manage multiple files in same state

[wolfpackmars2]

Edit

Turns out the original issue was caused by a typo 😊. There may still be an opportunity to improve the docs by including a working example using the names declaration in a file.managed state.

Description of Issue/Question

According to the docs, it should be possible to manage multiple files in one state using the 'names' parameter. However, the results in an error "Rendering SLS failed: mapping values are not allowed in this context"

Related #4508 - specifically shorawitz commented on Feb 12, 2016

The docs may be misleading and may need to be reviewed or a good, working example of managing multiple files using the names parameter should be added to the docs.

Related documentation links:
https://docs.saltstack.com/en/2019.2/ref/states/all/salt.states.file.html#operations-on-regular-files-special-files-directories-and-symlinks

The names parameter, which is part of the state compiler, can be used to expand the contents of a single state declaration into multiple, single state declarations. Each item in the names list receives its own individual state name and is converted into its own low-data structure. This is a convenient way to manage several files with similar attributes.

There is more documentation about this feature in the Names declaration section of the Highstate docs.

Setup

Using either state:

salt_master_configuration_files:
  file:
    - managed
    - user: root
    - group: root
    - mode: '0644'
    - names:
      - /etc/salt/master.d/master.conf:
        - source: salt://saltmaster/master.conf
      - /etc/salt/minion.d/minion-99.conf
        - source: salt://saltmaster/minion.conf

or

salt_master_configuration_files:
  file.managed:
    - user: root
    - group: root
    - mode: '0644'
    - names:
      - /etc/salt/master.d/master.conf:
        - source: salt://saltmaster/master.conf
      - /etc/salt/minion.d/minion-99.conf
        - source: salt://saltmaster/minion.conf

Steps to Reproduce Issue

Use state included in "setup" and run highstate

Versions Report

Salt Version:
Salt: 2019.2.0

Dependency Versions:
cffi: Not Installed
cherrypy: Not Installed
dateutil: 2.6.1
docker-py: Not Installed
gitdb: 2.0.3
gitpython: 2.1.8
ioflo: Not Installed
Jinja2: 2.10
libgit2: Not Installed
libnacl: Not Installed
M2Crypto: Not Installed
Mako: 1.0.7
msgpack-pure: Not Installed
msgpack-python: 0.5.6
mysql-python: Not Installed
pycparser: Not Installed
pycrypto: 2.6.1
pycryptodome: Not Installed
pygit2: Not Installed
Python: 2.7.15rc1 (default, Nov 12 2018, 14:31:15)
python-gnupg: 0.4.1
PyYAML: 3.12
PyZMQ: 16.0.2
RAET: Not Installed
smmap: 2.0.3
timelib: Not Installed
Tornado: 4.5.3
ZMQ: 4.2.5

System Versions:
dist: Ubuntu 18.04 bionic
locale: UTF-8
machine: x86_64
release: 4.15.0-46-generic
system: Linux
version: Ubuntu 18.04 bionic

[wolfpackmars2]

soooo... typos, they'll get you every time.

Managing multiple files in the same state DOES work, if you format the state properly.

Both of the following work:

salt_master_configuration_files:
  file:
    - managed
    - user: root
    - group: root
    - mode: '0644'
    - names:
      - /etc/salt/master.d/master.conf:
        - source: salt://saltmaster/master.conf
      - /etc/salt/minion.d/minion-99.conf
        - source: salt://saltmaster/minion.conf

and

salt_master_configuration_files:
  file.managed:
    - user: root
    - group: root
    - mode: '0644'
    - names:
      - /etc/salt/master.d/master.conf:
        - source: salt://saltmaster/master.conf
      - /etc/salt/minion.d/minion-99.conf
        - source: salt://saltmaster/minion.conf

Although this has been resolved, I think that adding an example to the docs will be beneficial.

[Ch3LL]

sounds like a good idea. Did you want to try to add this to the docs? You would just need to update the salt/states/file.py file with the example.

[KyleBourdlaies]

typo(s) still abound in the above examples:

salt_master_configuration_files:
  file:
    - managed
    - user: root
    - group: root
    - mode: '0644'
    - names:
      - /etc/salt/master.d/master.conf:
        - source: salt://saltmaster/master.conf
      - /etc/salt/minion.d/minion-99.conf:   <------ ***
        - source: salt://saltmaster/minion.conf

*** don't omit this second colon or you'd get failed: mapping values are not allowed in this context