remote file uses cookbook file for cookbook files/*

chef/lib/chef/platform.rb

@@ -162,7 +162,6 @@ def platforms
             :directory => Chef::Provider::Directory,
             :link => Chef::Provider::Link,
             :template => Chef::Provider::Template,
-            :remote_file => Chef::Provider::RemoteFile,
             :remote_directory => Chef::Provider::RemoteDirectory,
             :execute => Chef::Provider::Execute,
             :mount => Chef::Provider::Mount::Mount,

chef/lib/chef/resource/remote_file.rb

@@ -54,6 +54,29 @@ def checksum(args=nil)
         )
       end
 
+      # The provider that should be used for this resource.
+      # === Returns:
+      # Chef::Provider::RemoteFile    when the source is an absolute URI, like
+      #                               http://www.google.com/robots.txt
+      # Chef::Provider::CookbookFile  when the source is a relative URI, like
+      #                               'myscript.pl', 'dir/config.conf'
+      def provider
+        if absolute_uri?(source)
+          Chef::Provider::RemoteFile
+        else
+          # contentious...
+          Chef::Log.warn("remote_file is deprecated for fetching files from cookbooks. Use cookbook_file instead")
+          Chef::Provider::CookbookFile
+        end
+      end
+
+      private
+
+      def absolute_uri?(source)
+        URI.parse(source).absolute?
+      rescue URI::InvalidURIError
+        false
+      end
 
     end
   end

chef/spec/unit/resource/remote_file_spec.rb

@@ -32,6 +32,18 @@
     end
   end
 
+  it "says its provider is RemoteFile when the source is an absolute URI" do
+    @resource.source("http://www.google.com/robots.txt")
+    @resource.provider.should == Chef::Provider::RemoteFile
+    Chef::Platform.find_provider(:noplatform, 'noversion', @resource).should == Chef::Provider::RemoteFile
+  end
+
+  it "says its provider is CookbookFile when the source is a relative URI" do
+    @resource.source('seattle.txt')
+    @resource.provider.should == Chef::Provider::CookbookFile
+    Chef::Platform.find_provider(:noplatform, 'noversion', @resource).should == Chef::Provider::CookbookFile
+  end
+
   describe "source" do
     it "should accept a string for the remote file source" do
       @resource.source "something"