# Using ruby\_block

**URL:** <https://discourse.chef.io/t/using-ruby-block/3532>\
**Category:** Chef Infra (archive)\
**Created:** [January 26, 2013, 11:56am UTC](https://discourse.chef.io/t/using-ruby-block/3532 "2013-01-26T11:56:42Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![millisami\_r](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.chef.io/millisami_r/32/418_2.png) [@millisami\_r](https://discourse.chef.io/u/millisami_r)\
**Post date:** [January 26, 2013, 11:56am UTC](https://discourse.chef.io/t/using-ruby-block/3532/1 "2013-01-26T11:56:42Z")

</div>

Ohai! chefs!

My Recipe has to import from S3, extract and seed the data from the mysqldump.

To do this, I want it using ruby and the aws-sdk gem.  
AFAIK, the ruby code in the recipe file is evaluated at compil time and the ones that are inside `ruby_block` is evaluated at convergence time.  
So if I do `require 'aws'`, it won’t since its not installed. When I add it inside the ruby\_block, it errors out.  
So to fix it, I used the `chef_gem 'aws-sdk'`, but this will run at the compile time which is fine.  
But to install it, it depends on packages like lib-xml2 to be installed too at the compile time.

What I want is, what is a better way to do this using the ruby\_block way?

…  
if app[‘db\_import’]

gem\_package ‘aws-sdk’

ruby\_block “import\_backed-up\_files\_from\_S3” do  
block do  
# Getting the files from S3 backup  
require ‘aws’  
…

[2013-01-26T09:12:25+00:00] INFO: Processing gem\_package[aws-sdk] action install (empowerme::extract\_files\_from\_s3\_backup line 6)  
[2013-01-26T09:12:25+00:00] DEBUG: gem\_package[aws-sdk] detected omnibus installation in /opt/chef/embedded/bin  
[2013-01-26T09:12:25+00:00] DEBUG: gem\_package[aws-sdk] searching for ‘gem’ binary in path: /usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/sbin:/bin:/opt/chef/embedded/bin:/opt/chef/embedded/bin  
[2013-01-26T09:12:25+00:00] DEBUG: gem\_package[aws-sdk] using gem ‘/usr/bin/gem’  
[2013-01-26T09:12:26+00:00] DEBUG: gem\_package[aws-sdk] no installed version found for aws-sdk (\>= 0)  
RubyGems Environment:

- RUBYGEMS VERSION: 1.8.23
- RUBY VERSION: 1.9.3 (2012-11-10 patchlevel 327) [i686-linux]
- INSTALLATION DIRECTORY: /var/lib/gems/1.9.1
- RUBY EXECUTABLE: /usr/bin/ruby1.9.1
- EXECUTABLE DIRECTORY: /usr/local/bin
- RUBYGEMS PLATFORMS:
  - ruby
  - x86-linux

- GEM PATHS:
  - /var/lib/gems/1.9.1
  - /root/.gem/ruby/1.9.1

- GEM CONFIGURATION:
  - :update\_sources =\> true
  - :verbose =\> true
  - :benchmark =\> false
  - :backtrace =\> false
  - :bulk\_threshold =\> 1000

- REMOTE SOURCES:
  - [http://rubygems.org/](http://rubygems.org/)  
[2013-01-26T09:12:27+00:00] DEBUG: found gem aws-sdk version 1.8.0 for platform ruby from [http://rubygems.org/](http://rubygems.org/)  
When you HTTParty, you must party hard!  
Building native extensions. This could take a while…  
Successfully installed uuidtools-2.1.3  
Successfully installed multi\_xml-0.5.2  
Successfully installed httparty-0.10.0  
Successfully installed json-1.7.6  
Successfully installed aws-sdk-1.8.0  
5 gems installed  
[2013-01-26T09:12:42+00:00] DEBUG: gem\_package[aws-sdk] resetting gem environment to default  
[2013-01-26T09:12:42+00:00] INFO: Processing ruby\_block[import\_backed-up\_files\_from\_S3] action create (empowerme::extract\_files\_from\_s3\_backup line 8)

# ================================================================================ Error executing action `create` on resource ‘ruby\_block[import\_backed-up\_files\_from\_S3]’

## LoadError

cannot load such file – aws

## Cookbook Trace:

/var/chef/cache/cookbooks/empowerme/recipes/extract\_files\_from\_s3\_backup.rb:11:in `block (2 levels) in from\_file’

## Resource Declaration:

# In /var/chef/cache/cookbooks/empowerme/recipes/extract\_files\_from\_s3\_backup.rb

8: ruby\_block “import\_backed-up\_files\_from\_S3” do  
9: block do  
10: # Getting the files from S3 backup  
11: require 'aws’  
12: AWS.config(access\_key\_id: node[‘aws’][‘access\_key\_id’], secret\_access\_key: node[‘aws’][‘secret\_access\_key’])  
13: s3 = AWS::S3.new  
14:  
15: bucket = s3.buckets[node[‘empowerme’][‘s3\_bucket’]]  
16:  
17: file\_to\_download = bucket.objects.map{|ob| ob.key}.sort.last # e.g. “empowerme/2012.10.14.20.40.02/empowerme.tar"  
18:  
19: Chef::Log.info(”\n\nBackup Import from S3\n---------- \n #{file\_to\_download}\n-------------\n")  
20:  
21: obj = bucket.objects[file\_to\_download]  
22:  
23: local\_file = Pathname.new("/tmp/#{node[‘empowerme’][‘backup\_model\_name’]}.tar")  
24:  
25: File.open(local\_file, “w”) do |f|  
26: obj.read do |chunk|  
27: f.write chunk  
28: end  
29: end  
30:  
31: execute “extracting downloaded file” do  
32: cwd local\_file.dirname.to\_s  
33: command "tar -xf ./#{local\_file.basename.to\_path}"  
34: user "root"  
35: end  
36:  
37: # execute “change permission on #{app[‘deploy\_to’]}” do  
38: # command "chmod g+rw #{app[‘deploy\_to’]}; chown -R #{app[‘owner’]}:#{app[‘group’]} #{app[‘deploy\_to’]}"  
39: # end  
40:  
41: # execute “change permission on #{node[‘empowerme’][‘ebs\_mount\_dir’]}” do  
42: # command "chmod g+rw #{node[‘empowerme’][‘ebs\_mount\_dir’]} && chown -R #{app[‘owner’]}:#{app[‘group’]} #{node[‘empowerme’][‘ebs\_mount\_dir’]}"  
43: # end  
44: end  
45: action :create  
46: end  
47: end

## Compiled Resource:

# Declared in /var/chef/cache/cookbooks/empowerme/recipes/extract\_files\_from\_s3\_backup.rb:8:in `from\_file’

ruby\_block(“import\_backed-up\_files\_from\_S3”) do  
action [:create]  
retries 0  
retry\_delay 2  
block\_name "import\_backed-up\_files\_from\_S3"  
cookbook\_name "empowerme"  
recipe\_name "extract\_files\_from\_s3\_backup"  
block #Proc:0x85c7300@/var/chef/cache/cookbooks/empowerme/recipes/extract\_files\_from\_s3\_backup.rb:9  
end

[2013-01-26T09:12:43+00:00] DEBUG: Re-raising exception: LoadError - ruby\_block[import\_backed-up\_files\_from\_S3] (empowerme::extract\_files\_from\_s3\_backup line 8) had an error: LoadError: cannot load such file – aws  
/opt/chef/embedded/lib/ruby/site\_ruby/1.9.1/rubygems/custom\_require.rb:36:in `require' /opt/chef/embedded/lib/ruby/site_ruby/1.9.1/rubygems/custom_require.rb:36:in`require’  
/var/chef/cache/cookbooks/empowerme/recipes/extract\_files\_from\_s3\_backup.rb:11:in `block (2 levels) in from_file' /opt/chef/embedded/lib/ruby/gems/1.9.1/gems/chef-10.18.1/lib/chef/provider/ruby_block.rb:33:in`call’  
/opt/chef/embedded/lib/ruby/gems/1.9.1/gems/chef-10.18.1/lib/chef/provider/ruby\_block.rb:33:in `block in action_create' /opt/chef/embedded/lib/ruby/gems/1.9.1/gems/chef-10.18.1/lib/chef/mixin/why_run.rb:52:in`call’  
/opt/chef/embedded/lib/ruby/gems/1.9.1/gems/chef-10.18.1/lib/chef/mixin/why\_run.rb:52:in `add_action' /opt/chef/embedded/lib/ruby/gems/1.9.1/gems/chef-10.18.1/lib/chef/provider.rb:152:in`converge\_by’  
/opt/chef/embedded/lib/ruby/gems/1.9.1/gems/chef-10.18.1/lib/chef/provider/ruby\_block.rb:32:in `action_create' /opt/chef/embedded/lib/ruby/gems/1.9.1/gems/chef-10.18.1/lib/chef/provider.rb:115:in`run\_action’  
/opt/chef/embedded/lib/ruby/gems/1.9.1/gems/chef-10.18.1/lib/chef/resource.rb:597:in `run_action' /opt/chef/embedded/lib/ruby/gems/1.9.1/gems/chef-10.18.1/lib/chef/runner.rb:49:in`run\_action’  
/opt/chef/embedded/lib/ruby/gems/1.9.1/gems/chef-10.18.1/lib/chef/runner.rb:81:in `block (2 levels) in converge' /opt/chef/embedded/lib/ruby/gems/1.9.1/gems/chef-10.18.1/lib/chef/runner.rb:81:in`each’  
/opt/chef/embedded/lib/ruby/gems/1.9.1/gems/chef-10.18.1/lib/chef/runner.rb:81:in `block in converge' /opt/chef/embedded/lib/ruby/gems/1.9.1/gems/chef-10.18.1/lib/chef/resource_collection.rb:94:in`block in execute\_each\_resource’  
/opt/chef/embedded/lib/ruby/gems/1.9.1/gems/chef-10.18.1/lib/chef/resource\_collection/stepable\_iterator.rb:116:in `call' /opt/chef/embedded/lib/ruby/gems/1.9.1/gems/chef-10.18.1/lib/chef/resource_collection/stepable_iterator.rb:116:in`call\_iterator\_block’  
/opt/chef/embedded/lib/ruby/gems/1.9.1/gems/chef-10.18.1/lib/chef/resource\_collection/stepable\_iterator.rb:85:in `step' /opt/chef/embedded/lib/ruby/gems/1.9.1/gems/chef-10.18.1/lib/chef/resource_collection/stepable_iterator.rb:104:in`iterate’  
/opt/chef/embedded/lib/ruby/gems/1.9.1/gems/chef-10.18.1/lib/chef/resource\_collection/stepable\_iterator.rb:55:in `each_with_index' /opt/chef/embedded/lib/ruby/gems/1.9.1/gems/chef-10.18.1/lib/chef/resource_collection.rb:92:in`execute\_each\_resource’  
/opt/chef/embedded/lib/ruby/gems/1.9.1/gems/chef-10.18.1/lib/chef/runner.rb:80:in `converge' /opt/chef/embedded/lib/ruby/gems/1.9.1/gems/chef-10.18.1/lib/chef/client.rb:378:in`converge’  
/opt/chef/embedded/lib/ruby/gems/1.9.1/gems/chef-10.18.1/lib/chef/client.rb:420:in `do_run' /opt/chef/embedded/lib/ruby/gems/1.9.1/gems/chef-10.18.1/lib/chef/client.rb:176:in`run’  
/opt/chef/embedded/lib/ruby/gems/1.9.1/gems/chef-10.18.1/lib/chef/application.rb:140:in `run_chef_client' /opt/chef/embedded/lib/ruby/gems/1.9.1/gems/chef-10.18.1/lib/chef/application/client.rb:274:in`block in run\_application’  
/opt/chef/embedded/lib/ruby/gems/1.9.1/gems/chef-10.18.1/lib/chef/application/client.rb:267:in `loop' /opt/chef/embedded/lib/ruby/gems/1.9.1/gems/chef-10.18.1/lib/chef/application/client.rb:267:in`run\_application’  
/opt/chef/embedded/lib/ruby/gems/1.9.1/gems/chef-10.18.1/lib/chef/application.rb:72:in `run' /opt/chef/embedded/lib/ruby/gems/1.9.1/gems/chef-10.18.1/bin/chef-client:26:in`\<top (required)\>’  
/usr/bin/chef-client:23:in `load' /usr/bin/chef-client:23:in`‘  
[2013-01-26T09:12:43+00:00] ERROR: Running exception handlers  
[2013-01-26T09:12:43+00:00] ERROR: Report handler Chef::Handler::ErrorReport raised #\<Encoding::UndefinedConversionError: “\xE2” from ASCII-8BIT to UTF-8\>  
[2013-01-26T09:12:43+00:00] ERROR: /opt/chef/embedded/lib/ruby/gems/1.9.1/gems/chef-10.18.1/lib/chef/resource.rb:500:in `encode' [2013-01-26T09:12:43+00:00] ERROR: /opt/chef/embedded/lib/ruby/gems/1.9.1/gems/chef-10.18.1/lib/chef/resource.rb:500:in`to\_json’  
[2013-01-26T09:12:43+00:00] ERROR: /opt/chef/embedded/lib/ruby/gems/1.9.1/gems/chef-10.18.1/lib/chef/resource.rb:500:in `to_json' [2013-01-26T09:12:43+00:00] ERROR: /opt/chef/embedded/lib/ruby/1.9.1/json/common.rb:278:in`generate’  
[2013-01-26T09:12:43+00:00] ERROR: /opt/chef/embedded/lib/ruby/1.9.1/json/common.rb:278:in `pretty_generate' [2013-01-26T09:12:43+00:00] ERROR: /opt/chef/embedded/lib/ruby/gems/1.9.1/gems/chef-10.18.1/lib/chef/json_compat.rb:49:in`to\_json\_pretty’  
[2013-01-26T09:12:43+00:00] ERROR: /opt/chef/embedded/lib/ruby/gems/1.9.1/gems/chef-10.18.1/lib/chef/handler/error\_report.rb:27:in `report' [2013-01-26T09:12:43+00:00] ERROR: /opt/chef/embedded/lib/ruby/gems/1.9.1/gems/chef-10.18.1/lib/chef/handler.rb:226:in`run\_report\_unsafe’  
[2013-01-26T09:12:43+00:00] ERROR: /opt/chef/embedded/lib/ruby/gems/1.9.1/gems/chef-10.18.1/lib/chef/handler.rb:214:in `run_report_safely' [2013-01-26T09:12:43+00:00] ERROR: /opt/chef/embedded/lib/ruby/gems/1.9.1/gems/chef-10.18.1/lib/chef/handler.rb:118:in`block in run\_exception\_handlers’  
[2013-01-26T09:12:43+00:00] ERROR: /opt/chef/embedded/lib/ruby/gems/1.9.1/gems/chef-10.18.1/lib/chef/handler.rb:117:in `each' [2013-01-26T09:12:43+00:00] ERROR: /opt/chef/embedded/lib/ruby/gems/1.9.1/gems/chef-10.18.1/lib/chef/handler.rb:117:in`run\_exception\_handlers’  
[2013-01-26T09:12:43+00:00] ERROR: /opt/chef/embedded/lib/ruby/gems/1.9.1/gems/chef-10.18.1/lib/chef/handler.rb:127:in `block in <class:Handler>' [2013-01-26T09:12:43+00:00] ERROR: /opt/chef/embedded/lib/ruby/gems/1.9.1/gems/chef-10.18.1/lib/chef/client.rb:118:in`call’  
[2013-01-26T09:12:43+00:00] ERROR: /opt/chef/embedded/lib/ruby/gems/1.9.1/gems/chef-10.18.1/lib/chef/client.rb:118:in `block in run_failed' [2013-01-26T09:12:43+00:00] ERROR: /opt/chef/embedded/lib/ruby/gems/1.9.1/gems/chef-10.18.1/lib/chef/client.rb:117:in`each’  
[2013-01-26T09:12:43+00:00] ERROR: /opt/chef/embedded/lib/ruby/gems/1.9.1/gems/chef-10.18.1/lib/chef/client.rb:117:in `run_failed' [2013-01-26T09:12:43+00:00] ERROR: /opt/chef/embedded/lib/ruby/gems/1.9.1/gems/chef-10.18.1/lib/chef/client.rb:436:in`rescue in do\_run’  
[2013-01-26T09:12:43+00:00] ERROR: /opt/chef/embedded/lib/ruby/gems/1.9.1/gems/chef-10.18.1/lib/chef/client.rb:444:in `do_run' [2013-01-26T09:12:43+00:00] ERROR: /opt/chef/embedded/lib/ruby/gems/1.9.1/gems/chef-10.18.1/lib/chef/client.rb:176:in`run’  
[2013-01-26T09:12:43+00:00] ERROR: /opt/chef/embedded/lib/ruby/gems/1.9.1/gems/chef-10.18.1/lib/chef/application.rb:140:in `run_chef_client' [2013-01-26T09:12:43+00:00] ERROR: /opt/chef/embedded/lib/ruby/gems/1.9.1/gems/chef-10.18.1/lib/chef/application/client.rb:274:in`block in run\_application’  
[2013-01-26T09:12:43+00:00] ERROR: /opt/chef/embedded/lib/ruby/gems/1.9.1/gems/chef-10.18.1/lib/chef/application/client.rb:267:in `loop' [2013-01-26T09:12:43+00:00] ERROR: /opt/chef/embedded/lib/ruby/gems/1.9.1/gems/chef-10.18.1/lib/chef/application/client.rb:267:in`run\_application’  
[2013-01-26T09:12:43+00:00] ERROR: /opt/chef/embedded/lib/ruby/gems/1.9.1/gems/chef-10.18.1/lib/chef/application.rb:72:in `run' [2013-01-26T09:12:43+00:00] ERROR: /opt/chef/embedded/lib/ruby/gems/1.9.1/gems/chef-10.18.1/bin/chef-client:26:in`\<top (required)\>’  
[2013-01-26T09:12:43+00:00] ERROR: /usr/bin/chef-client:23:in `load' [2013-01-26T09:12:43+00:00] ERROR: /usr/bin/chef-client:23:in`'  
[2013-01-26T09:12:43+00:00] ERROR: Exception handlers complete  
[2013-01-26T09:12:43+00:00] DEBUG: Server doesn’t support resource history, skipping resource report.  
[2013-01-26T09:12:43+00:00] FATAL: Stacktrace dumped to /var/chef/cache/chef-stacktrace.out  
[2013-01-26T09:12:43+00:00] DEBUG: LoadError: ruby\_block[import\_backed-up\_files\_from\_S3] (empowerme::extract\_files\_from\_s3\_backup line 8) had an error: LoadError: cannot load such file – aws

* * *

@millisami  
~ Sachin Sagar Rai  
Ruby on Rails Developer  
[http://tfm.com.np](http://tfm.com.np)  
[http://nepalonrails.com](http://nepalonrails.com) ([http://nepalonrails.tumblr.com](http://nepalonrails.tumblr.com))  
Sent with Sparrow ([http://www.sparrowmailapp.com/?sig](http://www.sparrowmailapp.com/?sig))

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![kallistec](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.chef.io/kallistec/32/23_2.png) [@kallistec](https://discourse.chef.io/u/kallistec)\
**Post date:** [January 26, 2013, 7:42pm UTC](https://discourse.chef.io/t/using-ruby-block/3532/2 "2013-01-26T19:42:28Z")

</div>

On Saturday, January 26, 2013 at 3:56 AM, Sachin Sagar Rai wrote:

> Ohai! chefs!
> 
> My Recipe has to import from S3, extract and seed the data from the mysqldump.
> 
> To do this, I want it using ruby and the aws-sdk gem.  
> AFAIK, the ruby code in the recipe file is evaluated at compil time and the ones that are inside `ruby_block` is evaluated at convergence time.  
> So if I do `require 'aws'`, it won't since its not installed. When I add it inside the ruby\_block, it errors out.  
> So to fix it, I used the `chef_gem 'aws-sdk'`, but this will run at the compile time which is fine.  
> But to install it, it depends on packages like lib-xml2 to be installed too at the compile time.

You can either continue the arms race of moving resources to compile time, which means you probably need to install build-essentials, libxml2-dev, etc. at compile time, too, or you can split your recipe into smaller bits and put each piece at an appropriate place in the run\_list, which might look like this:

1. build-essential
2. aws::install\_gem (would install libxml2-dev or you could put that in a different recipe before this one if you want)
3. recipe that does things with aws gem be anywhere after this in your run\_list

--  
Daniel DeLeo

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![millisami\_r](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.chef.io/millisami_r/32/418_2.png) [@millisami\_r](https://discourse.chef.io/u/millisami_r)\
**Post date:** [January 26, 2013, 7:47pm UTC](https://discourse.chef.io/t/using-ruby-block/3532/3 "2013-01-26T19:47:26Z")

</div>

Well @Daniel, I've been doing that way already and using the chef\_gem resource and ordered execution of recipes.

I was trying to get feedback whether I'm going in the wrong direction.  
Thanks

* * *

@millisami  
~ Sachin Sagar Rai  
Ruby on Rails Developer  
[http://tfm.com.np](http://tfm.com.np)  
[http://nepalonrails.com](http://nepalonrails.com) ([http://nepalonrails.tumblr.com](http://nepalonrails.tumblr.com))  
Sent with Sparrow ([http://www.sparrowmailapp.com/?sig](http://www.sparrowmailapp.com/?sig))

On Sunday, January 27, 2013 at 1:27 AM, Daniel DeLeo wrote:

> On Saturday, January 26, 2013 at 3:56 AM, Sachin Sagar Rai wrote:
> 
> > Ohai! chefs!
> > 
> > My Recipe has to import from S3, extract and seed the data from the mysqldump.
> > 
> > To do this, I want it using ruby and the aws-sdk gem.  
> > AFAIK, the ruby code in the recipe file is evaluated at compil time and the ones that are inside `ruby_block` is evaluated at convergence time.  
> > So if I do `require 'aws'`, it won't since its not installed. When I add it inside the ruby\_block, it errors out.  
> > So to fix it, I used the `chef_gem 'aws-sdk'`, but this will run at the compile time which is fine.  
> > But to install it, it depends on packages like lib-xml2 to be installed too at the compile time.
> 
> You can either continue the arms race of moving resources to compile time, which means you probably need to install build-essentials, libxml2-dev, etc. at compile time, too, or you can split your recipe into smaller bits and put each piece at an appropriate place in the run\_list, which might look like this:
> 
> 1. build-essential
> 2. aws::install\_gem (would install libxml2-dev or you could put that in a different recipe before this one if you want)
> 3. recipe that does things with aws gem be anywhere after this in your run\_list
> 
> --  
> Daniel DeLeo

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![kallistec](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.chef.io/kallistec/32/23_2.png) [@kallistec](https://discourse.chef.io/u/kallistec)\
**Post date:** [January 29, 2013, 4:19pm UTC](https://discourse.chef.io/t/using-ruby-block/3532/4 "2013-01-29T16:19:44Z")

</div>

On Saturday, January 26, 2013 at 11:47 AM, Sachin Sagar Rai wrote:

> Well @Daniel, I've been doing that way already and using the chef\_gem resource and ordered execution of recipes.
> 
> I was trying to get feedback whether I'm going in the wrong direction.  
> Thanks
> 
> * * *
> 
> @millisami  
> ~ Sachin Sagar Rai  
> There's a lively discussion going on in chef-dev about this topic. You can read the current archives here:

[http://lists.opscode.com/sympa/arc/chef-dev/2013-01/msg00053.html](http://lists.opscode.com/sympa/arc/chef-dev/2013-01/msg00053.html)

…if you're not subscribed to that list.

My summary is that people feel that compile-time resources should be avoided where possible, but there are some cases where it's the only currently available way to load extensions into Chef.

HTH,

--  
Daniel DeLeo