Puppet Repl

This module contains a function start_repl and is for use with the puppet-repl gem.

The function is used for starting the puppet repl from inside the puppet code.

The function will inject the scope, node and environment data into the repl and will allow you to poke around to see variables, functions, facts, classes, and resources defined in the current scope.

Requirements

Ensure you have installed the puppet-repl gem gem install puppet-repl or place this in your Gemfile gem 'puppet-repl', '>= 0.3' for your puppet module.

This also requires puppet 3.8+ with future parser enabled.

You will also want to include this module in your fixtures file if using for rspec-puppet unit testing.

repl:
   repo: https://github.com/nwops/puppet-repl-module

Usage

DO NOT RUN THIS ON YOUR PUPPET SERVER OR IN PRODUCTION

Planes will fall out of the sky, and kittens will die. Do you really want that? Although there is a safety mechanism to prevent the this function from being called under a daemonized puppet run.

In order to start the puppet-repl from within code just place the start_repl() function inside your manifest code where you want the scope to be injected. This will automatically call the repl whereami command and show where in the code the start_repl() function was called from. This makes it obvious where in the code you are evaulating from. This gives you the ability to step through your codce. To goto the next iteration just use the exit command and the compiler will continue to compile where it previously left of.

Example:

class repl::repl_test(
  $var1 = 'value1',
  $var2 = ['value1', 'value2', 'value3']
)
{
  # dummy resources so we can show list of resources
  file{'/tmp/test.txt': ensure => present, mode => '0755'}
  service{'httpd': ensure => running}

  # how to find values with an empheral scope
  $var2.each | String $item | {
    file{"/tmp/${item}": ensure => present}
    start_repl({'run_once' => true})
  }
  start_repl({'run_once' => true})
  if $var1 == 'value1' {
    start_repl({'run_once' => true})
  }
}

Example Repl session when inside the each block. Notice the item variable.

Ruby Version: 2.3.1
Puppet Version: 4.7.0
Puppet Repl Version: 0.3.3
Created by: NWOps <corey@nwops.io>
Type "exit", "functions", "vars", "krt", "whereami", "facts", "resources", "classes",
     "play", "classification", "reset", or "help" for more information.

          8:   service{'httpd': ensure => running}
          9:
         10:   # how to find values with an empheral scope
         11:   $var2.each | String $item | {
         12:     file{"/tmp/${item}": ensure => present}
      => 13:     start_repl({'run_once' => false})
         14:   }
         15:   start_repl({'run_once' => false})
         16:   if $var1 == 'value1' {
         17:     start_repl({'run_once' => false})
         18:   }
1:>> $item
 => "value1"
>>

If using with rspec-puppet, only the facts you define in your test suite will be present in the repl.

For more information on how to use the puppet repl please refer to the documentation

Troubleshooting

This module and puppet-repl gem are very new, there will be bugs. Please file them at puppet-repl gem.