How can I get Chef to run apt-get update before running other recipes

Question

Right now I have the following in my Vagrantfile:

config.vm.provision :chef_solo do |chef|
    chef.cookbooks_path = \"cookbooks\"
    chef.add_recipe \"apt\"
           


        

Answer 1

There are three resources that will do this nicely on an ubuntu system, specifically in use on 12.04 precise 64 bit by me.

1. run apt-get-update at will when other recipes require

2. install update-notifier-common package that gives us timestamps on updates

3. check the timestamps and update periodically. In this case below after 86400 seconds.

And here's those three recipes.

execute "apt-get-update" do
  command "apt-get update"
  ignore_failure true
  action :nothing
end

package "update-notifier-common" do
  notifies :run, resources(:execute => "apt-get-update"), :immediately
end

execute "apt-get-update-periodic" do
  command "apt-get update"
  ignore_failure true
  only_if do
   File.exists?('/var/lib/apt/periodic/update-success-stamp') &&
   File.mtime('/var/lib/apt/periodic/update-success-stamp') < Time.now - 86400
  end
end