Chef PolicyFile Installs, Updates, and Exports Fail on Windows OS

When running the commands "chef install", "chef update", or "chef export" from a Windows Operating System, it is possible for the commands to fail with the error "cannot create directory at <directory path>: Filename too long". This article discusses this scenario and how to resolve it.

May 22, 2023
Knowledge

Title

URL Name

Chef-Windows-PolicyFile-Installs-Updates-and-Exports-Fail

Article Number

000225387

Environment

Applicable to Windows Operating Systems that have the default Maximum Path Length Limitation set. See here for more details: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/win32/fileio/maximum-file-path-limitation?tabs=registry

Question/Problem Description

When installing, updating, or exporting a PolicyFile, a temporary directory is created that replicates any cookbooks the PolicyFile is dependant upon. The commands to perform these operations are "chef install", "chef update", and "chef export".

If you run the commands from a Windows Chef Workstation, and if a cookbook has a "deep" directory structure, it is possible for the temporary directory to be unable to be created. This is caused by Windows' "Maximum File Path Limitation" which by default is 260 characters, and is not something Chef software can control.

If the OS cannot create the temporary directory, the chef operation will fail.

Steps to Reproduce

To reproduce the issue, have Chef Workstation installed on Windows, and attempt a "chef install" of a PolicyFile that references a cookbook with a deep directory. In testing, we did this by using a cookbook stored in Git as a source in the PolicyFile. This allowed circumvention of the file path limit initially, to prove the temporary directory creation events of the chef commands cause this failure.

Clarifying Information

Example Cookbook that Causes Failure on Windows Workstation

├── CHANGELOG.md
├── Jenkinsfile
├── LICENSE
├── Policyfile.rb
├── README.md
├── chefignore
├── kitchen.yml
├── metadata.rb
├── recipes
│   └── default.rb
├── test
│   └── integration
│    └── default
│    └── default_test.rb
└── twentycharslonglvl01
└── twentycharslonglvl02
└── twentycharslonglvl03
└── twentycharslonglvl04
└── twentycharslonglvl05
└── twentycharslonglvl06
└── twentycharslonglvl07
└── twentycharslonglvl08
└── twentycharslonglvl09
└── twentycharslonglvl10
└── twentycharslonglvl11
└── twentycharslonglvl12
└── twentycharslonglvl13
└── twentycharslonglvl14
└── twentycharslonglvl15
└── twentycharslonglvl16
└── twentycharslonglvl17
└── twentycharslonglvl18
└── twentycharslonglvl19
└── twentycharslonglvl20
└── file.txt

Error Message

Defect Number

Enhancement Number

Cause

 $> chef update heavynesting.rb --debug
Building policy heavynesting
Expanded run list: recipe[apache]
Caching Cookbooks...
Installing apache >= 0.0.0 from git
Error: Failed to generate Policyfile.lock
Reason: (CookbookOmnifetch::GitCommandError) Git error: command `git reset --hard 4712b273d70fd273499d25355a121be6a49f9b01` failed. If this error persists, try removing the cache directory at 'C:/Users/vagrant/AppData/Local/chef-workstation/cache/.cache/git/cc084f4b217ab333f995ce9f487e65312c408999'.Output from the command:

fatal: cannot create directory at 'twentycharslonglvl01/twentycharslonglvl02/twentycharslonglvl03/twentycharslonglvl04/twentycharslonglvl05/twentycharslonglvl06/twentycharslonglvl07/twentycharslonglvl08/twentycharslonglvl09': Filename too long

Resolution

Discussions have occurred with the chef-workstation team, and they have informed Support that there is a fix coming for a similar issue reported about long file names in use in test-kitchen.

Current status is waiting to see the specific changes, and if these will also apply to the 'chef install', 'chef update' and 'chef export' commands. No release version is set.

Read on in the Workaround section for the interim solution.

Workaround

The workaround for this issue is simple. If you hit this error in a Windows Chef Workstation install when performing the "chef install", "chef update", or "chef export" commands, two options are available:

Identify the directory that is failing to create, and reduce the length of the names of the directories in the relevant cookbooks. Running the "chef" commands in --debug mode can help identify the directory that is causing the issue.
Use a linux or Mac based Workstation. This error is not present when running the "chef" commands from Linux or Mac based Chef Workstations as their path lengths can be very long.

Notes

PolicyFile documentation: https://docs.chef.io/policyfile/

Keyword Phrase

Windows Operating System, PolicyFile, Chef, Command Line, Errors, Maximum Path Length Limit, Chef install, chef update, chef export, filename too long

Last Modified Date

7/20/2023 12:04 PM