Cross-platform tasks
A task can have multiple implementations, with metadata that explains when to use each one. A primary use case for this is to support different implementations for different target platforms, referred to as cross-platform tasks.
A task can also have multiple implementations, with metadata that explains
when to use each one. A primary use case for this is to support different implementations for
different target platforms, referred to as cross-platform tasks. For instance, consider a module with the
following
files:
- tasks - sql_linux.sh - sql_linux.json - sql_windows.ps1 - sql_windows.json - sql.json
This task has two executables (sql_linux.sh and sql_windows.ps1), each with an implementation metadata file and a
task metadata file. The executables have distinct names and are compatible with older task
runners such as Puppet Enterprise 2018.1 and earlier. Each implementation
has it's own metadata which documents how to use the implementation directly or marks it as
private to hide it from UI lists.
An implementation metadata example:
{
"name": "SQL Linux",
"description": "A task to perform sql operations on linux targets",
"private": true
}
The task metadata file contains an implementations section:
{
"implementations": [
{"name": "sql_linux.sh", "requirements": ["shell"]},
{"name": "sql_windows.ps1", "requirements": ["powershell"]}
]
}
Each implementations has a name and a list of requirements. The requirements are the set of features which must be available on the target in order for that implementation
to be used. In this case, the sql_linux.sh implementation requires the shell feature, and the sql_windows.ps1 implementations requires the PowerShell feature.
The set of features available on the target is determined by the task
runner. You can specify additional features for a target via set_feature or by adding features in the inventory. The task runner chooses the
first implementation whose requirements are satisfied.
The following features are defined by default:
puppet-agent: Present if the target has the Puppet agent package installed. This feature is automatically added to hosts with the namelocalhost.shell: Present if the target has a posix shell.powershell: Present if the target has PowerShell.
