cdist-type__install_file(7)

Overview

This cdist type allows you to create files, remove files and set file attributes on the target.

If the file already exists on the target, then if it is a:

regular file, and state is:

present: replace it with the source file if they are not equal

exists: do nothing

symlink: replace it with the source file

directory: replace it with the source file

One exception is that when state is pre-exists, an error is raised if the file would have been created otherwise (e.g. it is not present or not a regular file).

In any case, make sure that the file attributes are as specified.

Required parameters

None.

Optional parameters

state

'present', 'absent', 'exists' or 'pre-exists', defaults to 'present' where:

present: the file is exactly the one from source

absent: the file does not exist

exists: the file from source but only if it doesn't already exist

pre-exists: check that the file exists and is a regular file, but do not create or modify it

group: Group to chgrp to.

mode: Unix permissions, suitable for chmod.

owner: User to chown to.

source: If supplied, copy this file from the host running cdist to the target. If not supplied, an empty file or directory will be created. If source is '-' (dash), take what was written to stdin as the file content.

onchange: The code to run if file is modified.

Messages

chgrp <group>: Changed group membership

chown <owner>: Changed owner

chmod <mode>: Changed mode

create: Empty file was created (no --source specified)

remove: File exists, but state is absent, file will be removed by generated code.

upload: File was uploaded

Examples

# Create  /etc/cdist-configured as an empty file
__install_file /etc/cdist-configured
# The same thing
__install_file /etc/cdist-configured --state present
# Use __file from another type
__install_file /etc/issue --source "$__type/files/archlinux" --state present
# Delete existing file
__install_file /etc/cdist-configured --state absent
# Supply some more settings
__install_file /etc/shadow --source "$__type/files/shadow" \
   --owner root --group shadow --mode 0640 \
   --state present
# Provide a default file, but let the user change it
__install_file /home/frodo/.bashrc --source "/etc/skel/.bashrc" \
   --state exists \
   --owner frodo --mode 0600
# Check that the file is present, show an error when it is not
__install_file /etc/somefile --state pre-exists
# Take file content from stdin
__install_file /tmp/whatever --owner root --group root --mode 644 --source - << DONE
    Here goes the content for /tmp/whatever
DONE

Copying

Copyright (C) 2011-2013 Nico Schottelius. You can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or (at your option) any later version.

History

Debian 13 (Trixie): the text shown here
Debian 12 (Bookworm)
Debian 11 (Bullseye)
Debian 10 (Buster)
Debian 9 (Stretch)