macos_userdefaults resource¶

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Use the macos_userdefaults resource to manage the macOS user defaults system. The properties of the resource are passed to the defaults command, and the parameters follow the conventions of that command. See the defaults man page for additional information.

New in Chef Client 14.0.

Syntax¶

The macos_userdefaults resource has the following syntax:

macos_userdefaults 'name' do
  domain      String
  global      true, false # default value: false
  key         String
  sudo        true, false # default value: false
  type        String
  user        String
  value       Integer, Float, String, true, false, Hash, Array
  action      Symbol # defaults to :write if not specified
end

where:

macos_userdefaults is the resource.
name is the name given to the resource block.
action identifies which steps Chef Infra Client will take to bring the node into the desired state.
domain, global, key, sudo, type, user, and value are the properties available to this resource.

Actions¶

The macos_userdefaults resource has the following actions:

:write: Default. Writes the setting to the specified domain.
:nothing: This resource block does not act unless notified by another resource to take action. Once notified, this resource block either runs immediately or is queued up to run at the end of a Chef Infra Client run.

Properties¶

The macos_userdefaults resource has the following properties:

domain

Ruby Type: String | REQUIRED

The domain that the user defaults belong to.

global

Ruby Type: true, false | Default Value: false

Determines whether or not the domain is global.

key

Ruby Type: String

The preference key.

sudo

Ruby Type: true, false | Default Value: false

Set to true if the setting you wish to modify requires privileged access.

type

Ruby Type: String

The value type of the preference key.

user

Ruby Type: String

The system user that the default will be applied to.

value

Ruby Type: Integer, Float, String, true, false, Hash, Array | REQUIRED

The value of the key.

Common Resource Functionality¶

Chef resources include common properties, notifications, and resource guards.

Common Properties¶

The following properties are common to every resource:

ignore_failure

Ruby Type: true, false | Default Value: false

Continue running a recipe if a resource fails for any reason.

retries

Ruby Type: Integer | Default Value: 0

The number of attempts to catch exceptions and retry the resource.

retry_delay

Ruby Type: Integer | Default Value: 2

The retry delay (in seconds).

sensitive

Ruby Type: true, false | Default Value: false

Ensure that sensitive resource data is not logged by Chef Infra Client.

Notifications¶

notifies

Ruby Type: Symbol, ‘Chef::Resource[String]’

A resource may notify another resource to take action when its state changes. Specify a 'resource[name]', the :action that resource should take, and then the :timer for that action. A resource may notify more than one resource; use a notifies statement for each resource to be notified.

A timer specifies the point during a Chef Infra Client run at which a notification is run. The following timers are available:

:before: Specifies that the action on a notified resource should be run before processing the resource block in which the notification is located.
:delayed: Default. Specifies that a notification should be queued up, and then executed at the end of a Chef Infra Client run.
:immediate, :immediately: Specifies that a notification should be run immediately, per resource notified.

The syntax for notifies is:

notifies :action, 'resource[name]', :timer

subscribes: Ruby Type: Symbol, ‘Chef::Resource[String]’

A resource may listen to another resource, and then take action if the state of the resource being listened to changes. Specify a 'resource[name]', the :action to be taken, and then the :timer for that action.

Note that subscribes does not apply the specified action to the resource that it listens to - for example:

file '/etc/nginx/ssl/example.crt' do
  mode '0600'
  owner 'root'
end

service 'nginx' do
  subscribes :reload, 'file[/etc/nginx/ssl/example.crt]', :immediately
end

In this case the subscribes property reloads the nginx service whenever its certificate file, located under /etc/nginx/ssl/example.crt, is updated. subscribes does not make any changes to the certificate file itself, it merely listens for a change to the file, and executes the :reload action for its resource (in this example nginx) when a change is detected.

A timer specifies the point during a Chef Infra Client run at which a notification is run. The following timers are available:

:before: Specifies that the action on a notified resource should be run before processing the resource block in which the notification is located.
:delayed: Default. Specifies that a notification should be queued up, and then executed at the end of a Chef Infra Client run.
:immediate, :immediately: Specifies that a notification should be run immediately, per resource notified.

The syntax for subscribes is:

subscribes :action, 'resource[name]', :timer

Guards¶

A guard property can be used to evaluate the state of a node during the execution phase of a Chef Infra Client run. Based on the results of this evaluation, a guard property is then used to tell Chef Infra Client if it should continue executing a resource. A guard property accepts either a string value or a Ruby block value:

A string is executed as a shell command. If the command returns 0, the guard is applied. If the command returns any other value, then the guard property is not applied. String guards in a powershell_script run Windows PowerShell commands and may return true in addition to 0.
A block is executed as Ruby code that must return either true or false. If the block returns true, the guard property is applied. If the block returns false, the guard property is not applied.

A guard property is useful for ensuring that a resource is idempotent by allowing that resource to test for the desired state as it is being executed, and then if the desired state is present, for Chef Infra Client to do nothing.

Properties

The following properties can be used to define a guard that is evaluated during the execution phase of a Chef Infra Client run:

not_if: Prevent a resource from executing when the condition returns true.
only_if: Allow a resource to execute only if the condition returns true.

Examples¶

Specify a global domain

macos_userdefaults 'full keyboard access to all controls' do
  domain 'AppleKeyboardUIMode'
  global true
  value '2'
end

Use an integer value

macos_userdefaults 'enable macOS firewall' do
  domain '/Library/Preferences/com.apple.alf'
  key 'globalstate'
  value '1'
  type 'int'
end

Use a boolean value

macos_userdefaults 'finder expanded save dialogs' do
  domain 'NSNavPanelExpandedStateForSaveMode'
  global true
  value 'TRUE'
  type 'bool'
end