You don't want absolute hard coded file paths in your resources.
class file_module_path {
file { '/tmp/fakefile':
content => file('yourmodulename/fakefile'),
}
}
Having absolute file paths in your Puppet modules can make reuse harder
and tie them to implementation details of your puppet install. While the
template function has always provided a way around this, by accepting
module based paths, the file type lacked this nicety until Puppet 3.7
and later.
In earlier puppet versions you called file with absolute paths, like this:
class absolute_path {
file { '/tmp/fakefile':
content => file('/etc/puppet/modules/yourmodulename/files/fakefile'),
}
}
This assumed the module would be deployed to a certain location and on a
*nix alike system. In newer puppets you can call the file function in
the same way as you'd use template, while retaining support for
matching the first found file. This allows you to specify files relative
to the module itself and hide puppet implementation details such as the
module path.
class file_module_path {
file { '/tmp/fakefile':
content => file('yourmodulename/fakefile'),
}
# and with fact based file selection
file { '/tmp/fakefile':
content => file(
"yourmodulename/fakefile.${::hostname}",
'yourmodulename/fakefile'
),
}
}