As far as I can tell from the documentation
http://wiki.opscode.com/display/chef/Attributes
it is expected behavior that chef-solo does not merge json
attributes (json_attribs which I think is the -j value) with with
role attributes.
json attributes are normal priority, and roles are either default
or override which means either makes it to the finish line but
not both.
The work-around is easy enough, create a role to hold the
attributes, and mix that via the run list, but I am curios
why deep merging is not supported int he first place.
/Allan
Allan Wind
Life Integrity, LLC
http://lifeintegrity.com