Salt doesn't see individual values in 'roles' grain

_etc_salt_cloud.profiles

base_ec2_private:
  provider: my-ec2-us-east-private-ips
  image: ami-018c9568
  size: Micro Instance
  ssh_username: ubuntu

base_ec2_public:
  provider: my-ec2-us-east-public-ips
  image: ami-018c9568
  size: Micro Instance
  ssh_username: ubuntu

base_ec2_elk:
  provider: my-ec2-us-east-private-ips
  image: ami-018c9568
  size: m3.medium
  ssh_username: ubuntu
  volumes:
    - { size: 10, device: /dev/sdf, type: standard }
  # tag: { 'role': 'logstash-receiver' }
  sync_after_install: all
  # rename_on_destroy: True
  destroy_sshkeys: True
  script_args: -p python-boto

staging_ec2_elk:
  provider: my-ec2-us-east-private-ips
  image: ami-018c9568
  size: m3.medium
  ssh_username: ubuntu
  grains:
    environment: staging
    roles:
      - logstash-receiver
      - logstash
      - elasticsearch
      - kibana
  volumes:
    - { size: 30, device: /dev/sdf, type: standard }
  tag: { 'environment': 'staging', 'roles': 'logstash-receiver,logstash,kibana,elasticsearch' }
  # n.b. the 'tag' attribute sets ec2 tags, which we can later extract with the ec2_tags.py _grain
  # but just setting them in 'grains' above is way easier, so this is kind of redundant
  sync_after_install: all
  destroy_sshkeys: True
  del_all_vols_on_destroy: True
  script_args: -p python-boto
  allocate_new_eip: True

_etc_salt_cloud.profiles (functional)

base_ec2_private:
  provider: my-ec2-us-east-private-ips
  image: ami-018c9568
  size: Micro Instance
  ssh_username: ubuntu

base_ec2_public:
  provider: my-ec2-us-east-public-ips
  image: ami-018c9568
  size: Micro Instance
  ssh_username: ubuntu

base_ec2_elk:
  provider: my-ec2-us-east-private-ips
  image: ami-018c9568
  size: m3.medium
  ssh_username: ubuntu
  volumes:
    - { size: 10, device: /dev/sdf, type: standard }
  # tag: { 'role': 'logstash-receiver' }
  sync_after_install: all
  # rename_on_destroy: True
  destroy_sshkeys: True
  script_args: -p python-boto

staging_ec2_elk:
  provider: my-ec2-us-east-private-ips
  image: ami-018c9568
  size: m3.medium
  ssh_username: ubuntu
  grains:
    environment: staging
    roles: {'logstash-reciever': True, 'logstash': True, 'elasticsearch': True, 'kibana': True}
  volumes:
    - { size: 30, device: /dev/sdf, type: standard }
  tag: { 'environment': 'staging', 'roles': 'logstash-receiver,logstash,kibana,elasticsearch' }
  # n.b. the 'tag' attribute sets ec2 tags, which we can later extract with the ec2_tags.py _grain
  # but just setting them in 'grains' above is way easier, so this is kind of redundant
  sync_after_install: all
  destroy_sshkeys: True
  del_all_vols_on_destroy: True
  script_args: -p python-boto
  allocate_new_eip: True

_etc_salt_cloud.providers.d_ec2.conf

my-ec2-us-east-private-ips:
  # set location for salt-master
  minion:
    master: saltmaster.MYDOMAIN.com

  # set up grains, which all nodes using this provider inherit
  grains:
    node_type: managed

  # specify whether to use public or private IP for the deploy script
  ssh_interface: private_ips

  # EC2 access credentials
  id: TKTKTKTK
  key: TKTKTKTK

  # private key for SSH login to new instances
  private_key: /etc/salt/salt-master.pem
  keyname: salt-master
  securitygroup: 'A NICE SECURITY GROUP'
  # above security group opens ssh, web+https, salt to public, plus redis (only to 10/8)

  # configure region
  location: us-east-1
  availability_zone: us-east-1b

  # configure which user to run the deploy script
  # we're using ubuntu for most everything; this can be overridden
  ssh_username: ubuntu

  # optionally add IAM profile
  iam_profile: 'arn:aws:iam::MY IAM NUMBER:instance-profile/salt-minion'

  # rename_on_destroy: True

  provider: ec2

gistfile1.txt

dylan@salt /srv/salt (internal-ip-nginx-endpoint●)$ _ salt '*' grains.get roles
logstash_staging:
    - logstash-receiver
    - logstash
    - elasticsearch
    - kibana
logstash_ops:
    - logstash-receiver
    - logstash
    - elasticsearch
    - kibana
dylan@salt /srv/salt (internal-ip-nginx-endpoint●)$ _ salt '*' grains.has_value roles
logstash_staging:
    True
logstash_ops:
    True
dylan@salt /srv/salt (internal-ip-nginx-endpoint●)$ _ salt '*' grains.has_value roles:logstash
logstash_staging:
    False
logstash_ops:
    False

roles:
  - logstash-receiver: True
  - logstash: True
  - elasticsearch: True
  - kibana: True

With that setup and new minions provisioned afresh, I get:

dylan@salt /srv/salt (internal-ip-nginx-endpoint●)$ _ salt '*' grains.get roles
logstash_staging:
    ----------
    - logstash-receiver:
        True
    ----------
    - logstash:
        True
    ----------
    - elasticsearch:
        True
    ----------
    - kibana:
        True
logstash_ops:
    ----------
    - logstash-receiver:
        True
    ----------
    - logstash:
        True
    ----------
    - elasticsearch:
        True
    ----------
    - kibana:
        True
dylan@salt /srv/salt (internal-ip-nginx-endpoint●)$ _ salt '*' grains.get roles:elasticsearch
logstash_staging:

logstash_ops:

dylan@salt /srv/salt (internal-ip-nginx-endpoint●)$ _ salt '*' grains.has_value roles
logstash_staging:
    True
logstash_ops:
    True
dylan@salt /srv/salt (internal-ip-nginx-endpoint●)$ _ salt '*' grains.has_value roles:elasticsearch
logstash_ops:
    False
logstash_staging:
    False

When defining each of the "roles" keys as "present" (instead of True):

dylan@salt /srv/salt (internal-ip-nginx-endpoint●)$ _ salt '*' grains.get roles
logstash_staging:
    ----------
    - logstash-receiver:
        present
    ----------
    - logstash:
        present
    ----------
    - elasticsearch:
        present
    ----------
    - kibana:
        present
logstash_ops:
    ----------
    - logstash-receiver:
        present
    ----------
    - logstash:
        present
    ----------
    - elasticsearch:
        present
    ----------
    - kibana:
        present
dylan@salt /srv/salt (internal-ip-nginx-endpoint●)$ _ salt '*' grains.has_value roles
logstash_staging:
    True
logstash_ops:
    True
dylan@salt /srv/salt (internal-ip-nginx-endpoint●)$ _ salt '*' grains.has_value roles:logstash
logstash_ops:
    False
logstash_staging:
    False

By defining the 'roles' dict using curly-bracket syntax as in https://gist.github.com/arubis/0d065b9e10f9e69c83d2#file-_etc_salt_cloud-profiles-functional , we achieve expected behavior:

dylan@salt /srv/salt (internal-ip-nginx-endpoint●)$ _ salt '*' grains.get roles
logstash_staging:
    ----------
    elasticsearch:
        True
    kibana:
        True
    logstash:
        True
    logstash-reciever:
        True
logstash_ops:
    ----------
    elasticsearch:
        True
    kibana:
        True
    logstash:
        True
    logstash-reciever:
        True
dylan@salt /srv/salt (internal-ip-nginx-endpoint●)$ _ salt '*' grains.has_value roles
logstash_ops:
    True
logstash_staging:
    True
dylan@salt /srv/salt (internal-ip-nginx-endpoint●)$ _ salt '*' grains.has_value roles:kibana
logstash_ops:
    True
logstash_staging:
    True