Make the Chef `attributes` param also accept a raw JSON string

See the updated docs for more details and examples, but in short this
enables the `attributes` param from the Chef provisioner to accept a
raw JSON string.

Fixes #3074
Fixes #3572

builtin/provisioners/chef/linux_provisioner_test.go

@@ -236,7 +236,33 @@ func TestResourceProvider_linuxCreateConfigFiles(t *testing.T) {
 			},
 		},
 
-		"Attributes": {
+		"String Attributes": {
+			Config: testConfig(t, map[string]interface{}{
+				"attributes": `{"key1":{"subkey1":{"subkey2a":["val1","val2","val3"],` +
+					`"subkey2b":{"subkey3":"value3"}}},"key2":"value2"}`,
+				"node_name":              "nodename1",
+				"prevent_sudo":           true,
+				"run_list":               []interface{}{"cookbook::recipe"},
+				"secret_key_path":        "test-fixtures/encrypted_data_bag_secret",
+				"server_url":             "https://chef.local",
+				"validation_client_name": "validator",
+				"validation_key_path":    "test-fixtures/validator.pem",
+			}),
+
+			Commands: map[string]bool{
+				"mkdir -p " + linuxConfDir: true,
+			},
+
+			Uploads: map[string]string{
+				linuxConfDir + "/client.rb":                 defaultLinuxClientConf,
+				linuxConfDir + "/encrypted_data_bag_secret": "SECRET-KEY-FILE",
+				linuxConfDir + "/validation.pem":            "VALIDATOR-PEM-FILE",
+				linuxConfDir + "/first-boot.json": `{"key1":{"subkey1":{"subkey2a":["val1","val2","val3"],` +
+					`"subkey2b":{"subkey3":"value3"}}},"key2":"value2","run_list":["cookbook::recipe"]}`,
+			},
+		},
+
+		"Map Attributes": {
 			Config: testConfig(t, map[string]interface{}{
 				"attributes": []map[string]interface{}{
 					map[string]interface{}{

builtin/provisioners/chef/resource_provisioner.go

@@ -222,6 +222,12 @@ func (r *ResourceProvisioner) Validate(c *terraform.ResourceConfig) (ws []string
 		ws = append(ws, "secret_key_path is deprecated, please use "+
 			"secret_key instead and load the key contents via file()")
 	}
+	if attrs, ok := c.Config["attributes"]; ok {
+		if _, ok := attrs.(string); !ok {
+			ws = append(ws, "using map style attribute values is deprecated, "+
+				" please use a single raw JSON string instead")
+		}
+	}
 
 	return ws, es
 }
@@ -280,9 +286,18 @@ func (r *ResourceProvisioner) decodeConfig(c *terraform.ResourceConfig) (*Provis
 	}
 
 	if attrs, ok := c.Config["attributes"]; ok {
-		p.Attributes, err = rawToJSON(attrs)
-		if err != nil {
-			return nil, fmt.Errorf("Error parsing the attributes: %v", err)
+		switch attrs := attrs.(type) {
+		case string:
+			var m map[string]interface{}
+			if err := json.Unmarshal([]byte(attrs), &m); err != nil {
+				return nil, fmt.Errorf("Error parsing the attributes: %v", err)
+			}
+			p.Attributes = m
+		default:
+			p.Attributes, err = rawToJSON(attrs)
+			if err != nil {
+				return nil, fmt.Errorf("Error parsing the attributes: %v", err)
+			}
 		}
 	}
 
@@ -306,7 +321,7 @@ func rawToJSON(raw interface{}) (interface{}, error) {
 
 		return s[0], nil
 	default:
-		return raw, nil
+		return s, nil
 	}
 }
 

builtin/provisioners/chef/resource_provisioner_test.go

@@ -16,7 +16,6 @@ func TestResourceProvisioner_impl(t *testing.T) {
 
 func TestResourceProvider_Validate_good(t *testing.T) {
 	c := testConfig(t, map[string]interface{}{
-		"attributes":             []interface{}{"key1 { subkey1 = value1 }"},
 		"environment":            "_default",
 		"node_name":              "nodename1",
 		"run_list":               []interface{}{"cookbook::recipe"},

builtin/provisioners/chef/windows_provisioner_test.go

@@ -153,7 +153,32 @@ func TestResourceProvider_windowsCreateConfigFiles(t *testing.T) {
 			},
 		},
 
-		"Attributes": {
+		"String Attributes": {
+			Config: testConfig(t, map[string]interface{}{
+				"attributes": `{"key1":{"subkey1":{"subkey2a":["val1","val2","val3"],` +
+					`"subkey2b":{"subkey3":"value3"}}},"key2":"value2"}`,
+				"node_name":              "nodename1",
+				"run_list":               []interface{}{"cookbook::recipe"},
+				"secret_key_path":        "test-fixtures/encrypted_data_bag_secret",
+				"server_url":             "https://chef.local",
+				"validation_client_name": "validator",
+				"validation_key_path":    "test-fixtures/validator.pem",
+			}),
+
+			Commands: map[string]bool{
+				fmt.Sprintf("cmd /c if not exist %q mkdir %q", windowsConfDir, windowsConfDir): true,
+			},
+
+			Uploads: map[string]string{
+				windowsConfDir + "/client.rb":                 defaultWindowsClientConf,
+				windowsConfDir + "/encrypted_data_bag_secret": "SECRET-KEY-FILE",
+				windowsConfDir + "/validation.pem":            "VALIDATOR-PEM-FILE",
+				windowsConfDir + "/first-boot.json": `{"key1":{"subkey1":{"subkey2a":["val1","val2","val3"],` +
+					`"subkey2b":{"subkey3":"value3"}}},"key2":"value2","run_list":["cookbook::recipe"]}`,
+			},
+		},
+
+		"Map Attributes": {
 			Config: testConfig(t, map[string]interface{}{
 				"attributes": []map[string]interface{}{
 					map[string]interface{}{

website/source/docs/provisioners/chef.html.markdown

@@ -25,14 +25,19 @@ available on the target machine.
 resource "aws_instance" "web" {
     ...
     provisioner "chef"  {
-        attributes {
-            "key" = "value"
-            "app" {
-                "cluster1" {
-                    "nodes" = ["webserver1", "webserver2"]
+        attributes = <<EOF
+        {
+            "key": "value",
+            "app": {
+                "cluster1": {
+                    "nodes": [
+                        "webserver1",
+                        "webserver2"
+                    ]
                 }
             }
         }
+        EOF
         environment = "_default"
         run_list = ["cookbook::recipe"]
         node_name = "webserver1"
@@ -49,8 +54,9 @@ resource "aws_instance" "web" {
 
 The following arguments are supported:
 
-* `attributes (map)` - (Optional) A map with initial node attributes for the new node.
-  See example.
+* `attributes (string)` - (Optional) A raw JSON string with initial node attributes
+  for the new node. These can also be loaded from a file on disk using the [`file()`
+  interpolation function](/docs/configuration/interpolation.html#file_path_).
 
 * `client_options (array)` - (Optional) A list of optional Chef Client configuration
   options. See the Chef Client [documentation](https://docs.chef.io/config_rb_client.html) for all available options.