Can't remove JSON keys by (un)setting class parameters

[nhinds]

If a key in a JSON file managed by sensu has been set, e.g. setting sensu::api_user to admin, it is impossible to get the puppet module to remove the key in a subsequent puppet run by changing the parameter.

I initially tried not specifying the key, which should have used the default undef value, but the JSON was not changed. Explicitly setting sensu::api_user to undef has no effect either. Setting sensu::api_user to another value does change the JSON, so it's not a problem of the file already existing.

A fairly unpleasant workaround is to SSH into my puppet-managed machine and edit the file by hand, ignoring the fact that the file permissions are read-only.

[jlambert121]

This is a limitation of puppet < 4.0.0 where puppet doesn't have a true "undefined" and as such, the providers aren't able to determine the parameter is unset. #166 talks about this a bit more as well.

[nhinds]

I would have expected the files to just be templates rather than custom types, since all of the parameters in the files can be managed by puppet-sensu. This would allow you to delete a large number of custom types and providers, plus fixing this for free - if the parameter isn't present, the template will know not to include it.

Is there a reason this module is using custom types to manage simple files?

[jamtur01]

Because we decided to be consistent across the module and create custom types and providers for everything. It's generally best practice to do so. Indeed it's a lot cleaner and more elegant that for loops in templates. In this case I have no objection to PRs that replace some of the simple types with templates etc.