A quick-and-dirty Chef attribute provenance reporter using ChefSpec

attribute_provenance_spec.rb

# Attribute Provenance reporter
# -----------------------------
#
# Runs as a ChefSpec test and dumps two sections of data:
# 1. all attributes (data from `node.debug_value()`)
# 2. where each attribute is set.  You can specify the attributes
#    you want included with an ATTRS environment variable.
#
# Sample run:
#
# `ATTRS=text,mail chef exec rspec spec/unit/recipes/attribute_provenance_spec.rb`
#
# outputs
#
# =======================
# All attribute settings:
# [["set_unless_enabled?", false],
#  ["default",
#   {"apt"=>
#     {"cacher-client"=>{"restrict_environment"=>false},
# ...
# =======================
# Cookbook attributes:
# Attribute: mail
#   nil   (cookbooks/apt/attributes/default.rb:42)
# Attribute: text
#   "hello there"   (cookbooks/ABC/attributes/default.rb:2)
#
#
# NOTES:
# * this is not a general solution.  Specifically, the code has
#   `runner.converge('ABC::default')`, so change that for your recipe.
#   You may also need to add other things, eg attributes, stub methods, etc.
# * For node.debug_value() info, see
#   https://www.chef.io/blog/2013/02/05/chef-11-in-depth-attributes-changes/

require 'spec_helper'
require 'pp'

#########################
# Track attributes.

# Attributes set during run.
$attributes = Hash.new { |h, k| h[k] = [] }

# Re-open VividMash to track attribute changes.
class Chef
  class Node
    class VividMash
      alias_method :old_insert, :[]=
      def []=(key, value)
        c = caller.select { |c| c =~ /cookbook/i && c !~ /ruby\/gems/ && c !~ /#{__FILE__}/ }
        $attributes[key] << [ value, c ] if c.size > 0
        old_insert(key, value)
      end
    end
  end
end

#########################
# Reporting

def clean_callstack(callstack)
  callstack.map do |c|
    c.gsub(/^.*?cookbooks/, 'cookbooks').gsub(/.in .from_file./, '')
  end
end

def report_attribute(attr, vals_and_callstacks)
  puts "Attribute: #{attr}"
  vals_and_callstacks.each do |value, callstack|
    puts "  #{value.inspect}   (#{clean_callstack(callstack).join('\n')})"
  end
end

def report_attributes(attrs, only_include = [])
  attrs.keys.each do |k|
    report_attribute(k, attrs[k]) if (only_include.size == 0 || only_include.include?(k))
  end
end

def get_targets(env_attrs)
  return [] if env_attrs.nil?
  return env_attrs.split(',')
end

############
# Report on used attributes.

describe 'recipe' do

  context 'checking attributes' do
    it 'dumps attributes' do
      runner = ChefSpec::ServerRunner.new
      runner.converge('ABC::default')

      puts "======================="
      puts "All attribute settings:"
      pp runner.node.debug_value()
      puts "======================="
      puts "Cookbook attributes:"
      t = get_targets(ENV['ATTRS'])
      report_attributes($attributes, t)
      puts "======================="
    end
  end

end