gistfile3.js

{
  "apps": [
    "foo"
  ],
  "apache":
    {
      "foo":
        {
          "server_name": "example.com",
          "aliases": [
            "www.example.com"
          ],
          "max_pool_size": 10,
          "enable": true
        }
    },
  "rails_env": "staging",
}

gistfile4.txt

/var/chef/cache/cookbooks/passenger/recipes/default.rb:53:in `[]': Symbol as array index (TypeError)
	from /var/chef/cache/cookbooks/passenger/recipes/default.rb:53:in `from_file'
	from /usr/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/chef-0.5.1/lib/chef/recipe.rb:161:in `instance_eval'
	from /usr/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/chef-0.5.1/lib/chef/recipe.rb:161:in `method_missing'
	from /var/chef/cache/cookbooks/passenger/recipes/default.rb:50:in `from_file'
	from /var/chef/cache/cookbooks/passenger/recipes/default.rb:33:in `each'
	from /var/chef/cache/cookbooks/passenger/recipes/default.rb:33:in `from_file'
	from /usr/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/chef-0.5.1/lib/chef/cookbook.rb:139:in `load_recipe'
	from /usr/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/chef-0.5.1/lib/chef/recipe.rb:79:in `include_recipe'
	 ... 15 levels...
	from /usr/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/chef-0.5.1/bin/chef-client:108:in `loop'
	from /usr/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/chef-0.5.1/bin/chef-client:108
	from /usr/bin/chef-client:19:in `load'
	from /usr/bin/chef-client:19

Recipe.rb

node[:apps].each do |app|
  template "/etc/apache2/sites-available/#{app}_#{node[:rails_env]}" do
    owner 'root'
    group 'root'
    mode 0644
    source "application.vhost.erb"
    variables({
      :docroot => "/data/#{app}/current/public",
      :server_name => node[:apache][app][:server_name],
      :max_pool_size => node[:apache][app][:max_pool_size] || 2,
      :env => node[:rails_env],
      :aliases => node[:apache][app][:aliases],
      :app => app
    })
    notifies :reload, resources(:service => "apache2")
  end
  apache_site "#{app}_#{node[:rails_env]}" do
    enable node[:apache][app][:enable]
  end
end

workaround.rb

node[:apps].each do |app|
  template "/etc/apache2/sites-available/#{app}_#{node[:rails_env]}" do
    owner 'root'
    group 'root'
    mode 0644
    source "application.vhost.erb"
    variables({
      :docroot => "/data/#{app}/current/public",
      :server_name => node[:apache][app][:server_name],
      :max_pool_size => node[:apache][app][:max_pool_size] || 2,
      :env => node[:rails_env],
      :aliases => node[:apache][app][:aliases],
      :app => app
    })
    notifies :reload, resources(:service => "apache2")
  end

  enabled_flag = node[:apache][app][:enable] # what's up with closures, man?
  apache_site "#{app}_#{node[:rails_env]}" do
    enable enabled_flag
  end
end