Understanding the chef cookbook’s chefignore file

The chefignore file is used to tell knife which cookbook files in the chef-repo should be ignored when uploading data to the Chef server. The type of data that should be ignored includes swap files, version control data, build output data, and so on. .

The chefignore file can be located in any subdirectory of a chef-repo: /, /cookbooks, /cookbooks/COOKBOOK_NAME/, roles, etc. It should contain sections similar to the following:

Example of chefignore

[code]

# Ignore editor swap files
*~
*.sw[a-z]

# Ignore top-level Subversion data
*/.svn/*

# Ignore all files in a directory
files/default/subdirectory/*
files/default/subdirectory/**

# OS generated files #
######################
.DS_Store
Icon?
nohup.out
ehthumbs.db
Thumbs.db

# SASS #
########
.sass-cache

# EDITORS #
###########
\#*
.#*
*~
*.sw[a-z]
*.bak
REVISION
TAGS*
tmtags
*_flymake.*
*_flymake
*.tmproj
.project
.settings
mkmf.log

## COMPILED ##
##############
a.out
*.o
*.pyc
*.so
*.com
*.class
*.dll
*.exe
*/rdoc/

# Testing #
###########
.watchr
.rspec
spec/*
spec/fixtures/*
test/*
features/*
examples/*
Guardfile
Procfile
.kitchen*
.rubocop.yml

# SCM #
#######
.git
*/.git
.gitignore
.gitmodules
.gitconfig
.gitattributes
.svn
*/.bzr/*
*/.hg/*
*/.svn/*

# Berkshelf #
#############
Berksfile
Berksfile.lock
cookbooks/*
tmp

# Cookbooks #
#############
CONTRIBUTING*
CHANGELOG*
TESTING*

# Strainer #
############
Colanderfile
Strainerfile
.colander
.strainer

# Vagrant #
###########
.vagrant
Vagrantfile

# Travis #
##########
.travis.yml

[/code]

Reference 

https://docs.chef.io/chef_repo.html#chefignore-files

Rajesh Kumar

I’m Rajesh Kumar, a DevOps, SRE, DevSecOps, Cloud, and Platform Engineering expert passionate about sharing practical knowledge, real-world experiences, and industry best practices. I have worked at Cotocus and regularly write about technology, travel, investing, health, product reviews, and digital marketing through my various platforms.

I publish technical articles at DevOps School, travel stories at Holiday Landmark, stock market insights at Stocks Mantra, health and fitness guidance at My Medic Plus, product reviews at TrueReviewNow, and SEO and digital marketing strategies at Wizbrand.