Monkeypatch for chef solo to do basic data_bag manipulations

chef_solo_patch.rb

# save this in the library folder of a cookbook 
# (e.g. ./coookbooks/vagrant/library/chef_solo_patch.rb)
# see also https://gist.github.com/867958 for vagrant patch

# based on http://lists.opscode.com/sympa/arc/chef/2011-02/msg00000.html
if Chef::Config[:solo]
  class Chef
    module Mixin
      module Language
        def data_bag(bag)
          @solo_data_bags = {} if @solo_data_bags.nil?
          unless @solo_data_bags[bag]
            @solo_data_bags[bag] = {}
            data_bag_path = Chef::Config[:data_bag_path]
            Dir.glob(File.join(data_bag_path, bag, "*.json")).each do |f|
              item = JSON.parse(IO.read(f))
              @solo_data_bags[bag][item['id']] = item
            end
          end
          @solo_data_bags[bag].keys
        end

        def data_bag_item(bag, item)
          data_bag(bag) unless ( !@solo_data_bags.nil? && @solo_data_bags[bag])
          @solo_data_bags[bag][item]
        end

      end
    end
  end

  class Chef
    class Recipe
      def search(bag_name, query=nil)
        Chef::Log.warn("Simplistic search patch, ignoring query of %s" % [query]) unless query.nil?
        data_bag(bag_name.to_s).each do |bag_item_id|
          bag_item = data_bag_item(bag_name.to_s, bag_item_id)
          yield bag_item
        end
      end

    end
  end

end

I don't know exactly how it works, but know from experience that library files are evaluated on any node which is using a recipe from their cookbook (so probably required by chef during recipe discovery/loading).

Because the recipe files are evaluated in Chef::Recipe context (like an extend/include I suppose) which itself includes various mixins, you can see how the monkey patching above overrides the existing methods.

Might be worth asking the question on the chef-list.

Hmm, it looks like data_bags_path is now in Vagrant