packer-cn/website/source/docs/provisioners/chef-solo.html.markdown

---
description: |
    The Chef solo Packer provisioner installs and configures software on machines
    built by Packer using chef-solo. Cookbooks can be uploaded from your local
    machine to the remote machine or remote paths can be used.
layout: docs
page_title: 'Chef-Solo Provisioner'
...

# Chef Solo Provisioner

Type: `chef-solo`

The Chef solo Packer provisioner installs and configures software on machines
built by Packer using [chef-solo](https://docs.chef.io/chef_solo.html).
Cookbooks can be uploaded from your local machine to the remote machine or
remote paths can be used.

The provisioner will even install Chef onto your machine if it isn't already
installed, using the official Chef installers provided by Chef Inc.

## Basic Example

The example below is fully functional and expects cookbooks in the "cookbooks"
directory relative to your working directory.

``` {.javascript}
{
  "type": "chef-solo",
  "cookbook_paths": ["cookbooks"]
}
```

## Configuration Reference

The reference of available configuration options is listed below. No
configuration is actually required, but at least `run_list` is recommended.

- `chef_environment` (string) - The name of the `chef_environment` sent to the
  Chef server. By default this is empty and will not use an environment

- `config_template` (string) - Path to a template that will be used for the Chef
  configuration file. By default Packer only sets configuration it needs to
  match the settings set in the provisioner configuration. If you need to set
  configurations that the Packer provisioner doesn't support, then you should
  use a custom configuration template. See the dedicated "Chef Configuration"
  section below for more details.

- `cookbook_paths` (array of strings) - This is an array of paths to "cookbooks"
  directories on your local filesystem. These will be uploaded to the remote
  machine in the directory specified by the `staging_directory`. By default,
  this is empty.

- `data_bags_path` (string) - The path to the "data\_bags" directory on your
  local filesystem. These will be uploaded to the remote machine in the
  directory specified by the `staging_directory`. By default, this is empty.

- `encrypted_data_bag_secret_path` (string) - The path to the file containing
  the secret for encrypted data bags. By default, this is empty, so no secret
  will be available.

- `environments_path` (string) - The path to the "environments" directory on
  your local filesystem. These will be uploaded to the remote machine in the
  directory specified by the `staging_directory`. By default, this is empty.

- `execute_command` (string) - The command used to execute Chef. This has
  various [configuration template
  variables](/docs/templates/configuration-templates.html) available. See below
  for more information.

- `install_command` (string) - The command used to install Chef. This has
  various [configuration template
  variables](/docs/templates/configuration-templates.html) available. See below
  for more information.

- `json` (object) - An arbitrary mapping of JSON that will be available as node
  attributes while running Chef.

- `prevent_sudo` (boolean) - By default, the configured commands that are
  executed to install and run Chef are executed with `sudo`. If this is true,
  then the sudo will be omitted.

- `remote_cookbook_paths` (array of strings) - A list of paths on the remote
  machine where cookbooks will already exist. These may exist from a previous
  provisioner or step. If specified, Chef will be configured to look for
  cookbooks here. By default, this is empty.

- `roles_path` (string) - The path to the "roles" directory on your
  local filesystem. These will be uploaded to the remote machine in the
  directory specified by the `staging_directory`. By default, this is empty.

- `run_list` (array of strings) - The [run
  list](https://docs.chef.io/run_lists.html) for Chef. By default this is empty.

- `skip_install` (boolean) - If true, Chef will not automatically be installed
  on the machine using the Chef omnibus installers.

- `staging_directory` (string) - This is the directory where all the
  configuration of Chef by Packer will be placed. By default this
  is "/tmp/packer-chef-solo". This directory doesn't need to exist but must have
  proper permissions so that the SSH user that Packer uses is able to create
  directories and write into this folder. If the permissions are not correct,
  use a shell provisioner prior to this to configure it properly.

## Chef Configuration

By default, Packer uses a simple Chef configuration file in order to set the
options specified for the provisioner. But Chef is a complex tool that supports
many configuration options. Packer allows you to specify a custom configuration
template if you'd like to set custom configurations.

The default value for the configuration template is:

``` {.liquid}
cookbook_path [{{.CookbookPaths}}]
```

This template is a [configuration
template](/docs/templates/configuration-templates.html) and has a set of
variables available to use:

- `ChefEnvironment` - The current enabled environment. Only non-empty if the
  environment path is set.
- `CookbookPaths` is the set of cookbook paths ready to embedded directly into a
  Ruby array to configure Chef.
- `DataBagsPath` is the path to the data bags folder.
- `EncryptedDataBagSecretPath` - The path to the encrypted data bag secret
- `EnvironmentsPath` - The path to the environments folder.
- `RolesPath` - The path to the roles folder.

## Execute Command

By default, Packer uses the following command (broken across multiple lines for
readability) to execute Chef:

``` {.liquid}
{{if .Sudo}}sudo {{end}}chef-solo \
  --no-color \
  -c {{.ConfigPath}} \
  -j {{.JsonPath}}
```

This command can be customized using the `execute_command` configuration. As you
can see from the default value above, the value of this configuration can
contain various template variables, defined below:

- `ConfigPath` - The path to the Chef configuration file. file.
- `JsonPath` - The path to the JSON attributes file for the node.
- `Sudo` - A boolean of whether to `sudo` the command or not, depending on the
  value of the `prevent_sudo` configuration.

## Install Command

By default, Packer uses the following command (broken across multiple lines for
readability) to install Chef. This command can be customized if you want to
install Chef in another way.

``` {.text}
curl -L https://www.chef.io/chef/install.sh | \
  {{if .Sudo}}sudo{{end}} bash
```

This command can be customized using the `install_command` configuration.