"can't convert Array into String" in dirname

Basically, it's a ticket for that issue+pull request: https://github.com/opscode/chef/pull/169#issuecomment-3106841.

Pull from: https://github.com/fiksu/chef/commit/6f6e5eacac30acf4d0753577adb8442b61f265dd

Tickets with fixes should be set to resolved, so we can find them easily.

But, I think your fix is for the wrong problem.

bootstrap_files = []
          bootstrap_files << File.join(File.dirname(__FILE__), 'bootstrap', "#{config[:distro]}.erb")
          bootstrap_files << File.join(Dir.pwd, ".chef", "bootstrap", "#{config[:distro]}.erb")
          bootstrap_files << File.join(ENV['HOME'], '.chef', 'bootstrap', "#{config[:distro]}.erb")
          bootstrap_files << Gem.find_files(File.join("chef","knife","bootstrap","#{config[:distro]}.erb"))

You were modifying the last line in the above code segment, but bootstrap_files should be an array throughout.

Line 122 of lib/chef/knife/bootstrap.rb in 0.10.4, from your error in the bug description is this:

Chef::Log.debug("Looking for bootstrap template in #{File.dirname(bootstrap_template)}")

Which I found with this command:

git show 0.10.4:chef/lib/chef/knife/bootstrap.rb

This matches your error more closely and makes more sense to me.

Yep, thanks for noticing. I just didn't have assign/resolve rights yet when I was posting this issue (see abovementioned GitHub link for details). I've got license paperwork confirmation today, so assigning to myself and marking as "resolved".

As for your comment, I think you're wrong. bootstrap_files IS an array, and Gem.find_files IS also an array, while File.join are all strings. What happens when you do ['1', '2', '3'] << ['4', '5']? You get ['1', '2', '3', ['4', '5']], NOT ['1', '2', '3', '4', '5']. My patch fixed the problem I have been experiencing, so I don't see any reason to alter it unless you have any other objections.

Fixes the issue for me. We use this in production with custom template without problems.

I've recreated all of this in irb.

bootstrap_files is an array, but becomes a multi-dimensional array when Gem.find_files returns another array. The << operator adds the File.join strings to the array.

>> bootstrap_files = []
=> []
>> bootstrap_files << "one_file"
=> ["one_file"]
>> bootstrap_files << "two_file"
=> ["one_file", "two_file"]
>> bootstrap_files << [ "more_files", "and_more_files" ]
=> ["one_file", "two_file", ["more_files", "and_more_files"]]

Using the += operator flattens it, not converts it to a String.

>> bootstrap_files += [ "more_files", "and_more_files" ]
=> ["one_file", "two_file", "more_files", "and_more_files"]

The equivalent of this action, but more explicitly with bootstrap_files.flatten!, was fixed in 0.10.6 in CHEF-2193.

The issue ends up being that when we loop over bootstrap_files and it is unflattened, we end up passing an array to the loop that evaluates if a file exists.

>> Array(bootstrap_files).find do |bootstrap_template|
?> File.dirname(bootstrap_template)
>> File.exists?(bootstrap_template)
>> end
TypeError: can't convert Array into String
	from (irb):9:in `dirname'
	from (irb):9
	from (irb):11:in `find'
	from (irb):8:in `each'
	from (irb):8:in `find'
	from (irb):8

This error only comes up if your template isn't find in the normal places and find gets all the way to the end of the top array where the array from Gem.find_files comes from. This also means that you will get this error on 0.10.4 if you template doesn't exist at all.

Regardless, it is fixed in CHEF-2193.

Closing as duplicate of CHEF-2193, where the original feature was written but also where this specific bug was fixed.

Thanks for your help narrowing it down! This will confirm that CHEF-2736 is a duplicate as well.