#<Chef::Node::Attribute:0xxxxx) sometimes returned instead of attribute value

This is also interesting:

(rdb:1) node[:lt_demo][:app_env].current_attribute
"production"
(rdb:1) node[:lt_demo].current_attribute
{"port"=>8082, "branch"=>"production", "app_env"=>"production", "domain"=>"leadtune.com"}
(rdb:1) node[:lt_demo][:app_env].class
Chef::Node::Attribute
(rdb:1) node[:lt_demo].to_hash
{"port"=>8082, "domain"=>"leadtune.com", "app_env"=>"production", "branch"=>"production"}
(rdb:1) node[:lt_demo][:app_env].class
String

Make note how after I called #to_hash on the parent node, the class of node[:lt_demo][:app_env] changed and correctly returned "String".

We got errors in trivial sudo cookbook - Attrinutes were looks normal.

Was workarounded by

package "sudo" do
action :upgrade
end

auth_settings = node[:authorization].to_hash

template "/etc/sudoers" do
source "sudoers.erb"
mode 0440
owner "root"
group "root"
variables(
:sudoers_groups => auth_settings["sudo"]["groups"],
:sudoers_users => auth_settings["sudo"]["users"]
)
end

I'm seeing this as well - I must call #to_hash on the hash I wish to use/inspect or I end up with #<Chef::Node::Attribute:0xxxxx) errors. For example, this attribute is defined on the node via 'knife node edit':

{
"normal": {
"cookbookname": {
"myhash": {
"foo": { "fookey1": "fooval1", "fookey2": "fooval2" },
"bar": { "barkey1": "barval1", "barkey2": "barval2" }
}
}
...snip...
}

Additionally, I have a hash attribute and an array attribute defined in my attributes/default.rb:

default['cookbookname']['myotherhash'] = {
"foo": { "fookey1": "fooval1", "fookey2": "fooval2" },
"bar": { "barkey1": "barval1", "barkey2": "barval2" }
}
default['cookbookname']['myarray'] = ['aaa','bbb']

In my recipe, I pass the hash defined in the node's JSON hash (via 'knife node edit') to a definition:

mydefinition "#{node[:hostname]}" do
myparam node['cookbookname']['myhash']
end

In the definition, I try and use the hashes, but I always get errors about keys not being found and such. So, I tried printing debug info for all three attributes:

define :mydefinition, :myparam => {} do
myhash_val = params[:myparam].to_hash
myotherhash_val = node['cookbookname']['myotherhash'].to_hash
myarray_val = node['cookbookname']['myarray']

warn("COOKBOOKNAME: myhash_val = '#{myhash_val}'")
warn("COOKBOOKNAME: myotherhash_val = '#{myotherhash_val}'")
warn("COOKBOOKNAME: myarray_val = '#{myarray_val}'")

...snip...
}



The output reveals the problem. The array is never affected - only the hashes are:

COOKBOOKNAME: myhash_val = '#<Chef::Node::Attribute:0x7f48e1da7998>'
COOKBOOKNAME: myotherhash_val = '#<Chef::Node::Attribute:0x7f48e1da7510>'
COOKBOOKNAME: myarray_val = 'aaabbb'



If I use the to_hash method, I can then see the contents of the hash and use the hashes:

define :mydefinition, :myparam => {} do
myhash_val = params[:myparam].to_hash
myotherhash_val = node['cookbookname']['myotherhash'].to_hash
myarray_val = node['cookbookname']['myarray']

warn("COOKBOOKNAME: myhash_val = '#{myhash_val}'")
warn("COOKBOOKNAME: myotherhash_val = '#{myotherhash_val}'")
warn("COOKBOOKNAME: myarray_val = '#{myarray_val}'")

...snip...
}

COOKBOOKNAME: myhash_val = 'foofookey1fooval1fookey2fooval2barbarkey1barval1barkey2barval2'
COOKBOOKNAME: myotherhash_val = 'foofookey1fooval1fookey2fooval2barbarkey1barval1barkey2barval2'
COOKBOOKNAME: myarray_val = 'aaabbb'

should be fixed by the fix for CHEF-1804