_attr['jre_home']

jdk_package_install_log = java_attr['install_log']
jdk_package_options = "/s ADDLOCAL=\"ToolsFeature,SourceFeature,PublicjreFeature\" INSTALLDIR=\"#{jdk_home}\" /INSTALLDIRPUBJRE=\"#{jre_home}\" /L \"#{jdk_package_install_log}\""

jdk_java_executable = File.expand_path( File.join('bin', 'java.exe'), jdk_home )
jre_java_executable = File.expand_path( File.join('bin', 'java.exe'), jre_home )

windows_package jdk_identifier do
  source jdk_package_installer
  options jdk_package_options
  installer_type :custom
  action :install
end

Unfortunately, when it runs I get a problem as the exe file cannot be found.

mynode.local   * windows_package[jdk-8u172-windows-x64] action install[2018-09-13T18:28:00+01:00] INFO: Processing windows_package[jdk-8u172-windows-x64] action install (oracle_java8::default line 35)
mynode.local
mynode.local     * Source for package jdk-8u172-windows-x64 does not exist
mynode.local     ================================================================================
mynode.local     Error executing action `install` on resource 'windows_package[jdk-8u172-windows-x64]'
mynode.local     ================================================================================
mynode.local
mynode.local     Chef::Exceptions::Package
mynode.local     -------------------------
mynode.local     Source for package jdk-8u172-windows-x64 does not exist
mynode.local
mynode.local     Resource Declaration:
mynode.local     ---------------------
mynode.local     # In c:/chef/cache/cookbooks/oracle_java8/recipes/default.rb
mynode.local
mynode.local      35: windows_package jdk_identifier do
mynode.local      36:   source jdk_package_installer
mynode.local      37:   options jdk_package_options
mynode.local      38:   installer_type :custom
mynode.local      39:   action :install
mynode.local      40: end
mynode.local
mynode.local     Compiled Resource:
mynode.local     ------------------
mynode.local     # Declared in c:/chef/cache/cookbooks/oracle_java8/recipes/default.rb:35:in `from_file'
mynode.local
mynode.local     windows_package("jdk-8u172-windows-x64") do
mynode.local       package_name "jdk-8u172-windows-x64"
mynode.local       action [:install]
mynode.local       default_guard_interpreter :default
mynode.local       declared_type :windows_package
mynode.local       cookbook_name "oracle_java8"
mynode.local       recipe_name "default"
mynode.local       source "c:\\chef\\cache\\cookbooks\\oracle_java8\\assets\\jdk-8u172-windows-x64.exe"
mynode.local       options "/s ADDLOCAL=\"ToolsFeature,SourceFeature,PublicjreFeature\" INSTALLDIR=\"D:/OT/jdk8\" /INSTALLDIRPUBJRE=\"D:/OT/jre8\" /L \"D:/OT/chef_install-oracle_java8.log\""
mynode.local       installer_type :custom
mynode.local     end
mynode.local
mynode.local     System Info:
mynode.local     ------------
mynode.local     chef_version=14.4.56
mynode.local     platform=windows
mynode.local     platform_version=10.0.14393
mynode.local     ruby=ruby 2.5.1p57 (2018-03-29 revision 63029) [x64-mingw32]
mynode.local     program_name=C:/opscode/chef/bin/chef-client
mynode.local     executable=C:/opscode/chef/bin/chef-client
mynode.local
mynode.local [2018-09-13T18:28:00+01:00] INFO: Running queued delayed notifications before re-raising exception
mynode.local
mynode.local Running handlers:
mynode.local [2018-09-13T18:28:00+01:00] ERROR: Running exception handlers
mynode.local Running handlers complete
mynode.local [2018-09-13T18:28:00+01:00] ERROR: Exception handlers complete
mynode.local Chef Client failed. 12 resources updated in 06 seconds
mynode.local [2018-09-13T18:28:00+01:00] INFO: Sending resource update report (run-id: ce69a476-b437-4462-bb18-c50659326e40)
mynode.local [2018-09-13T18:28:00+01:00] FATAL: Stacktrace dumped to c:/chef/cache/chef-stacktrace.out
mynode.local [2018-09-13T18:28:00+01:00] FATAL: Please provide the contents of the stacktrace.out file if you file a bug report
mynode.local [2018-09-13T18:28:00+01:00] FATAL: Chef::Exceptions::Package: windows_package[jdk-8u172-windows-x64] (oracle_java8::default line 35) had an error: Chef::Exceptions::Package: Source for package jdk-8u172-windows-x64 does not exist
ERROR: Failed to execute command on mynode.local return code 1

I presume this is to do with the way Chef lazy loads files.

Is there a way to force Chef to load it or a better way to package the installers within cookbooks?

Answer 1

Ok, it wasn't too hard in the end. I just had to stick to conventions.

Instead of creating a custom named assets folder, simply use the cookbook/files/default subfolder. This is the same folder that has files added to it when running the command chef generate file <filename>.

I placed the executable into the cookbook/files/default directory and then I modified my script to refer to that file location instead. i.e.

jdk_package_installer = File.join( Chef::Config[:file_cache_path], 'cookbooks', cookbook_name, 'files', 'default', jdk_package )

It's then executed from within the C:\chef\cache folders on the node directly.