44. cdist-type__file(7)¶

Manage files.

Nico Schottelius <nico-cdist--@--schottelius.org>

44.1. DESCRIPTION¶

This cdist type allows you to create files, remove files and set file attributes on the target.

If the file already exists on the target, then if it is a:

regular file, and state is:

present: replace it with the source file if they are not equal
exists: do nothing

symlink

replace it with the source file

directory

replace it with the source file

In any case, make sure that the file attributes are as specified.

44.2. REQUIRED PARAMETERS¶

None.

44.3. OPTIONAL PARAMETERS¶

state

‘present’, ‘absent’ or ‘exists’, defaults to ‘present’ where:

present: the file is exactly the one from source
absent: the file does not exist
exists: the file from source but only if it doesn’t already exist

group

Group to chgrp to.

mode

Unix permissions, suitable for chmod.

owner

User to chown to.

source

If supplied, copy this file from the host running cdist to the target. If not supplied, an empty file or directory will be created. If source is ‘-‘ (dash), take what was written to stdin as the file content.

44.4. MESSAGES¶

chgrp <group>: Changed group membership
chown <owner>: Changed owner
chmod <mode>: Changed mode
create: Empty file was created (no –source specified)
remove: File exists, but state is absent, file will be removed by generated code.
upload: File was uploaded

44.5. EXAMPLES¶

# Create  /etc/cdist-configured as an empty file
__file /etc/cdist-configured
# The same thing
__file /etc/cdist-configured --state present
# Use __file from another type
__file /etc/issue --source "$__type/files/archlinux" --state present
# Delete existing file
__file /etc/cdist-configured --state absent
# Supply some more settings
__file /etc/shadow --source "$__type/files/shadow" \
   --owner root --group shadow --mode 0640 \
   --state present
# Provide a default file, but let the user change it
__file /home/frodo/.bashrc --source "/etc/skel/.bashrc" \
   --state exists \
   --owner frodo --mode 0600
# Take file content from stdin
__file /tmp/whatever --owner root --group root --mode 644 --source - << DONE
    Here goes the content for /tmp/whatever
DONE

44.6. SEE ALSO¶

cdist-type(7)