# To Freeze or Not to Freeze

**URL:** <https://discourse.chef.io/t/to-freeze-or-not-to-freeze/5302>\
**Category:** Chef Infra (archive)\
**Created:** [May 13, 2014, 1:32pm UTC](https://discourse.chef.io/t/to-freeze-or-not-to-freeze/5302 "2014-05-13T13:32:08Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 7\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Stewart\_Curtis](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.chef.io/stewart_curtis/32/237_2.png) [@Stewart\_Curtis](https://discourse.chef.io/u/Stewart_Curtis)\
**Post date:** [May 13, 2014, 1:32pm UTC](https://discourse.chef.io/t/to-freeze-or-not-to-freeze/5302/1 "2014-05-13T13:32:08Z")

</div>

How do most folks determine when a cookbook should be frozen? Or even whether or not to freeze them at all. Is it once a cookbook is used in a deployment? Or, is it every time a cookbook is uploaded to the server?

Thanks,  
Curtis

Curtis Stewart  
Consultant  
m 217.390.5067  
Skype cstewart8710  
[cstewart@momentumsi.com](mailto:cstewart@momentumsi.com)[mailto:cstewart@momentumsi.com](mailto:cstewart@momentumsi.com)  
[www.momentumsi.com](http://www.momentumsi.com)[http://www.momentumsi.com/](http://www.momentumsi.com/)

[cid:71466434-A311-4F82-BC03-F7D6BA0FA526][http://www.momentumsi.com/](http://www.momentumsi.com/)[http://www.momentumsi.com/](http://www.momentumsi.com/)

Cloud Migration - Architecture - DevOps - Big Data - App Dev

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Pete\_Cheslock](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.chef.io/pete_cheslock/32/326_2.png) [@Pete\_Cheslock](https://discourse.chef.io/u/Pete_Cheslock)\
**Post date:** [May 13, 2014, 1:38pm UTC](https://discourse.chef.io/t/to-freeze-or-not-to-freeze/5302/2 "2014-05-13T13:38:47Z")

</div>

I would freeze on every upload by default. I would not want a cookbook with the same version but with a change get uploaded to the server and break something. We use pinned versions in our environment files so that ensure that environment must change for the change to be applied.

-Pete

> On May 13, 2014, at 9:32 AM, "Stewart, Curtis" [cstewart@momentumsi.com](mailto:cstewart@momentumsi.com) wrote:
> 
> How do most folks determine when a cookbook should be frozen? Or even whether or not to freeze them at all. Is it once a cookbook is used in a deployment? Or, is it every time a cookbook is uploaded to the server?
> 
> Thanks,  
> Curtis
> 
> Curtis Stewart  
> Consultant  
> m 217.390.5067  
> Skype cstewart8710  
> [cstewart@momentumsi.com](mailto:cstewart@momentumsi.com)  
> [www.momentumsi.com](http://www.momentumsi.com)
> 
> \<80BB855A-341B-44CC-8CD6-44C237EBA7A5[5].png\>
> 
> Cloud Migration - Architecture - DevOps - Big Data - App Dev

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![David\_Petzel](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.chef.io/david_petzel/32/38_2.png) [@David\_Petzel](https://discourse.chef.io/u/David_Petzel)\
**Post date:** [May 13, 2014, 1:48pm UTC](https://discourse.chef.io/t/to-freeze-or-not-to-freeze/5302/3 "2014-05-13T13:48:11Z")

</div>

We freeze them the moment they are uploaded to the Chef Server, and use  
environment files to pin versions allowing us to promote a frozen cookbook  
up through our environments.

On Tue, May 13, 2014 at 9:38 AM, Pete Cheslock [petecheslock@gmail.com](mailto:petecheslock@gmail.com)wrote:

> I would freeze on every upload by default. I would not want a cookbook  
> with the same version but with a change get uploaded to the server and  
> break something. We use pinned versions in our environment files so that  
> ensure that environment must change for the change to be applied.
> 
> -Pete
> 
> On May 13, 2014, at 9:32 AM, "Stewart, Curtis" [cstewart@momentumsi.com](mailto:cstewart@momentumsi.com)  
> wrote:
> 
> How do most folks determine when a cookbook should be frozen? Or even  
> whether or not to freeze them at all. Is it once a cookbook is used in a  
> deployment? Or, is it every time a cookbook is uploaded to the server?
> 
> Thanks,  
> Curtis
> 
> ```
> *Curtis Stewart*
> 
> ```
> 
> Consultant  
> m 217.390.5067  
> Skype cstewart8710  
> [cstewart@momentumsi.com](mailto:cstewart@momentumsi.com)  
> [www.momentumsi.com](http://www.momentumsi.com)
> 
> - \<80BB855A-341B-44CC-8CD6-44C237EBA7A5[5].png\>  
> [http://www.momentumsi.com/](http://www.momentumsi.com/) [http://www.momentumsi.com/](http://www.momentumsi.com/) Cloud Migration -  
> Architecture - DevOps - Big Data - App Dev \*

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Stewart\_Curtis](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.chef.io/stewart_curtis/32/237_2.png) [@Stewart\_Curtis](https://discourse.chef.io/u/Stewart_Curtis)\
**Post date:** [May 13, 2014, 1:56pm UTC](https://discourse.chef.io/t/to-freeze-or-not-to-freeze/5302/4 "2014-05-13T13:56:02Z")

</div>

Thanks for the reply, Pete!

Is your upload/freeze process done manually via ‘knife-cookbook-upload —freeze”? Or do you use something like Berkshelf or knife-spork for cookbook uploading?

Curtis Stewart  
Consultant  
m 217.390.5067  
Skype cstewart8710  
[cstewart@momentumsi.com](mailto:cstewart@momentumsi.com)[mailto:cstewart@momentumsi.com](mailto:cstewart@momentumsi.com)  
[www.momentumsi.com](http://www.momentumsi.com)[http://www.momentumsi.com/](http://www.momentumsi.com/)

[cid:71466434-A311-4F82-BC03-F7D6BA0FA526][http://www.momentumsi.com/](http://www.momentumsi.com/)[http://www.momentumsi.com/](http://www.momentumsi.com/)

Cloud Migration - Architecture - DevOps - Big Data - App Dev

On May 13, 2014, at 8:38 AM, Pete Cheslock \<[petecheslock@gmail.com](mailto:petecheslock@gmail.com)[mailto:petecheslock@gmail.com](mailto:petecheslock@gmail.com)\> wrote:

I would freeze on every upload by default. I would not want a cookbook with the same version but with a change get uploaded to the server and break something. We use pinned versions in our environment files so that ensure that environment must change for the change to be applied.

-Pete

On May 13, 2014, at 9:32 AM, “Stewart, Curtis” \<[cstewart@momentumsi.com](mailto:cstewart@momentumsi.com)[mailto:cstewart@momentumsi.com](mailto:cstewart@momentumsi.com)\> wrote:

How do most folks determine when a cookbook should be frozen? Or even whether or not to freeze them at all. Is it once a cookbook is used in a deployment? Or, is it every time a cookbook is uploaded to the server?

Thanks,  
Curtis

Curtis Stewart  
Consultant  
m 217.390.5067  
Skype cstewart8710  
[cstewart@momentumsi.com](mailto:cstewart@momentumsi.com)[mailto:cstewart@momentumsi.com](mailto:cstewart@momentumsi.com)  
[www.momentumsi.com](http://www.momentumsi.com)[http://www.momentumsi.com/](http://www.momentumsi.com/)

\<80BB855A-341B-44CC-8CD6-44C237EBA7A5[5].png\>[http://www.momentumsi.com/](http://www.momentumsi.com/)[http://www.momentumsi.com/](http://www.momentumsi.com/)

Cloud Migration - Architecture - DevOps - Big Data - App Dev

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Andrew\_Gross](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.chef.io/andrew_gross/32/320_2.png) [@Andrew\_Gross](https://discourse.chef.io/u/Andrew_Gross)\
**Post date:** [May 14, 2014, 3:39pm UTC](https://discourse.chef.io/t/to-freeze-or-not-to-freeze/5302/5 "2014-05-14T15:39:25Z")

</div>

I use the same style as David. The workflow is managed mostly using  
`knife-spork`. To deploy a cookbook to an environment we use a command  
similar to [deploy\_cookbook.sh · GitHub](https://gist.github.com/andrewgross/b6612087007ba437cd69)

NOTE: We actually use 2 different Chef Servers, one for production and one  
for staging, but the workflow remains largely the same.

On Tue, May 13, 2014 at 9:56 AM, Stewart, Curtis [cstewart@momentumsi.com](mailto:cstewart@momentumsi.com)wrote:

> Thanks for the reply, Pete!
> 
> Is your upload/freeze process done manually via ‘knife-cookbook-upload  
> —freeze”? Or do you use something like Berkshelf or knife-spork for  
> cookbook uploading?
> 
> ```
> *Curtis Stewart*
> 
> ```
> 
> Consultant  
> m 217.390.5067  
> Skype cstewart8710  
> [cstewart@momentumsi.com](mailto:cstewart@momentumsi.com)  
> [www.momentumsi.com](http://www.momentumsi.com)
> 
> - [http://www.momentumsi.com/](http://www.momentumsi.com/) [http://www.momentumsi.com/](http://www.momentumsi.com/) Cloud  
> Migration - Architecture - DevOps - Big Data - App Dev \*
> 
> On May 13, 2014, at 8:38 AM, Pete Cheslock [petecheslock@gmail.com](mailto:petecheslock@gmail.com)  
> wrote:
> 
> I would freeze on every upload by default. I would not want a cookbook  
> with the same version but with a change get uploaded to the server and  
> break something. We use pinned versions in our environment files so that  
> ensure that environment must change for the change to be applied.
> 
> -Pete
> 
> On May 13, 2014, at 9:32 AM, "Stewart, Curtis" [cstewart@momentumsi.com](mailto:cstewart@momentumsi.com)  
> wrote:
> 
> How do most folks determine when a cookbook should be frozen? Or even  
> whether or not to freeze them at all. Is it once a cookbook is used in a  
> deployment? Or, is it every time a cookbook is uploaded to the server?
> 
> Thanks,  
> Curtis
> 
> ```
> *Curtis Stewart*
> 
> ```
> 
> Consultant  
> m 217.390.5067  
> Skype cstewart8710  
> [cstewart@momentumsi.com](mailto:cstewart@momentumsi.com)  
> [www.momentumsi.com](http://www.momentumsi.com)
> 
> - \<80BB855A-341B-44CC-8CD6-44C237EBA7A5[5].png\>  
> [http://www.momentumsi.com/](http://www.momentumsi.com/) [http://www.momentumsi.com/](http://www.momentumsi.com/) Cloud Migration -  
> Architecture - DevOps - Big Data - App Dev \*

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Pete\_Cheslock](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.chef.io/pete_cheslock/32/326_2.png) [@Pete\_Cheslock](https://discourse.chef.io/u/Pete_Cheslock)\
**Post date:** [May 14, 2014, 3:41pm UTC](https://discourse.chef.io/t/to-freeze-or-not-to-freeze/5302/6 "2014-05-14T15:41:15Z")

</div>

I missed Curtis's original reply but we use Berks upload. Which if i'm  
remembering correctly will freeze by default.

On Wed, May 14, 2014 at 11:39 AM, Andrew Gross [andrew@yipit.com](mailto:andrew@yipit.com) wrote:

> I use the same style as David. The workflow is managed mostly using  
> `knife-spork`. To deploy a cookbook to an environment we use a command  
> similar to [deploy\_cookbook.sh · GitHub](https://gist.github.com/andrewgross/b6612087007ba437cd69)
> 
> NOTE: We actually use 2 different Chef Servers, one for production and one  
> for staging, but the workflow remains largely the same.
> 
> On Tue, May 13, 2014 at 9:56 AM, Stewart, Curtis [cstewart@momentumsi.com](mailto:cstewart@momentumsi.com)wrote:
> 
> > Thanks for the reply, Pete!
> > 
> > Is your upload/freeze process done manually via ‘knife-cookbook-upload  
> > —freeze”? Or do you use something like Berkshelf or knife-spork for  
> > cookbook uploading?
> > 
> > ```
> > *Curtis Stewart*
> > 
> > ```
> > 
> > Consultant  
> > m 217.390.5067  
> > Skype cstewart8710  
> > [cstewart@momentumsi.com](mailto:cstewart@momentumsi.com)  
> > [www.momentumsi.com](http://www.momentumsi.com)
> > 
> > - [http://www.momentumsi.com/](http://www.momentumsi.com/) [http://www.momentumsi.com/](http://www.momentumsi.com/) Cloud  
> > Migration - Architecture - DevOps - Big Data - App Dev \*
> > 
> > On May 13, 2014, at 8:38 AM, Pete Cheslock [petecheslock@gmail.com](mailto:petecheslock@gmail.com)  
> > wrote:
> > 
> > I would freeze on every upload by default. I would not want a cookbook  
> > with the same version but with a change get uploaded to the server and  
> > break something. We use pinned versions in our environment files so that  
> > ensure that environment must change for the change to be applied.
> > 
> > -Pete
> > 
> > On May 13, 2014, at 9:32 AM, "Stewart, Curtis" [cstewart@momentumsi.com](mailto:cstewart@momentumsi.com)  
> > wrote:
> > 
> > How do most folks determine when a cookbook should be frozen? Or even  
> > whether or not to freeze them at all. Is it once a cookbook is used in a  
> > deployment? Or, is it every time a cookbook is uploaded to the server?
> > 
> > Thanks,  
> > Curtis
> > 
> > ```
> > *Curtis Stewart*
> > 
> > ```
> > 
> > Consultant  
> > m 217.390.5067  
> > Skype cstewart8710  
> > [cstewart@momentumsi.com](mailto:cstewart@momentumsi.com)  
> > [www.momentumsi.com](http://www.momentumsi.com)
> > 
> > - \<80BB855A-341B-44CC-8CD6-44C237EBA7A5[5].png\>  
> > [http://www.momentumsi.com/](http://www.momentumsi.com/) [http://www.momentumsi.com/](http://www.momentumsi.com/) Cloud Migration -  
> > Architecture - DevOps - Big Data - App Dev \*

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Nick\_Silkey](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.chef.io/nick_silkey/32/175_2.png) [@Nick\_Silkey](https://discourse.chef.io/u/Nick_Silkey)\
**Post date:** [May 14, 2014, 10:02pm UTC](https://discourse.chef.io/t/to-freeze-or-not-to-freeze/5302/7 "2014-05-14T22:02:46Z")

</div>

Yes, berks behavior is to freeze by default.

On Wed, May 14, 2014 at 10:41 AM, Pete Cheslock [petecheslock@gmail.com](mailto:petecheslock@gmail.com)wrote:

> I missed Curtis's original reply but we use Berks upload. Which if i'm  
> remembering correctly will freeze by default.
> 
> On Wed, May 14, 2014 at 11:39 AM, Andrew Gross [andrew@yipit.com](mailto:andrew@yipit.com) wrote:
> 
> > I use the same style as David. The workflow is managed mostly using  
> > `knife-spork`. To deploy a cookbook to an environment we use a command  
> > similar to [deploy\_cookbook.sh · GitHub](https://gist.github.com/andrewgross/b6612087007ba437cd69)
> > 
> > NOTE: We actually use 2 different Chef Servers, one for production and  
> > one for staging, but the workflow remains largely the same.
> > 
> > On Tue, May 13, 2014 at 9:56 AM, Stewart, Curtis \<[cstewart@momentumsi.com](mailto:cstewart@momentumsi.com)
> > 
> > > wrote:
> > 
> > > Thanks for the reply, Pete!
> > > 
> > > Is your upload/freeze process done manually via ‘knife-cookbook-upload  
> > > —freeze”? Or do you use something like Berkshelf or knife-spork for  
> > > cookbook uploading?
> > > 
> > > ```
> > > *Curtis Stewart*
> > > 
> > > ```
> > > 
> > > Consultant  
> > > m 217.390.5067  
> > > Skype cstewart8710  
> > > [cstewart@momentumsi.com](mailto:cstewart@momentumsi.com)  
> > > [www.momentumsi.com](http://www.momentumsi.com)
> > > 
> > > - [http://www.momentumsi.com/](http://www.momentumsi.com/) [http://www.momentumsi.com/](http://www.momentumsi.com/) Cloud  
> > > Migration - Architecture - DevOps - Big Data - App Dev \*
> > > 
> > > On May 13, 2014, at 8:38 AM, Pete Cheslock [petecheslock@gmail.com](mailto:petecheslock@gmail.com)  
> > > wrote:
> > > 
> > > I would freeze on every upload by default. I would not want a  
> > > cookbook with the same version but with a change get uploaded to the server  
> > > and break something. We use pinned versions in our environment files so  
> > > that ensure that environment must change for the change to be applied.
> > > 
> > > -Pete
> > > 
> > > On May 13, 2014, at 9:32 AM, "Stewart, Curtis" [cstewart@momentumsi.com](mailto:cstewart@momentumsi.com)  
> > > wrote:
> > > 
> > > How do most folks determine when a cookbook should be frozen? Or even  
> > > whether or not to freeze them at all. Is it once a cookbook is used in a  
> > > deployment? Or, is it every time a cookbook is uploaded to the server?
> > > 
> > > Thanks,  
> > > Curtis
> > > 
> > > ```
> > > *Curtis Stewart*
> > > 
> > > ```
> > > 
> > > Consultant  
> > > m 217.390.5067  
> > > Skype cstewart8710  
> > > [cstewart@momentumsi.com](mailto:cstewart@momentumsi.com)  
> > > [www.momentumsi.com](http://www.momentumsi.com)
> > > 
> > > - \<80BB855A-341B-44CC-8CD6-44C237EBA7A5[5].png\>  
> > > [http://www.momentumsi.com/](http://www.momentumsi.com/) [http://www.momentumsi.com/](http://www.momentumsi.com/) Cloud Migration -  
> > > Architecture - DevOps - Big Data - App Dev \*