gistfile1.txt

TL;DR: is there some way to have a set of pillar data appear under differentent
names depending on the context?  So:

  minion-X gets a pillar titled "users:";
  but minion-Y gets the same data, titled, oh, "user_record:"

...?

Longer:

I have a set of minions that provide a service: production minions, and test/dev
minions.

I use ext_pillar to govern the accounts on all my minions, these and others, using
the 'users' formula: https://github.com/saltstack-formulas/users-formula

minion-a gets mapped to pillar files "all.yml" and "file-a.yml";
minion-b gets mapped to pillar files "all.yml" and "file-b.yml";
...and so forth.

In all of those files are pillars we know and love:

  users:
    tom:
      [...]
    dick:
      [...]
  
Simple so far.

I have a state that I've writtin, that we use for keeping an independent record
of our service's accounts.  Simple, writes a dumb CSV file:

  {% for name, user in pillar.get('users', {}).items() if user.absent is not defined or not user.absent %}
  {% if 'service_user' in user %}
    {{ name }}_account_record:
       file.append:
         - name: /root/userlist
         - text: {{ user.get('fullname') }},{{ name }},{{ user.get('key') }}
  {% endif %}
  {% endfor %}
  
That state gets assigned to dev and stage instances of minions, not the production
instances.  So far, that's how we've kept a record of accounts registered to use
this service: when a new set of accounts gets deployed, first we update our 
minions, then we take a copy of that file and store it in another location.

It works but that two-stage process is brittle, clumsy, and not automatic.

Now:

I have a different minion, where I want to keep a record of users just like the
column described above, but where I do not want those users to have logins
on the host itself (in /etc/passwd and friends).

I could assign that {{ name }}_account_record state to my new minion, but I'd have
to map my account pillar files there, and the "users" formula will deploy those 
accounts there when my new minion goes to highstate and I haven't solved anything.

My latest idea for fixing this (which I know is wrong) has been to do something
like:

  account_record_file.yml [is a symlink to] account_pillar_file.yml

And, map "account_record_file" to my new minion. But that obviously misses the 
mark.  Both sets of minions are still getting the same "users:" pillars and
I still haven't solved anything.

But, is there some way to do essentially the same thing, but instead of a
symlink to a file, instead have a pillar -- oh, call it "user_records:" -- that
doesn't contain any data itself, but is really just a new name for an existing
pillar?

Then my state would change to:

  {% for name, user in pillar.get('user_records', {}).items() if user.absent is not defined or not user.absent %}
  {% if 'service_user' in user %}
    {{ name }}_account_record:
       file.append:
         - name: /root/userlist
         - text: {{ user.get('fullname') }},{{ name }},{{ user.get('key') }}
  {% endif %}
  {% endfor %}

I map that state to my new minion and it's Miller time.

But I don't know of any method for doing that kind of thing -- make a pillar
appear under different names depending on the context.  I thought ext_pillar might
provie a way, but so far I haven't been able to figure that out.