# Cooking Utensils

**URL:** <https://discourse.chef.io/t/cooking-utensils/3982>\
**Category:** Chef Infra (archive)\
**Created:** [May 20, 2013, 5:54pm UTC](https://discourse.chef.io/t/cooking-utensils/3982 "2013-05-20T17:54:55Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 11\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Morgan\_Blackthorne](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.chef.io/morgan_blackthorne/32/100_2.png) [@Morgan\_Blackthorne](https://discourse.chef.io/u/Morgan_Blackthorne)\
**Post date:** [May 20, 2013, 5:54pm UTC](https://discourse.chef.io/t/cooking-utensils/3982/1 "2013-05-20T17:54:55Z")

</div>

I know that there’s a keychain of an ecosystem built up around Chef. What I  
don’t really know is what the various parts are for. I see a bunch of them  
mentioned on the list, on IRC, and occasionally git commits.

Is there, or could there be, a page on the Chef wiki that talks about tools  
related to Chef. Off the top of my head, it would include:

- Berkshelf
- test-kitchen
- food-critic
- many more that I’m forgetting in my pain and Ambien haze…

Having a short description of what it does and where to get it would be  
awesome.

–  
~_~ StormeRider ~_~

“Every world needs its heroes […] They inspire us to be better than we  
are. And they protect from the darkness that’s just around the corner.”

(from Smallville Season 6x1: “Zod”)

On why I hate the phrase “that’s so lame”… [http://bit.ly/Ps3uSS](http://bit.ly/Ps3uSS)

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Ranjib](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.chef.io/ranjib/32/1040_2.png) [@Ranjib](https://discourse.chef.io/u/Ranjib)\
**Post date:** [May 20, 2013, 6:30pm UTC](https://discourse.chef.io/t/cooking-utensils/3982/2 "2013-05-20T18:30:48Z")

</div>

berkshelf - think of this as bundler or a package manager (like yum) [i know oversimplified]. It reads a file where you describe what cookbooks u  
need (with version) and from where to get them (chef servers, git repos,  
local files etc), it does the grabbing and assembling part of you ,  
additionally it can also upload all of the cookbooks to a chef server.  
test-kitchen - an integration testing framework. You can write you tests,  
and then use test-kitchen to run them against multiple platform (aka  
operating system). Test kitchen also reads a file (.kitech.yaml) where you  
specify what to run in each platform etc.

foodcritic - a lint tool. which check common styling errors against a  
predefined set of rules. this is not testing but more of style check (some  
of the checks strongly suggest there is a bug).

i think chef-docs has a glossary .. if plase feel free to drop mails in the  
list, this will also serve as feedback for the docsite,  
ranjib

On Mon, May 20, 2013 at 10:54 AM, Morgan Blackthorne  
[stormerider@gmail.com](mailto:stormerider@gmail.com)wrote:

> I know that there's a keychain of an ecosystem built up around Chef. What  
> I don't really know is what the various parts are for. I see a bunch of  
> them mentioned on the list, on IRC, and occasionally git commits.
> 
> Is there, or could there be, a page on the Chef wiki that talks about  
> tools related to Chef. Off the top of my head, it would include:
> 
> - Berkshelf
> - test-kitchen
> - food-critic
> - many more that I'm forgetting in my pain and Ambien haze...
> 
> Having a short description of what it does and where to get it would be  
> awesome.
> 
> --  
> ~_~ StormeRider ~_~
> 
> "Every world needs its heroes [...] They inspire us to be better than we  
> are. And they protect from the darkness that's just around the corner."
> 
> (from Smallville Season 6x1: "Zod")
> 
> On why I hate the phrase "that's so lame"... [http://bit.ly/Ps3uSS](http://bit.ly/Ps3uSS)

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Mike](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.chef.io/mike/32/18_2.png) [@Mike](https://discourse.chef.io/u/Mike)\
**Post date:** [May 20, 2013, 6:53pm UTC](https://discourse.chef.io/t/cooking-utensils/3982/3 "2013-05-20T18:53:48Z")

</div>

I think Morgan is asking for people to list their toolset, not explain  
the ones referenced.

More of: "I use these tools in this manner" kind of thing.

On Mon, May 20, 2013 at 2:30 PM, Ranjib Dey [dey.ranjib@gmail.com](mailto:dey.ranjib@gmail.com) wrote:

> berkshelf - think of this as bundler or a package manager (like yum) [i know oversimplified]. It reads a file where you describe what cookbooks u need  
> (with version) and from where to get them (chef servers, git repos, local  
> files etc), it does the grabbing and assembling part of you , additionally  
> it can also upload all of the cookbooks to a chef server.  
> test-kitchen - an integration testing framework. You can write you tests,  
> and then use test-kitchen to run them against multiple platform (aka  
> operating system). Test kitchen also reads a file (.kitech.yaml) where you  
> specify what to run in each platform etc.
> 
> foodcritic - a lint tool. which check common styling errors against a  
> predefined set of rules. this is not testing but more of style check (some  
> of the checks strongly suggest there is a bug).
> 
> i think chef-docs has a glossary .. if plase feel free to drop mails in the  
> list, this will also serve as feedback for the docsite,  
> ranjib
> 
> On Mon, May 20, 2013 at 10:54 AM, Morgan Blackthorne [stormerider@gmail.com](mailto:stormerider@gmail.com)  
> wrote:
> 
> > I know that there's a keychain of an ecosystem built up around Chef. What  
> > I don't really know is what the various parts are for. I see a bunch of them  
> > mentioned on the list, on IRC, and occasionally git commits.
> > 
> > Is there, or could there be, a page on the Chef wiki that talks about  
> > tools related to Chef. Off the top of my head, it would include:
> > 
> > Berkshelf  
> > test-kitchen  
> > food-critic  
> > many more that I'm forgetting in my pain and Ambien haze...
> > 
> > Having a short description of what it does and where to get it would be  
> > awesome.
> > 
> > --  
> > ~_~ StormeRider ~_~
> > 
> > "Every world needs its heroes [...] They inspire us to be better than we  
> > are. And they protect from the darkness that's just around the corner."
> > 
> > (from Smallville Season 6x1: "Zod")
> > 
> > On why I hate the phrase "that's so lame"... [http://bit.ly/Ps3uSS](http://bit.ly/Ps3uSS)

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Ranjib](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.chef.io/ranjib/32/1040_2.png) [@Ranjib](https://discourse.chef.io/u/Ranjib)\
**Post date:** [May 20, 2013, 6:58pm UTC](https://discourse.chef.io/t/cooking-utensils/3982/4 "2013-05-20T18:58:21Z")

</div>

oh.. sorry  
home page of the doc categorized and enlists most of them, workflows  
tools, knife plugins, and many more.

[http://docs.opscode.com/](http://docs.opscode.com/)

e.g. chef community -\> development tools

does this answer the question ?

On Mon, May 20, 2013 at 11:53 AM, Mike [miketheman@gmail.com](mailto:miketheman@gmail.com) wrote:

> I think Morgan is asking for people to list their toolset, not explain  
> the ones referenced.
> 
> More of: "I use these tools in this manner" kind of thing.
> 
> On Mon, May 20, 2013 at 2:30 PM, Ranjib Dey [dey.ranjib@gmail.com](mailto:dey.ranjib@gmail.com) wrote:
> 
> > berkshelf - think of this as bundler or a package manager (like yum) [i know oversimplified]. It reads a file where you describe what cookbooks u need  
> > (with version) and from where to get them (chef servers, git repos, local  
> > files etc), it does the grabbing and assembling part of you ,  
> > additionally  
> > it can also upload all of the cookbooks to a chef server.  
> > test-kitchen - an integration testing framework. You can write you tests,  
> > and then use test-kitchen to run them against multiple platform (aka  
> > operating system). Test kitchen also reads a file (.kitech.yaml) where  
> > you  
> > specify what to run in each platform etc.
> > 
> > foodcritic - a lint tool. which check common styling errors against a  
> > predefined set of rules. this is not testing but more of style check  
> > (some  
> > of the checks strongly suggest there is a bug).
> > 
> > i think chef-docs has a glossary .. if plase feel free to drop mails in  
> > the  
> > list, this will also serve as feedback for the docsite,  
> > ranjib
> > 
> > On Mon, May 20, 2013 at 10:54 AM, Morgan Blackthorne \<  
> > [stormerider@gmail.com](mailto:stormerider@gmail.com)\>  
> > wrote:
> > 
> > > I know that there's a keychain of an ecosystem built up around Chef.  
> > > What  
> > > I don't really know is what the various parts are for. I see a bunch of  
> > > them  
> > > mentioned on the list, on IRC, and occasionally git commits.
> > > 
> > > Is there, or could there be, a page on the Chef wiki that talks about  
> > > tools related to Chef. Off the top of my head, it would include:
> > > 
> > > Berkshelf  
> > > test-kitchen  
> > > food-critic  
> > > many more that I'm forgetting in my pain and Ambien haze...
> > > 
> > > Having a short description of what it does and where to get it would be  
> > > awesome.
> > > 
> > > --  
> > > ~_~ StormeRider ~_~
> > > 
> > > "Every world needs its heroes [...] They inspire us to be better than we  
> > > are. And they protect from the darkness that's just around the corner."
> > > 
> > > (from Smallville Season 6x1: "Zod")
> > > 
> > > On why I hate the phrase "that's so lame"... [http://bit.ly/Ps3uSS](http://bit.ly/Ps3uSS)

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Morgan\_Blackthorne](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.chef.io/morgan_blackthorne/32/100_2.png) [@Morgan\_Blackthorne](https://discourse.chef.io/u/Morgan_Blackthorne)\
**Post date:** [May 20, 2013, 7:24pm UTC](https://discourse.chef.io/t/cooking-utensils/3982/5 "2013-05-20T19:24:52Z")

</div>

Aha, yes, that's exactly what I was looking for. And I didn't even realize  
that site existed-- I've seen [tickets.opscode.com](http://tickets.opscode.com), [Configuration Management System Software - Chef Infra | Chef](http://www.opscode.com/chef),  
[cookbooks.opscode.com](http://cookbooks.opscode.com), and [wiki.opscode.com](http://wiki.opscode.com)... I never saw a link to  
[docs.opscode.com](http://docs.opscode.com) before. Looking at it now, is it just me, or is there a  
lot of overlap between it and the wiki? I'm a little confused as to the  
point of each of the two of them, since they both offer documentation and  
in some cases, document the same exact thing.

If d.o.c is more of an API-level documentation, then I could see that, but  
then I'd wonder if that could then be embedded into the wiki so that  
there's only one place to update and everything would always be in sync.  
OTOH, I know the Opscode folks have been revamping the site a lot lately  
(and I'm liking the new themes, btw!) so maybe this is part of the  
reorganization and duplication isn't something to be concerned about 🙂

--  
~_~ StormeRider ~_~

"Every world needs its heroes [...] They inspire us to be better than we  
are. And they protect from the darkness that's just around the corner."

(from Smallville Season 6x1: "Zod")

On why I hate the phrase "that's so lame"... [http://bit.ly/Ps3uSS](http://bit.ly/Ps3uSS)

On Mon, May 20, 2013 at 11:58 AM, Ranjib Dey [dey.ranjib@gmail.com](mailto:dey.ranjib@gmail.com) wrote:

> oh.. sorry  
> home page of the doc categorized and enlists most of them, workflows  
> tools, knife plugins, and many more.
> 
> [http://docs.opscode.com/](http://docs.opscode.com/)
> 
> e.g. chef community -\> development tools
> 
> does this answer the question ?
> 
> On Mon, May 20, 2013 at 11:53 AM, Mike [miketheman@gmail.com](mailto:miketheman@gmail.com) wrote:
> 
> > I think Morgan is asking for people to list their toolset, not explain  
> > the ones referenced.
> > 
> > More of: "I use these tools in this manner" kind of thing.
> > 
> > On Mon, May 20, 2013 at 2:30 PM, Ranjib Dey [dey.ranjib@gmail.com](mailto:dey.ranjib@gmail.com) wrote:
> > 
> > > berkshelf - think of this as bundler or a package manager (like yum) [i know oversimplified]. It reads a file where you describe what cookbooks u  
> > > need  
> > > (with version) and from where to get them (chef servers, git repos,  
> > > local  
> > > files etc), it does the grabbing and assembling part of you ,  
> > > additionally  
> > > it can also upload all of the cookbooks to a chef server.  
> > > test-kitchen - an integration testing framework. You can write you  
> > > tests,  
> > > and then use test-kitchen to run them against multiple platform (aka  
> > > operating system). Test kitchen also reads a file (.kitech.yaml) where  
> > > you  
> > > specify what to run in each platform etc.
> > > 
> > > foodcritic - a lint tool. which check common styling errors against a  
> > > predefined set of rules. this is not testing but more of style check  
> > > (some  
> > > of the checks strongly suggest there is a bug).
> > > 
> > > i think chef-docs has a glossary .. if plase feel free to drop mails in  
> > > the  
> > > list, this will also serve as feedback for the docsite,  
> > > ranjib
> > > 
> > > On Mon, May 20, 2013 at 10:54 AM, Morgan Blackthorne \<  
> > > [stormerider@gmail.com](mailto:stormerider@gmail.com)\>  
> > > wrote:
> > > 
> > > > I know that there's a keychain of an ecosystem built up around Chef.  
> > > > What  
> > > > I don't really know is what the various parts are for. I see a bunch  
> > > > of them  
> > > > mentioned on the list, on IRC, and occasionally git commits.
> > > > 
> > > > Is there, or could there be, a page on the Chef wiki that talks about  
> > > > tools related to Chef. Off the top of my head, it would include:
> > > > 
> > > > Berkshelf  
> > > > test-kitchen  
> > > > food-critic  
> > > > many more that I'm forgetting in my pain and Ambien haze...
> > > > 
> > > > Having a short description of what it does and where to get it would be  
> > > > awesome.
> > > > 
> > > > --  
> > > > ~_~ StormeRider ~_~
> > > > 
> > > > "Every world needs its heroes [...] They inspire us to be better than  
> > > > we  
> > > > are. And they protect from the darkness that's just around the corner."
> > > > 
> > > > (from Smallville Season 6x1: "Zod")
> > > > 
> > > > On why I hate the phrase "that's so lame"... [http://bit.ly/Ps3uSS](http://bit.ly/Ps3uSS)

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Cassiano\_Leal](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.chef.io/cassiano_leal/32/86_2.png) [@Cassiano\_Leal](https://discourse.chef.io/u/Cassiano_Leal)\
**Post date:** [May 20, 2013, 7:36pm UTC](https://discourse.chef.io/t/cooking-utensils/3982/6 "2013-05-20T19:36:13Z")

</div>

docs is the new wiki 🙂

Not really because it's not a wiki, but as I understand it came to life to deprecate the wiki and provide better documentation.

I turn over to docs all the time, it's great.

- cassiano

On Monday, May 20, 2013 at 16:24, Morgan Blackthorne wrote:

> Aha, yes, that's exactly what I was looking for. And I didn't even realize that site existed-- I've seen [tickets.opscode.com](http://tickets.opscode.com) ([http://tickets.opscode.com](http://tickets.opscode.com)), [Configuration Management System Software - Chef Infra | Chef](http://www.opscode.com/chef) ([Configuration Management System Software - Chef Infra | Chef](http://www.opscode.com/chef)), [cookbooks.opscode.com](http://cookbooks.opscode.com) ([http://cookbooks.opscode.com](http://cookbooks.opscode.com)), and [wiki.opscode.com](http://wiki.opscode.com) ([http://wiki.opscode.com](http://wiki.opscode.com))... I never saw a link to [docs.opscode.com](http://docs.opscode.com) ([http://docs.opscode.com](http://docs.opscode.com)) before. Looking at it now, is it just me, or is there a lot of overlap between it and the wiki? I'm a little confused as to the point of each of the two of them, since they both offer documentation and in some cases, document the same exact thing.
> 
> If d.o.c is more of an API-level documentation, then I could see that, but then I'd wonder if that could then be embedded into the wiki so that there's only one place to update and everything would always be in sync. OTOH, I know the Opscode folks have been revamping the site a lot lately (and I'm liking the new themes, btw!) so maybe this is part of the reorganization and duplication isn't something to be concerned about 🙂
> 
> --  
> ~_~ StormeRider ~_~
> 
> "Every world needs its heroes [...] They inspire us to be better than we are. And they protect from the darkness that's just around the corner."
> 
> (from Smallville Season 6x1: "Zod")
> 
> On why I hate the phrase "that's so lame"... [http://bit.ly/Ps3uSS](http://bit.ly/Ps3uSS)
> 
> On Mon, May 20, 2013 at 11:58 AM, Ranjib Dey \<[dey.ranjib@gmail.com](mailto:dey.ranjib@gmail.com) ([mailto:dey.ranjib@gmail.com](mailto:dey.ranjib@gmail.com))\> wrote:
> 
> > oh.. sorry  
> > home page of the doc categorized and enlists most of them, workflows tools, knife plugins, and many more.
> > 
> > [http://docs.opscode.com/](http://docs.opscode.com/)
> > 
> > e.g. chef community -\> development tools
> > 
> > does this answer the question ?
> > 
> > On Mon, May 20, 2013 at 11:53 AM, Mike \<[miketheman@gmail.com](mailto:miketheman@gmail.com) ([mailto:miketheman@gmail.com](mailto:miketheman@gmail.com))\> wrote:
> > 
> > > I think Morgan is asking for people to list their toolset, not explain  
> > > the ones referenced.
> > > 
> > > More of: "I use these tools in this manner" kind of thing.
> > > 
> > > On Mon, May 20, 2013 at 2:30 PM, Ranjib Dey \<[dey.ranjib@gmail.com](mailto:dey.ranjib@gmail.com) ([mailto:dey.ranjib@gmail.com](mailto:dey.ranjib@gmail.com))\> wrote:
> > > 
> > > > berkshelf - think of this as bundler or a package manager (like yum) [i know oversimplified]. It reads a file where you describe what cookbooks u need  
> > > > (with version) and from where to get them (chef servers, git repos, local  
> > > > files etc), it does the grabbing and assembling part of you , additionally  
> > > > it can also upload all of the cookbooks to a chef server.  
> > > > test-kitchen - an integration testing framework. You can write you tests,  
> > > > and then use test-kitchen to run them against multiple platform (aka  
> > > > operating system). Test kitchen also reads a file (.kitech.yaml) where you  
> > > > specify what to run in each platform etc.
> > > > 
> > > > foodcritic - a lint tool. which check common styling errors against a  
> > > > predefined set of rules. this is not testing but more of style check (some  
> > > > of the checks strongly suggest there is a bug).
> > > > 
> > > > i think chef-docs has a glossary .. if plase feel free to drop mails in the  
> > > > list, this will also serve as feedback for the docsite,  
> > > > ranjib
> > > > 
> > > > On Mon, May 20, 2013 at 10:54 AM, Morgan Blackthorne \<[stormerider@gmail.com](mailto:stormerider@gmail.com) ([mailto:stormerider@gmail.com](mailto:stormerider@gmail.com))\>  
> > > > wrote:
> > > > 
> > > > > I know that there's a keychain of an ecosystem built up around Chef. What  
> > > > > I don't really know is what the various parts are for. I see a bunch of them  
> > > > > mentioned on the list, on IRC, and occasionally git commits.
> > > > > 
> > > > > Is there, or could there be, a page on the Chef wiki that talks about  
> > > > > tools related to Chef. Off the top of my head, it would include:
> > > > > 
> > > > > Berkshelf  
> > > > > test-kitchen  
> > > > > food-critic  
> > > > > many more that I'm forgetting in my pain and Ambien haze...
> > > > > 
> > > > > Having a short description of what it does and where to get it would be  
> > > > > awesome.
> > > > > 
> > > > > --  
> > > > > ~_~ StormeRider ~_~
> > > > > 
> > > > > "Every world needs its heroes [...] They inspire us to be better than we  
> > > > > are. And they protect from the darkness that's just around the corner."
> > > > > 
> > > > > (from Smallville Season 6x1: "Zod")
> > > > > 
> > > > > On why I hate the phrase "that's so lame"... [http://bit.ly/Ps3uSS](http://bit.ly/Ps3uSS)

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Ranjib](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.chef.io/ranjib/32/1040_2.png) [@Ranjib](https://discourse.chef.io/u/Ranjib)\
**Post date:** [May 20, 2013, 7:36pm UTC](https://discourse.chef.io/t/cooking-utensils/3982/7 "2013-05-20T19:36:59Z")

</div>

the wiki is being migrated into docs (iirc)

On Mon, May 20, 2013 at 12:24 PM, Morgan Blackthorne  
[stormerider@gmail.com](mailto:stormerider@gmail.com)wrote:

> Aha, yes, that's exactly what I was looking for. And I didn't even realize  
> that site existed-- I've seen [tickets.opscode.com](http://tickets.opscode.com), [Configuration Management System Software - Chef Infra | Chef](http://www.opscode.com/chef),  
> [cookbooks.opscode.com](http://cookbooks.opscode.com), and [wiki.opscode.com](http://wiki.opscode.com)... I never saw a link to  
> [docs.opscode.com](http://docs.opscode.com) before. Looking at it now, is it just me, or is there a  
> lot of overlap between it and the wiki? I'm a little confused as to the  
> point of each of the two of them, since they both offer documentation and  
> in some cases, document the same exact thing.
> 
> If d.o.c is more of an API-level documentation, then I could see that, but  
> then I'd wonder if that could then be embedded into the wiki so that  
> there's only one place to update and everything would always be in sync.  
> OTOH, I know the Opscode folks have been revamping the site a lot lately  
> (and I'm liking the new themes, btw!) so maybe this is part of the  
> reorganization and duplication isn't something to be concerned about 🙂
> 
> --  
> ~_~ StormeRider ~_~
> 
> "Every world needs its heroes [...] They inspire us to be better than we  
> are. And they protect from the darkness that's just around the corner."
> 
> (from Smallville Season 6x1: "Zod")
> 
> On why I hate the phrase "that's so lame"... [http://bit.ly/Ps3uSS](http://bit.ly/Ps3uSS)
> 
> On Mon, May 20, 2013 at 11:58 AM, Ranjib Dey [dey.ranjib@gmail.com](mailto:dey.ranjib@gmail.com) wrote:
> 
> > oh.. sorry  
> > home page of the doc categorized and enlists most of them, workflows  
> > tools, knife plugins, and many more.
> > 
> > [http://docs.opscode.com/](http://docs.opscode.com/)
> > 
> > e.g. chef community -\> development tools
> > 
> > does this answer the question ?
> > 
> > On Mon, May 20, 2013 at 11:53 AM, Mike [miketheman@gmail.com](mailto:miketheman@gmail.com) wrote:
> > 
> > > I think Morgan is asking for people to list their toolset, not explain  
> > > the ones referenced.
> > > 
> > > More of: "I use these tools in this manner" kind of thing.
> > > 
> > > On Mon, May 20, 2013 at 2:30 PM, Ranjib Dey [dey.ranjib@gmail.com](mailto:dey.ranjib@gmail.com)  
> > > wrote:
> > > 
> > > > berkshelf - think of this as bundler or a package manager (like yum)  
> > > > [i know oversimplified]. It reads a file where you describe what cookbooks u  
> > > > need  
> > > > (with version) and from where to get them (chef servers, git repos,  
> > > > local  
> > > > files etc), it does the grabbing and assembling part of you ,  
> > > > additionally  
> > > > it can also upload all of the cookbooks to a chef server.  
> > > > test-kitchen - an integration testing framework. You can write you  
> > > > tests,  
> > > > and then use test-kitchen to run them against multiple platform (aka  
> > > > operating system). Test kitchen also reads a file (.kitech.yaml) where  
> > > > you  
> > > > specify what to run in each platform etc.
> > > > 
> > > > foodcritic - a lint tool. which check common styling errors against a  
> > > > predefined set of rules. this is not testing but more of style check  
> > > > (some  
> > > > of the checks strongly suggest there is a bug).
> > > > 
> > > > i think chef-docs has a glossary .. if plase feel free to drop mails  
> > > > in the  
> > > > list, this will also serve as feedback for the docsite,  
> > > > ranjib
> > > > 
> > > > On Mon, May 20, 2013 at 10:54 AM, Morgan Blackthorne \<  
> > > > [stormerider@gmail.com](mailto:stormerider@gmail.com)\>  
> > > > wrote:
> > > > 
> > > > > I know that there's a keychain of an ecosystem built up around Chef.  
> > > > > What  
> > > > > I don't really know is what the various parts are for. I see a bunch  
> > > > > of them  
> > > > > mentioned on the list, on IRC, and occasionally git commits.
> > > > > 
> > > > > Is there, or could there be, a page on the Chef wiki that talks about  
> > > > > tools related to Chef. Off the top of my head, it would include:
> > > > > 
> > > > > Berkshelf  
> > > > > test-kitchen  
> > > > > food-critic  
> > > > > many more that I'm forgetting in my pain and Ambien haze...
> > > > > 
> > > > > Having a short description of what it does and where to get it would  
> > > > > be  
> > > > > awesome.
> > > > > 
> > > > > --  
> > > > > ~_~ StormeRider ~_~
> > > > > 
> > > > > "Every world needs its heroes [...] They inspire us to be better than  
> > > > > we  
> > > > > are. And they protect from the darkness that's just around the  
> > > > > corner."
> > > > > 
> > > > > (from Smallville Season 6x1: "Zod")
> > > > > 
> > > > > On why I hate the phrase "that's so lame"... [http://bit.ly/Ps3uSS](http://bit.ly/Ps3uSS)

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Mark\_Mzyk\_OLD2](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.chef.io/mark_mzyk_old2/32/368_2.png) [@Mark\_Mzyk\_OLD2](https://discourse.chef.io/u/Mark_Mzyk_OLD2)\
**Post date:** [May 20, 2013, 8:07pm UTC](https://discourse.chef.io/t/cooking-utensils/3982/8 "2013-05-20T20:07:13Z")

</div>

Yes, [docs.opscode.com](http://docs.opscode.com) is replacing the wiki. It is mostly being written  
by Opscode's tech writer, James Scott, who in my opinion is doing an  
awesome job (but I'm biased). It's all also on github, so you can send a  
PR if you see something that needs updating or adding:  
[GitHub - chef-boneyard/chef-web-docs-2016: DEPRECATED - All The Documentation](https://github.com/opscode/chef-docs)

If you haven't seen Learn Chef, be sure to check that out as well

> **[Learn Chef](https://learn.chef.io/)**
>
> A new way to learn: Chef, DevOps, and Automation skills. Expert instruction, on your terms. Fast, flexible, and free

Learn Chef contains tutorials as a compliment to the docs.

- Mark Mzyk, Opscode Dev

> Ranjib Dey [mailto:dey.ranjib@gmail.com](mailto:dey.ranjib@gmail.com)  
> May 20, 2013 3:36 PM  
> the wiki is being migrated into docs (iirc)
> 
> Morgan Blackthorne [mailto:stormerider@gmail.com](mailto:stormerider@gmail.com)  
> May 20, 2013 3:24 PM  
> Aha, yes, that's exactly what I was looking for. And I didn't even  
> realize that site existed-- I've seen [tickets.opscode.com](http://tickets.opscode.com)  
> [http://tickets.opscode.com](http://tickets.opscode.com), [Configuration Management System Software - Chef Infra | Chef](http://www.opscode.com/chef)  
> [http://www.opscode.com/chef](http://www.opscode.com/chef), [cookbooks.opscode.com](http://cookbooks.opscode.com)  
> [http://cookbooks.opscode.com](http://cookbooks.opscode.com), and [wiki.opscode.com](http://wiki.opscode.com)... I never saw a  
> link to [docs.opscode.com](http://docs.opscode.com) [http://docs.opscode.com](http://docs.opscode.com) before. Looking at  
> it now, is it just me, or is there a lot of overlap between it and the  
> wiki? I'm a little confused as to the point of each of the two of  
> them, since they both offer documentation and in some cases, document  
> the same exact thing.
> 
> If d.o.c is more of an API-level documentation, then I could see that,  
> but then I'd wonder if that could then be embedded into the wiki so  
> that there's only one place to update and everything would always be  
> in sync. OTOH, I know the Opscode folks have been revamping the site a  
> lot lately (and I'm liking the new themes, btw!) so maybe this is part  
> of the reorganization and duplication isn't something to be concerned  
> about 🙂
> 
> --  
> ~_~ StormeRider ~_~
> 
> "Every world needs its heroes [...] They inspire us to be better than  
> we are. And they protect from the darkness that's just around the corner."
> 
> (from Smallville Season 6x1: "Zod")
> 
> On why I hate the phrase "that's so lame"... [http://bit.ly/Ps3uSS](http://bit.ly/Ps3uSS)
> 
> Ranjib Dey [mailto:dey.ranjib@gmail.com](mailto:dey.ranjib@gmail.com)  
> May 20, 2013 2:58 PM  
> oh.. sorry  
> home page of the doc categorized and enlists most of them, workflows  
> tools, knife plugins, and many more.
> 
> [http://docs.opscode.com/](http://docs.opscode.com/)
> 
> e.g. chef community -\> development tools
> 
> does this answer the question ?
> 
> Mike [mailto:miketheman@gmail.com](mailto:miketheman@gmail.com)  
> May 20, 2013 2:53 PM  
> I think Morgan is asking for people to list their toolset, not explain  
> the ones referenced.
> 
> More of: "I use these tools in this manner" kind of thing.  
> Ranjib Dey [mailto:dey.ranjib@gmail.com](mailto:dey.ranjib@gmail.com)  
> May 20, 2013 2:30 PM  
> berkshelf - think of this as bundler or a package manager (like yum)  
> [i know oversimplified]. It reads a file where you describe what  
> cookbooks u need (with version) and from where to get them (chef  
> servers, git repos, local files etc), it does the grabbing and  
> assembling part of you , additionally it can also upload all of the  
> cookbooks to a chef server.  
> test-kitchen - an integration testing framework. You can write you  
> tests, and then use test-kitchen to run them against multiple platform  
> (aka operating system). Test kitchen also reads a file (.kitech.yaml)  
> where you specify what to run in each platform etc.
> 
> foodcritic - a lint tool. which check common styling errors against a  
> predefined set of rules. this is not testing but more of style check  
> (some of the checks strongly suggest there is a bug).
> 
> i think chef-docs has a glossary .. if plase feel free to drop mails  
> in the list, this will also serve as feedback for the docsite,  
> ranjib

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Morgan\_Blackthorne](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.chef.io/morgan_blackthorne/32/100_2.png) [@Morgan\_Blackthorne](https://discourse.chef.io/u/Morgan_Blackthorne)\
**Post date:** [May 20, 2013, 8:12pm UTC](https://discourse.chef.io/t/cooking-utensils/3982/9 "2013-05-20T20:12:03Z")

</div>

Chef/Opscode keeps getting better 🙂

--  
~_~ StormeRider ~_~

"Every world needs its heroes [...] They inspire us to be better than we  
are. And they protect from the darkness that's just around the corner."

(from Smallville Season 6x1: "Zod")

On why I hate the phrase "that's so lame"... [http://bit.ly/Ps3uSS](http://bit.ly/Ps3uSS)

On Mon, May 20, 2013 at 1:07 PM, Mark Mzyk [mmzyk@programmersparadox.com](mailto:mmzyk@programmersparadox.com)wrote:

> Yes, [docs.opscode.com](http://docs.opscode.com) is replacing the wiki. It is mostly being written  
> by Opscode's tech writer, James Scott, who in my opinion is doing an  
> awesome job (but I'm biased). It's all also on github, so you can send a PR  
> if you see something that needs updating or adding:  
> [GitHub - chef-boneyard/chef-web-docs-2016: DEPRECATED - All The Documentation](https://github.com/opscode/chef-docs)
> 
> If you haven't seen Learn Chef, be sure to check that out as well  
> [https://learnchef.opscode.com/](https://learnchef.opscode.com/)
> 
> Learn Chef contains tutorials as a compliment to the docs.
> 
> - Mark Mzyk, Opscode Dev
> 
> If d.o.c is more of an API-level documentation, then I could see that, but  
> then I'd wonder if that could then be embedded into the wiki so that  
> there's only one place to update and everything would always be in sync.  
> OTOH, I know the Opscode folks have been revamping the site a lot lately  
> (and I'm liking the new themes, btw!) so maybe this is part of the  
> reorganization and duplication isn't something to be concerned about 🙂
> 
> --  
> ~_~ StormeRider ~_~
> 
> "Every world needs its heroes [...] They inspire us to be better than we  
> are. And they protect from the darkness that's just around the corner."
> 
> (from Smallville Season 6x1: "Zod")
> 
> On why I hate the phrase "that's so lame"... [http://bit.ly/Ps3uSS](http://bit.ly/Ps3uSS)
> 
> Ranjib Dey [dey.ranjib@gmail.com](mailto:dey.ranjib@gmail.com)  
> May 20, 2013 2:58 PM  
> oh.. sorry  
> home page of the doc categorized and enlists most of them, workflows  
> tools, knife plugins, and many more.
> 
> [http://docs.opscode.com/](http://docs.opscode.com/)
> 
> e.g. chef community -\> development tools
> 
> does this answer the question ?
> 
> Mike [miketheman@gmail.com](mailto:miketheman@gmail.com)  
> May 20, 2013 2:53 PM  
> I think Morgan is asking for people to list their toolset, not explain  
> the ones referenced.
> 
> More of: "I use these tools in this manner" kind of thing.  
> Ranjib Dey [dey.ranjib@gmail.com](mailto:dey.ranjib@gmail.com)  
> May 20, 2013 2:30 PM  
> berkshelf - think of this as bundler or a package manager (like yum) [i know oversimplified]. It reads a file where you describe what cookbooks u  
> need (with version) and from where to get them (chef servers, git repos,  
> local files etc), it does the grabbing and assembling part of you ,  
> additionally it can also upload all of the cookbooks to a chef server.  
> test-kitchen - an integration testing framework. You can write you tests,  
> and then use test-kitchen to run them against multiple platform (aka  
> operating system). Test kitchen also reads a file (.kitech.yaml) where you  
> specify what to run in each platform etc.
> 
> foodcritic - a lint tool. which check common styling errors against a  
> predefined set of rules. this is not testing but more of style check (some  
> of the checks strongly suggest there is a bug).
> 
> i think chef-docs has a glossary .. if plase feel free to drop mails in  
> the list, this will also serve as feedback for the docsite,  
> ranjib

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![steve](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.chef.io/steve/32/294_2.png) [@steve](https://discourse.chef.io/u/steve)\
**Post date:** [May 20, 2013, 9:57pm UTC](https://discourse.chef.io/t/cooking-utensils/3982/10 "2013-05-20T21:57:30Z")

</div>

Jason Fox seems to have tried to tackle this in ebook form, though the book  
is under construction:

> **[The Chef Survival Guide](https://leanpub.com/chef-survival-guide?utm_source=hn)**

Bits of it are on his blog:

> **[Never Stop Building - Crafting Wood with Japanese Techniques](https://www.neverstopbuilding.com/)**
>
> Timber frame and carpentry contractor trained in Japan to build traditional homes, entrance gates, shoji doors, tokonoma, and furniture. Based in Boulder, Colorado and available for installations throughout the world.

Whether you like the workflow or not, it seems to be a pretty good  
introduction to the individual components. (The bit on chefspec is as good  
a working introduction to writing unit tests for cookbooks as I've ever  
seen ... )

On Mon, May 20, 2013 at 1:12 PM, Morgan Blackthorne  
[stormerider@gmail.com](mailto:stormerider@gmail.com)wrote:

> Chef/Opscode keeps getting better 🙂
> 
> --  
> ~_~ StormeRider ~_~
> 
> "Every world needs its heroes [...] They inspire us to be better than we  
> are. And they protect from the darkness that's just around the corner."
> 
> (from Smallville Season 6x1: "Zod")
> 
> On why I hate the phrase "that's so lame"... [http://bit.ly/Ps3uSS](http://bit.ly/Ps3uSS)
> 
> On Mon, May 20, 2013 at 1:07 PM, Mark Mzyk [mmzyk@programmersparadox.com](mailto:mmzyk@programmersparadox.com)wrote:
> 
> > Yes, [docs.opscode.com](http://docs.opscode.com) is replacing the wiki. It is mostly being written  
> > by Opscode's tech writer, James Scott, who in my opinion is doing an  
> > awesome job (but I'm biased). It's all also on github, so you can send a PR  
> > if you see something that needs updating or adding:  
> > [GitHub - chef-boneyard/chef-web-docs-2016: DEPRECATED - All The Documentation](https://github.com/opscode/chef-docs)
> > 
> > If you haven't seen Learn Chef, be sure to check that out as well  
> > [https://learnchef.opscode.com/](https://learnchef.opscode.com/)
> > 
> > Learn Chef contains tutorials as a compliment to the docs.
> > 
> > - Mark Mzyk, Opscode Dev
> > 
> > If d.o.c is more of an API-level documentation, then I could see that,  
> > but then I'd wonder if that could then be embedded into the wiki so that  
> > there's only one place to update and everything would always be in sync.  
> > OTOH, I know the Opscode folks have been revamping the site a lot lately  
> > (and I'm liking the new themes, btw!) so maybe this is part of the  
> > reorganization and duplication isn't something to be concerned about 🙂
> > 
> > --  
> > ~_~ StormeRider ~_~
> > 
> > "Every world needs its heroes [...] They inspire us to be better than we  
> > are. And they protect from the darkness that's just around the corner."
> > 
> > (from Smallville Season 6x1: "Zod")
> > 
> > On why I hate the phrase "that's so lame"... [http://bit.ly/Ps3uSS](http://bit.ly/Ps3uSS)
> > 
> > Ranjib Dey [dey.ranjib@gmail.com](mailto:dey.ranjib@gmail.com)  
> > May 20, 2013 2:58 PM  
> > oh.. sorry  
> > home page of the doc categorized and enlists most of them, workflows  
> > tools, knife plugins, and many more.
> > 
> > [http://docs.opscode.com/](http://docs.opscode.com/)
> > 
> > e.g. chef community -\> development tools
> > 
> > does this answer the question ?
> > 
> > Mike [miketheman@gmail.com](mailto:miketheman@gmail.com)  
> > May 20, 2013 2:53 PM  
> > I think Morgan is asking for people to list their toolset, not explain  
> > the ones referenced.
> > 
> > More of: "I use these tools in this manner" kind of thing.  
> > Ranjib Dey [dey.ranjib@gmail.com](mailto:dey.ranjib@gmail.com)  
> > May 20, 2013 2:30 PM  
> > berkshelf - think of this as bundler or a package manager (like yum) [i know oversimplified]. It reads a file where you describe what cookbooks u  
> > need (with version) and from where to get them (chef servers, git repos,  
> > local files etc), it does the grabbing and assembling part of you ,  
> > additionally it can also upload all of the cookbooks to a chef server.  
> > test-kitchen - an integration testing framework. You can write you tests,  
> > and then use test-kitchen to run them against multiple platform (aka  
> > operating system). Test kitchen also reads a file (.kitech.yaml) where you  
> > specify what to run in each platform etc.
> > 
> > foodcritic - a lint tool. which check common styling errors against a  
> > predefined set of rules. this is not testing but more of style check (some  
> > of the checks strongly suggest there is a bug).
> > 
> > i think chef-docs has a glossary .. if plase feel free to drop mails in  
> > the list, this will also serve as feedback for the docsite,  
> > ranjib

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Morgan\_Blackthorne](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.chef.io/morgan_blackthorne/32/100_2.png) [@Morgan\_Blackthorne](https://discourse.chef.io/u/Morgan_Blackthorne)\
**Post date:** [May 21, 2013, 12:26pm UTC](https://discourse.chef.io/t/cooking-utensils/3982/11 "2013-05-21T12:26:52Z")

</div>

Thanks everyone for all the responses. I'm somewhat surprised to find this  
as I was dealing with a migraine and insomnia yesterday and didn't even  
remember writing this thread, but this is some pretty invaluable  
information. Adding that book to my to-buy list; I'm not sure if our  
environment is complex enough to necessitate a CI setup, but I'm curious to  
know more about the hows and whys of such a setup before I try making that  
decision. And if it makes sense to move forward with, doing so sooner than  
later will inevitably be easier.

I also find it somewhat amusing that the Opscode doc site can be acronymed  
as "d.o.c" 🙂

--  
~_~ StormeRider ~_~

"Every world needs its heroes [...] They inspire us to be better than we  
are. And they protect from the darkness that's just around the corner."

(from Smallville Season 6x1: "Zod")

On why I hate the phrase "that's so lame"... [http://bit.ly/Ps3uSS](http://bit.ly/Ps3uSS)

On Mon, May 20, 2013 at 2:57 PM, steve . [leftathome@gmail.com](mailto:leftathome@gmail.com) wrote:

> Jason Fox seems to have tried to tackle this in ebook form, though the  
> book is under construction:
> 
> [https://leanpub.com/chef-survival-guide?utm\_source=hn](https://leanpub.com/chef-survival-guide?utm_source=hn)
> 
> Bits of it are on his blog:
> 
> [http://neverstopbuilding.net/blog/categories/chef-broiler-plate/](http://neverstopbuilding.net/blog/categories/chef-broiler-plate/)
> 
> Whether you like the workflow or not, it seems to be a pretty good  
> introduction to the individual components. (The bit on chefspec is as good  
> a working introduction to writing unit tests for cookbooks as I've ever  
> seen ... )
> 
> On Mon, May 20, 2013 at 1:12 PM, Morgan Blackthorne \<[stormerider@gmail.com](mailto:stormerider@gmail.com)
> 
> > wrote:
> 
> > Chef/Opscode keeps getting better 🙂
> > 
> > --  
> > ~_~ StormeRider ~_~
> > 
> > "Every world needs its heroes [...] They inspire us to be better than we  
> > are. And they protect from the darkness that's just around the corner."
> > 
> > (from Smallville Season 6x1: "Zod")
> > 
> > On why I hate the phrase "that's so lame"... [http://bit.ly/Ps3uSS](http://bit.ly/Ps3uSS)
> > 
> > On Mon, May 20, 2013 at 1:07 PM, Mark Mzyk [mmzyk@programmersparadox.com](mailto:mmzyk@programmersparadox.com)wrote:
> > 
> > > Yes, [docs.opscode.com](http://docs.opscode.com) is replacing the wiki. It is mostly being written  
> > > by Opscode's tech writer, James Scott, who in my opinion is doing an  
> > > awesome job (but I'm biased). It's all also on github, so you can send a PR  
> > > if you see something that needs updating or adding:  
> > > [GitHub - chef-boneyard/chef-web-docs-2016: DEPRECATED - All The Documentation](https://github.com/opscode/chef-docs)
> > > 
> > > If you haven't seen Learn Chef, be sure to check that out as well  
> > > [https://learnchef.opscode.com/](https://learnchef.opscode.com/)
> > > 
> > > Learn Chef contains tutorials as a compliment to the docs.
> > > 
> > > - Mark Mzyk, Opscode Dev
> > > 
> > > If d.o.c is more of an API-level documentation, then I could see that,  
> > > but then I'd wonder if that could then be embedded into the wiki so that  
> > > there's only one place to update and everything would always be in sync.  
> > > OTOH, I know the Opscode folks have been revamping the site a lot lately  
> > > (and I'm liking the new themes, btw!) so maybe this is part of the  
> > > reorganization and duplication isn't something to be concerned about 🙂
> > > 
> > > --  
> > > ~_~ StormeRider ~_~
> > > 
> > > "Every world needs its heroes [...] They inspire us to be better than we  
> > > are. And they protect from the darkness that's just around the corner."
> > > 
> > > (from Smallville Season 6x1: "Zod")
> > > 
> > > On why I hate the phrase "that's so lame"... [http://bit.ly/Ps3uSS](http://bit.ly/Ps3uSS)
> > > 
> > > Ranjib Dey [dey.ranjib@gmail.com](mailto:dey.ranjib@gmail.com)  
> > > May 20, 2013 2:58 PM  
> > > oh.. sorry  
> > > home page of the doc categorized and enlists most of them, workflows  
> > > tools, knife plugins, and many more.
> > > 
> > > [http://docs.opscode.com/](http://docs.opscode.com/)
> > > 
> > > e.g. chef community -\> development tools
> > > 
> > > does this answer the question ?
> > > 
> > > Mike [miketheman@gmail.com](mailto:miketheman@gmail.com)  
> > > May 20, 2013 2:53 PM  
> > > I think Morgan is asking for people to list their toolset, not explain  
> > > the ones referenced.
> > > 
> > > More of: "I use these tools in this manner" kind of thing.  
> > > Ranjib Dey [dey.ranjib@gmail.com](mailto:dey.ranjib@gmail.com)  
> > > May 20, 2013 2:30 PM  
> > > berkshelf - think of this as bundler or a package manager (like yum) [i know oversimplified]. It reads a file where you describe what cookbooks u  
> > > need (with version) and from where to get them (chef servers, git repos,  
> > > local files etc), it does the grabbing and assembling part of you ,  
> > > additionally it can also upload all of the cookbooks to a chef server.  
> > > test-kitchen - an integration testing framework. You can write you  
> > > tests, and then use test-kitchen to run them against multiple platform (aka  
> > > operating system). Test kitchen also reads a file (.kitech.yaml) where you  
> > > specify what to run in each platform etc.
> > > 
> > > foodcritic - a lint tool. which check common styling errors against a  
> > > predefined set of rules. this is not testing but more of style check (some  
> > > of the checks strongly suggest there is a bug).
> > > 
> > > i think chef-docs has a glossary .. if plase feel free to drop mails in  
> > > the list, this will also serve as feedback for the docsite,  
> > > ranjib