On Friday, September 28, 2012 12:05:03 AM UTC-5, Stefan Schulte wrote: > > But it general determining the desired state (that's what puppet tries > to enforce) by looking at the current state (is the package installed?) > may not be the best design here. So why not finding out when the package > needs to be installed (e.g. because application X needs mysql) and then > enforce that rule by puppet? > > I agree. Where it can do so, it is usually better for Puppet to command than to inquire.
A situation such as the OP's, where Puppet has the power to command but you don't want to use it, often signals disorganized or conflicting administration of the affected system. That is, if the person writing the Puppet manifests knows whether the package is supposed to be installed, then it is better all-around to just manage it. If he does *not* know, then that's either because someone else is responsible (and doesn't / won't share -- an administration conflict), or because the information is just not recorded (i.e. disorganized administration). In fairness, both situations are fairly common, and the second, especially, is a hallmark of sites that do not (yet) use an automated configuration management system. John -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Puppet Users" group. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msg/puppet-users/-/dGJ5_cFPu8YJ. To post to this group, send email to puppet-users@googlegroups.com. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to puppet-users+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/puppet-users?hl=en.
