How can I improve class function using a template or other generic method

Question

I have a class function that downloads packages using the package method in puppet.

class package {

  define install( $dependence=File[$dummy_dependence_file])
 {
      package { $name:
            ensure => "installed",
        require => $dependence,
  }
 }
}

I currently use it in my init.pp like so

# install dependencies
$dependence_list = ['glibc.i686','wget','gcc']
#
# ==Actions
# Install glibc, gcc, wget dependency for running sybase
# 
# ==Requires
# * http proxy to be setup to get around jpm proxy
package::install { $dependence_list:
      dependence => File[ $http_setup_name ],
      }

I would like this method to be more generic. Is it possible instead of using a array of dependencies, which I need to edit the init.pp each time. To use a template and read each dependency from a file? Or any other generic method would do...

An example would be great.

Answer 1

you should be able to simply set the requirement within the package and pass an array to the package too:

 $my_packages = ['apache2', 'curl', 'wget']
 $my_dependencies = [File['a'], File['b'], User['tester']]

 package { $my_packages:
   ensure  => installed,
   require => $my_dependencies,
 }

Using this type of package should be sufficient for your needs.

However if you want to read the dependency list from a file you can use the 'template' function. ie.

 $my_dependencies = template('modulepath/templates/dependency_list.erb')

Finally you're dependency_list.erb would look like this:

[File['a'], File['b'], User['tester']]

and that's all there really is to it!

For more information you can see http://docs.puppetlabs.com/guides/templating.html