Ubuntu Manpage: knife-diff - The man page for the knife diff subcommand.

NAME

knife-diff - The man page for the knife diff subcommand.

The knife diff subcommand is used to compare the differences between files and directories on the server
and in the chef-repo. For example, to compare files on the server prior to an uploading or downloading
files using the knife download and knife upload subcommands, or to ensure that certain files in multiple
production environments are the same. This subcommand is similar to the git diff command that can be used
to diff what is in the chef-repo with what is synced to a git repository.

Common Options

The following options can be run with all Knife sub-commands and plug-ins:

-c CONFIG, --config CONFIG
The configuration file to use.

--color
Indicates that colored output will be used.

-d, --disable-editing
Indicates that $EDITOR will not be opened; data will be accepted as-is.

--defaults
Indicates that Knife will use the default value, instead of asking a user to provide one.

-e EDITOR, --editor EDITOR
The $EDITOR that is used for all interactive commands.

-E ENVIRONMENT, --environment ENVIRONMENT
The name of the environment. When this option is added to a command, the command will run only
against the named environment.

-f FILE_NAME, --file FILE_NAME
Indicates that the private key will be saved to a specified file name.

-F FORMAT, --format FORMAT
The output format: summary (default), text, json, yaml, and pp.

-h, --help
Shows help for the command.

-k KEY, --key KEY
The private key that Knife will use to sign requests made by the API client to the server.

--no-color
Indicates that color will not be used in the output.

-p PASSWORD, --password PASSWORD
The user password.

--print-after
Indicates that data will be shown after a destructive operation.

-s URL, --server-url URL
The URL for the server.

-u USER, --user USER
The user name used by Knife to sign requests made by the API client to the server. Authentication
will fail if the user name does not match the private key.

-v, --version
The version of the chef-client.

-V, --verbose
Set for more verbose outputs. Use -VV for maximum verbosity.

-y, --yes
Indicates that the response to all confirmation prompts will be "Yes" (and that Knife will not ask
for confirmation).

Syntax

This argument has the following syntax:

$ knife diff [PATTERN...] (options)

Options

This subcommand has the following options:

--chef-repo-path PATH
The path to the chef-repo. This setting will override the default path to the chef-repo. Default:
same as specified by chef_repo_path in config.rb.

--cookbook-version VERSION
The version of a cookbook to be downloaded.

--concurrency
The number of allowed concurrent connections. Default: 10.

--diff-filter=[(A|D|M|T)...[*]]
Indicates that files will be selected that have been added (A), deleted (D), modified (M), and/or
have had their type changed (T). Any combination of filter characters may be used, including no
filter characters. Use * to select all paths if a file matches other criteria in the comparison.
Default value: nil.

--name-only
Indicates that only the names of modified files will be shown.

--name-status
Indicates that only the names of files with a status of Added, Deleted, Modified, or Type Changed
will be shown.

--no-recurse
Use --no-recurse to disable listing a directory recursively. Default: --recurse.

--repo-mode MODE
The layout of the local chef-repo. Possible values: static, everything, or hosted_everything. Use
static for just roles, environments, cookbooks, and data bags. By default, everything and
hosted_everything are dynamically selected depending on the server type. Default: everything /
hosted_everything.

knife.rb File Settings

In addition to the default settings in a knife.rb file, there are other subcommand-specific settings that
can be added. When a subcommand is run, Knife will use:

1. A value passed via the command-line

2. A value contained in the knife.rb file

3. The default value

A value passed via the command line will override a value in the knife.rb file; a value in a knife.rb
file will override a default value.

The following knife diff settings can be added to the knife.rb file:

knife[:chef_repo_path]
Use to add the --chef-repo-path option.

knife[:concurrency]
Use to add the --concurrency option.

knife[:name_only]
Use to add the --name-only option.

knife[:name_status]
Use to add the --name-status option.

knife[:recurse]
Use to add the --recurse option.

knife[:repo_mode]
Use to add the --repo-mode option.

Examples

To compare the "base.json" role to a "webserver.json" role, enter:

$ knife diff roles/base.json roles/webserver.json

To compare the differences between the local chef-repo and the files that are on the server, enter:

$ knife diff

To diff a node named node-lb and then only return files that have been added, deleted, modified, or
changed, enter:

$ knife diff --name-status node-lb

to return something like:

node-lb/recipes/eip.rb
node-lb/recipes/heartbeat-int.rb
node-lb/templates/default/corpsite.conf.erb
node-lb/files/default/wildcard.node.com.crt
node-lb/files/default/wildcard.node.com.crt-2009
node-lb/files/default/wildcard.node.com.key
node-lb/.gitignore
node-lb/Rakefile

AUTHOR

       Opscode

                                                   Chef 11.8.0                                     KNIFE-DIFF(1)