# Omnibus installer doesn't create /etc/chef?

**URL:** <https://discourse.chef.io/t/omnibus-installer-doesnt-create-etc-chef/2876>\
**Category:** Chef Infra (archive)\
**Created:** [June 26, 2012, 11:43am UTC](https://discourse.chef.io/t/omnibus-installer-doesnt-create-etc-chef/2876 "2012-06-26T11:43:34Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 8\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Jeremiah\_Snapp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/3bc359/32.png) [@Jeremiah\_Snapp](https://discourse.chef.io/u/Jeremiah_Snapp)\
**Post date:** [June 26, 2012, 11:43am UTC](https://discourse.chef.io/t/omnibus-installer-doesnt-create-etc-chef/2876/1 "2012-06-26T11:43:34Z")

</div>

Ohai chefs,

When I use the omnibus chef-client installer on Ubuntu 12.04 it doesn’t  
create the /etc/chef directory. Is that normal? It seems like it should  
create it for you.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Jeremiah\_Snapp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/3bc359/32.png) [@Jeremiah\_Snapp](https://discourse.chef.io/u/Jeremiah_Snapp)\
**Post date:** [June 26, 2012, 11:51am UTC](https://discourse.chef.io/t/omnibus-installer-doesnt-create-etc-chef/2876/2 "2012-06-26T11:51:12Z")

</div>

I also just installed chef via ruby gems and it didn't create /etc/chef  
either. Can that directory be added to the chef-client install procedures  
as a default?

Thanks,  
Jeremiah

On Tue, Jun 26, 2012 at 7:43 AM, Jeremiah Snapp [jeremiah.snapp@gmail.com](mailto:jeremiah.snapp@gmail.com)wrote:

> Ohai chefs,
> 
> When I use the omnibus chef-client installer on Ubuntu 12.04 it doesn't  
> create the /etc/chef directory. Is that normal? It seems like it should  
> create it for you.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Bryan\_McLellan](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.chef.io/bryan_mclellan/32/81_2.png) [@Bryan\_McLellan](https://discourse.chef.io/u/Bryan_McLellan)\
**Post date:** [June 26, 2012, 2:18pm UTC](https://discourse.chef.io/t/omnibus-installer-doesnt-create-etc-chef/2876/3 "2012-06-26T14:18:44Z")

</div>

There are many ways the /etc/chef directory gets created and it's  
always when chef is being configured.

'knife bootstrap' will create the appropriate directories over ssh or winrm.

The debian packaging configures the client using debconf and will  
create the appropriate directories.

On Tue, Jun 26, 2012 at 7:43 AM, Jeremiah Snapp  
[jeremiah.snapp@gmail.com](mailto:jeremiah.snapp@gmail.com) wrote:

> When I use the omnibus chef-client installer on Ubuntu 12.04 it doesn't  
> create the /etc/chef directory. Is that normal? It seems like it should  
> create it for you.

Omnibus creates /etc/chef when you configure Chef using

/opt/chef/setup.sh -v validation\_key -o hosted\_chef organization  
/opt/chef/setup.sh -v validation\_key -u http://chef\_server.example.org

On Tue, Jun 26, 2012 at 7:51 AM, Jeremiah Snapp  
[jeremiah.snapp@gmail.com](mailto:jeremiah.snapp@gmail.com) wrote:

> I also just installed chef via ruby gems and it didn't create /etc/chef  
> either. Can that directory be added to the chef-client install procedures  
> as a default?

As a packaging system, Rubygems isn't really designed for complete  
application configuration. Since we aren't going to do the  
configuration, it is presumptuous to create a directory that may not  
be used. This action may also make it harder to do the correct thing  
in other packaging systems that base off of the Rubygem.

Bryan

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Jeremiah\_Snapp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/3bc359/32.png) [@Jeremiah\_Snapp](https://discourse.chef.io/u/Jeremiah_Snapp)\
**Post date:** [June 27, 2012, 11:17am UTC](https://discourse.chef.io/t/omnibus-installer-doesnt-create-etc-chef/2876/4 "2012-06-27T11:17:11Z")

</div>

Thanks for the excellent explanation. That makes total sense.

Jeremiah

On Tue, Jun 26, 2012 at 10:18 AM, Bryan McLellan [btm@loftninjas.org](mailto:btm@loftninjas.org) wrote:

> There are many ways the /etc/chef directory gets created and it's  
> always when chef is being configured.
> 
> 'knife bootstrap' will create the appropriate directories over ssh or  
> winrm.
> 
> The debian packaging configures the client using debconf and will  
> create the appropriate directories.
> 
> On Tue, Jun 26, 2012 at 7:43 AM, Jeremiah Snapp  
> [jeremiah.snapp@gmail.com](mailto:jeremiah.snapp@gmail.com) wrote:
> 
> > When I use the omnibus chef-client installer on Ubuntu 12.04 it doesn't  
> > create the /etc/chef directory. Is that normal? It seems like it should  
> > create it for you.
> 
> Omnibus creates /etc/chef when you configure Chef using
> 
> /opt/chef/setup.sh -v validation\_key -o hosted\_chef organization  
> /opt/chef/setup.sh -v validation\_key -u http://chef\_server.example.org
> 
> On Tue, Jun 26, 2012 at 7:51 AM, Jeremiah Snapp  
> [jeremiah.snapp@gmail.com](mailto:jeremiah.snapp@gmail.com) wrote:
> 
> > I also just installed chef via ruby gems and it didn't create /etc/chef  
> > either. Can that directory be added to the chef-client install  
> > procedures  
> > as a default?
> 
> As a packaging system, Rubygems isn't really designed for complete  
> application configuration. Since we aren't going to do the  
> configuration, it is presumptuous to create a directory that may not  
> be used. This action may also make it harder to do the correct thing  
> in other packaging systems that base off of the Rubygem.
> 
> Bryan

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Bryan\_Berry](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.chef.io/bryan_berry/32/213_2.png) [@Bryan\_Berry](https://discourse.chef.io/u/Bryan_Berry)\
**Post date:** [June 27, 2012, 11:22am UTC](https://discourse.chef.io/t/omnibus-installer-doesnt-create-etc-chef/2876/5 "2012-06-27T11:22:43Z")

</div>

Jeremiah, here is my bootstrap template in a gist for RHEL 6.2 using  
omnibus 6.2

> <https://gist.github.com/bryanwb/2948410>

On Wed, Jun 27, 2012 at 1:17 PM, Jeremiah Snapp [jeremiah.snapp@gmail.com](mailto:jeremiah.snapp@gmail.com)wrote:

> Thanks for the excellent explanation. That makes total sense.
> 
> Jeremiah
> 
> On Tue, Jun 26, 2012 at 10:18 AM, Bryan McLellan [btm@loftninjas.org](mailto:btm@loftninjas.org)wrote:
> 
> > There are many ways the /etc/chef directory gets created and it's  
> > always when chef is being configured.
> > 
> > 'knife bootstrap' will create the appropriate directories over ssh or  
> > winrm.
> > 
> > The debian packaging configures the client using debconf and will  
> > create the appropriate directories.
> > 
> > On Tue, Jun 26, 2012 at 7:43 AM, Jeremiah Snapp  
> > [jeremiah.snapp@gmail.com](mailto:jeremiah.snapp@gmail.com) wrote:
> > 
> > > When I use the omnibus chef-client installer on Ubuntu 12.04 it doesn't  
> > > create the /etc/chef directory. Is that normal? It seems like it  
> > > should  
> > > create it for you.
> > 
> > Omnibus creates /etc/chef when you configure Chef using
> > 
> > /opt/chef/setup.sh -v validation\_key -o hosted\_chef organization  
> > /opt/chef/setup.sh -v validation\_key -u http://chef\_server.example.org
> > 
> > On Tue, Jun 26, 2012 at 7:51 AM, Jeremiah Snapp  
> > [jeremiah.snapp@gmail.com](mailto:jeremiah.snapp@gmail.com) wrote:
> > 
> > > I also just installed chef via ruby gems and it didn't create /etc/chef  
> > > either. Can that directory be added to the chef-client install  
> > > procedures  
> > > as a default?
> > 
> > As a packaging system, Rubygems isn't really designed for complete  
> > application configuration. Since we aren't going to do the  
> > configuration, it is presumptuous to create a directory that may not  
> > be used. This action may also make it harder to do the correct thing  
> > in other packaging systems that base off of the Rubygem.
> > 
> > Bryan

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Jeremiah\_Snapp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/3bc359/32.png) [@Jeremiah\_Snapp](https://discourse.chef.io/u/Jeremiah_Snapp)\
**Post date:** [June 27, 2012, 11:49am UTC](https://discourse.chef.io/t/omnibus-installer-doesnt-create-etc-chef/2876/6 "2012-06-27T11:49:13Z")

</div>

Thanks Bryan. I'm curious, is there anything wrong with the default  
template for RHEL 6.2? Or are you just creating your own template to  
accomplish your customizations?

On Wed, Jun 27, 2012 at 7:22 AM, Bryan Berry [bryan.berry@gmail.com](mailto:bryan.berry@gmail.com) wrote:

> Jeremiah, here is my bootstrap template in a gist for RHEL 6.2 using  
> omnibus 6.2
> 
> [gist:2948410 · GitHub](https://gist.github.com/2948410)
> 
> On Wed, Jun 27, 2012 at 1:17 PM, Jeremiah Snapp [jeremiah.snapp@gmail.com](mailto:jeremiah.snapp@gmail.com)wrote:
> 
> > Thanks for the excellent explanation. That makes total sense.
> > 
> > Jeremiah
> > 
> > On Tue, Jun 26, 2012 at 10:18 AM, Bryan McLellan [btm@loftninjas.org](mailto:btm@loftninjas.org)wrote:
> > 
> > > There are many ways the /etc/chef directory gets created and it's  
> > > always when chef is being configured.
> > > 
> > > 'knife bootstrap' will create the appropriate directories over ssh or  
> > > winrm.
> > > 
> > > The debian packaging configures the client using debconf and will  
> > > create the appropriate directories.
> > > 
> > > On Tue, Jun 26, 2012 at 7:43 AM, Jeremiah Snapp  
> > > [jeremiah.snapp@gmail.com](mailto:jeremiah.snapp@gmail.com) wrote:
> > > 
> > > > When I use the omnibus chef-client installer on Ubuntu 12.04 it doesn't  
> > > > create the /etc/chef directory. Is that normal? It seems like it  
> > > > should  
> > > > create it for you.
> > > 
> > > Omnibus creates /etc/chef when you configure Chef using
> > > 
> > > /opt/chef/setup.sh -v validation\_key -o hosted\_chef organization  
> > > /opt/chef/setup.sh -v validation\_key -u http://chef\_server.example.org
> > > 
> > > On Tue, Jun 26, 2012 at 7:51 AM, Jeremiah Snapp  
> > > [jeremiah.snapp@gmail.com](mailto:jeremiah.snapp@gmail.com) wrote:
> > > 
> > > > I also just installed chef via ruby gems and it didn't create /etc/chef  
> > > > either. Can that directory be added to the chef-client install  
> > > > procedures  
> > > > as a default?
> > > 
> > > As a packaging system, Rubygems isn't really designed for complete  
> > > application configuration. Since we aren't going to do the  
> > > configuration, it is presumptuous to create a directory that may not  
> > > be used. This action may also make it harder to do the correct thing  
> > > in other packaging systems that base off of the Rubygem.
> > > 
> > > Bryan

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Bryan\_Berry](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.chef.io/bryan_berry/32/213_2.png) [@Bryan\_Berry](https://discourse.chef.io/u/Bryan_Berry)\
**Post date:** [June 27, 2012, 12:08pm UTC](https://discourse.chef.io/t/omnibus-installer-doesnt-create-etc-chef/2876/7 "2012-06-27T12:08:42Z")

</div>

afaik the default template doesn't use omnibus, however I haven't looked at  
it in a long time

I need to delete that damn fprintd cuz it sends lots of annoying e-mails  
about not being able to connect to a fingerprint reader.

On Wed, Jun 27, 2012 at 1:49 PM, Jeremiah Snapp [jeremiah.snapp@gmail.com](mailto:jeremiah.snapp@gmail.com)wrote:

> Thanks Bryan. I'm curious, is there anything wrong with the default  
> template for RHEL 6.2? Or are you just creating your own template to  
> accomplish your customizations?
> 
> On Wed, Jun 27, 2012 at 7:22 AM, Bryan Berry [bryan.berry@gmail.com](mailto:bryan.berry@gmail.com)wrote:
> 
> > Jeremiah, here is my bootstrap template in a gist for RHEL 6.2 using  
> > omnibus 6.2
> > 
> > [gist:2948410 · GitHub](https://gist.github.com/2948410)
> > 
> > On Wed, Jun 27, 2012 at 1:17 PM, Jeremiah Snapp \<[jeremiah.snapp@gmail.com](mailto:jeremiah.snapp@gmail.com)
> > 
> > > wrote:
> > 
> > > Thanks for the excellent explanation. That makes total sense.
> > > 
> > > Jeremiah
> > > 
> > > On Tue, Jun 26, 2012 at 10:18 AM, Bryan McLellan [btm@loftninjas.org](mailto:btm@loftninjas.org)wrote:
> > > 
> > > > There are many ways the /etc/chef directory gets created and it's  
> > > > always when chef is being configured.
> > > > 
> > > > 'knife bootstrap' will create the appropriate directories over ssh or  
> > > > winrm.
> > > > 
> > > > The debian packaging configures the client using debconf and will  
> > > > create the appropriate directories.
> > > > 
> > > > On Tue, Jun 26, 2012 at 7:43 AM, Jeremiah Snapp  
> > > > [jeremiah.snapp@gmail.com](mailto:jeremiah.snapp@gmail.com) wrote:
> > > > 
> > > > > When I use the omnibus chef-client installer on Ubuntu 12.04 it  
> > > > > doesn't  
> > > > > create the /etc/chef directory. Is that normal? It seems like it  
> > > > > should  
> > > > > create it for you.
> > > > 
> > > > Omnibus creates /etc/chef when you configure Chef using
> > > > 
> > > > /opt/chef/setup.sh -v validation\_key -o hosted\_chef organization  
> > > > /opt/chef/setup.sh -v validation\_key -u http://chef\_server.example.org
> > > > 
> > > > On Tue, Jun 26, 2012 at 7:51 AM, Jeremiah Snapp  
> > > > [jeremiah.snapp@gmail.com](mailto:jeremiah.snapp@gmail.com) wrote:
> > > > 
> > > > > I also just installed chef via ruby gems and it didn't create  
> > > > > /etc/chef  
> > > > > either. Can that directory be added to the chef-client install  
> > > > > procedures  
> > > > > as a default?
> > > > 
> > > > As a packaging system, Rubygems isn't really designed for complete  
> > > > application configuration. Since we aren't going to do the  
> > > > configuration, it is presumptuous to create a directory that may not  
> > > > be used. This action may also make it harder to do the correct thing  
> > > > in other packaging systems that base off of the Rubygem.
> > > > 
> > > > Bryan

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Jeremiah\_Snapp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/3bc359/32.png) [@Jeremiah\_Snapp](https://discourse.chef.io/u/Jeremiah_Snapp)\
**Post date:** [June 27, 2012, 12:29pm UTC](https://discourse.chef.io/t/omnibus-installer-doesnt-create-etc-chef/2876/8 "2012-06-27T12:29:08Z")

</div>

Yeah Chef 0.10.10 began using chef-full (aka Omnibus) as the default  
template for knife bootstrap. But it wouldn't have your funny comment  
about the "bloody fingerprint scanner". Why are you scanning bloody  
fingerprints. 😉

> **[Chef 0.10.10 released! - Chef Blog | Chef](https://www.chef.io/blog/chef-0-10-10-released)**
>
> We have another epic Chef release ready for you with over 120 closed tickets.

On Wed, Jun 27, 2012 at 8:08 AM, Bryan Berry [bryan.berry@gmail.com](mailto:bryan.berry@gmail.com) wrote:

> afaik the default template doesn't use omnibus, however I haven't looked  
> at it in a long time
> 
> I need to delete that damn fprintd cuz it sends lots of annoying e-mails  
> about not being able to connect to a fingerprint reader.
> 
> On Wed, Jun 27, 2012 at 1:49 PM, Jeremiah Snapp [jeremiah.snapp@gmail.com](mailto:jeremiah.snapp@gmail.com)wrote:
> 
> > Thanks Bryan. I'm curious, is there anything wrong with the default  
> > template for RHEL 6.2? Or are you just creating your own template to  
> > accomplish your customizations?
> > 
> > On Wed, Jun 27, 2012 at 7:22 AM, Bryan Berry [bryan.berry@gmail.com](mailto:bryan.berry@gmail.com)wrote:
> > 
> > > Jeremiah, here is my bootstrap template in a gist for RHEL 6.2 using  
> > > omnibus 6.2
> > > 
> > > [gist:2948410 · GitHub](https://gist.github.com/2948410)
> > > 
> > > On Wed, Jun 27, 2012 at 1:17 PM, Jeremiah Snapp \<  
> > > [jeremiah.snapp@gmail.com](mailto:jeremiah.snapp@gmail.com)\> wrote:
> > > 
> > > > Thanks for the excellent explanation. That makes total sense.
> > > > 
> > > > Jeremiah
> > > > 
> > > > On Tue, Jun 26, 2012 at 10:18 AM, Bryan McLellan [btm@loftninjas.org](mailto:btm@loftninjas.org)wrote:
> > > > 
> > > > > There are many ways the /etc/chef directory gets created and it's  
> > > > > always when chef is being configured.
> > > > > 
> > > > > 'knife bootstrap' will create the appropriate directories over ssh or  
> > > > > winrm.
> > > > > 
> > > > > The debian packaging configures the client using debconf and will  
> > > > > create the appropriate directories.
> > > > > 
> > > > > On Tue, Jun 26, 2012 at 7:43 AM, Jeremiah Snapp  
> > > > > [jeremiah.snapp@gmail.com](mailto:jeremiah.snapp@gmail.com) wrote:
> > > > > 
> > > > > > When I use the omnibus chef-client installer on Ubuntu 12.04 it  
> > > > > > doesn't  
> > > > > > create the /etc/chef directory. Is that normal? It seems like it  
> > > > > > should  
> > > > > > create it for you.
> > > > > 
> > > > > Omnibus creates /etc/chef when you configure Chef using
> > > > > 
> > > > > /opt/chef/setup.sh -v validation\_key -o hosted\_chef organization  
> > > > > /opt/chef/setup.sh -v validation\_key -u http://chef\_server.example.org
> > > > > 
> > > > > On Tue, Jun 26, 2012 at 7:51 AM, Jeremiah Snapp  
> > > > > [jeremiah.snapp@gmail.com](mailto:jeremiah.snapp@gmail.com) wrote:
> > > > > 
> > > > > > I also just installed chef via ruby gems and it didn't create  
> > > > > > /etc/chef  
> > > > > > either. Can that directory be added to the chef-client install  
> > > > > > procedures  
> > > > > > as a default?
> > > > > 
> > > > > As a packaging system, Rubygems isn't really designed for complete  
> > > > > application configuration. Since we aren't going to do the  
> > > > > configuration, it is presumptuous to create a directory that may not  
> > > > > be used. This action may also make it harder to do the correct thing  
> > > > > in other packaging systems that base off of the Rubygem.
> > > > > 
> > > > > Bryan