Chef can't find solo.rb

chefnode.json

{
  "app": {
    "root_path": "/vagrant"
  },
  "mysql": {
    "server_root_password": "password"
  },
  "run_list": ["recipe[main]"]
}

chefsolo.rb

root = File.absolute_path(File.dirname(__FILE__))

file_cache_path root
cookbook_path root + '/cookbooks'
log_level :info
log_location STDOUT

running_chef.sh

# Files in current directory `~/chef`:
vagrant@precise64:~/chef$ ls
bootstrap.sh  chef-stacktrace.out  config  cookbooks  deploy.sh  MONITRC  node.json  solo.rb  Vagrantfile

# Running chef-solo with `-c solo.rb`
# It doesn't complain about a missing `solo.rb` here.
vagrant@precise64:~/chef$ sudo chef-solo -c solo.rb 
[Fri, 25 May 2012 16:16:37 +0000] INFO: *** Chef 0.10.10 ***
[Fri, 25 May 2012 16:16:37 +0000] INFO: Run List is []
[Fri, 25 May 2012 16:16:37 +0000] INFO: Run List expands to []
[Fri, 25 May 2012 16:16:37 +0000] INFO: Starting Chef Run for precise64
[Fri, 25 May 2012 16:16:37 +0000] INFO: Running start handlers
[Fri, 25 May 2012 16:16:37 +0000] INFO: Start handlers complete.
[Fri, 25 May 2012 16:16:38 +0000] INFO: Chef Run complete in 0.029810948 seconds
[Fri, 25 May 2012 16:16:38 +0000] INFO: Running report handlers
[Fri, 25 May 2012 16:16:38 +0000] INFO: Report handlers complete

# Running chef-solo with `-c solo.rb -j node.json`
# `node.json` contains the run_list
# It should now provision the server
vagrant@precise64:~/chef$ sudo chef-solo -c solo.rb -j node.json 
[Fri, 25 May 2012 16:16:42 +0000] INFO: *** Chef 0.10.10 ***
[Fri, 25 May 2012 16:16:42 +0000] INFO: Setting the run_list to ["recipe[main]"] from JSON
[Fri, 25 May 2012 16:16:42 +0000] INFO: Run List is [recipe[main]]
[Fri, 25 May 2012 16:16:42 +0000] INFO: Run List expands to [main]
[Fri, 25 May 2012 16:16:42 +0000] INFO: Starting Chef Run for precise64
[Fri, 25 May 2012 16:16:42 +0000] INFO: Running start handlers
[Fri, 25 May 2012 16:16:42 +0000] INFO: Start handlers complete.
[Fri, 25 May 2012 16:16:42 +0000] INFO: ohai plugins will be at: /etc/chef/ohai_plugins
[Fri, 25 May 2012 16:16:42 +0000] INFO: Processing remote_directory[/etc/chef/ohai_plugins] action create (ohai::default line 23)
[Fri, 25 May 2012 16:16:42 +0000] INFO: Processing cookbook_file[/etc/chef/ohai_plugins/README] action create (dynamically defined)
[Fri, 25 May 2012 16:16:42 +0000] ERROR: Running exception handlers
[Fri, 25 May 2012 16:16:42 +0000] ERROR: Exception handlers complete
[Fri, 25 May 2012 16:16:42 +0000] FATAL: Stacktrace dumped to /home/vagrant/chef/chef-stacktrace.out
[Fri, 25 May 2012 16:16:42 +0000] FATAL: Errno::ENOENT: No such file or directory - solo.rb

# Running chef only with `-j node.json`
# Now it complains about a missing `solo.rb`
vagrant@precise64:~/chef$ sudo chef-solo -j node.json 
[Fri, 25 May 2012 16:17:09 +0000] WARN: *****************************************
[Fri, 25 May 2012 16:17:09 +0000] WARN: Did not find config file: /etc/chef/solo.rb, using command line options.
[Fri, 25 May 2012 16:17:09 +0000] WARN: *****************************************
[Fri, 25 May 2012 16:17:09 +0000] INFO: *** Chef 0.10.10 ***
[Fri, 25 May 2012 16:17:09 +0000] INFO: Setting the run_list to ["recipe[main]"] from JSON
[Fri, 25 May 2012 16:17:09 +0000] INFO: Run List is [recipe[main]]
[Fri, 25 May 2012 16:17:09 +0000] INFO: Run List expands to [main]
[Fri, 25 May 2012 16:17:09 +0000] INFO: Starting Chef Run for precise64
[Fri, 25 May 2012 16:17:09 +0000] INFO: Running start handlers
[Fri, 25 May 2012 16:17:09 +0000] INFO: Start handlers complete.
[Fri, 25 May 2012 16:17:09 +0000] ERROR: Running exception handlers
[Fri, 25 May 2012 16:17:09 +0000] ERROR: Exception handlers complete
[Fri, 25 May 2012 16:17:09 +0000] FATAL: Stacktrace dumped to /var/chef/cache/chef-stacktrace.out
[Fri, 25 May 2012 16:17:09 +0000] FATAL: Chef::Exceptions::CookbookNotFound: Cookbook main not found. If you're loading main from another cookbook, make sure you configure the dependency in your metadata

# Why doesn't chef complain when running without `-j node.json`?

I ran into this same issue. Chef doesn't seem to complain if the paths in the command line options are full paths. For some reason, it doesn't like relative paths at the end. It seems like a bug.