Default precedence

mainattributesdefault.rb

# main/attributes/default.rb
default['foo'] = 'foo'

mainattributesother.rb

# main/attributes/other.rb
include_attribute 'main::default'
default['foo'] = 'bar'

mainrecipesdefault.rb

# main/recipes/default.rb
Chef::Log.info "#### #{node['foo']}"

mainrecipesother.rb

# main/recipes/other.rb
Chef::Log.info "#### #{node['foo']}"

node.json

{ "run_list": "recipe[main::other]" }

For whatever reason, the results are random. Have fun 40 times, got 'foo' logged out 24 times and 'bar' logged out the other 16 times.

Amazingly, it does not matter if run_list is set to main::other or main::default. You get the random foo/bar issue regardless, even though when running main::default, i would not expect it to ever even load the main/attributes/other.rb file!