Customizing Chef

Foreword

Adam Jacob

Chief Dev Officer at Chef

One of the things I most wanted out of Chef was that it be flexible enough to solve problems I couldn’t imagine. My experience as a systems administrator told me that no matter how much I learned, there was always something new coming around the corner. I needed a systems automation tool that would be able to help me when I met the unexpected.

Over the lifetime of Chef, I’ve had the opportunity to witness firsthand what happens when you take Chef’s flexibility and pair it with someone who is willing to push it in new directions. The result is almost always the same: that person quickly becomes a satisfied Chef user. It’s not actually because of anything Chef did; it’s because the user took control of his environment, and crafted with his own hands the perfect solution to his problem. The result is a satisfaction that simply using a tool can never provide.

Jon Cowie has written the ideal book to help you reach that place. He’s lived in that space, and his deep understanding of what’s possible with Chef combined with practical application of those things in real, messy environments makes him the perfect person to guide you on your journey. I couldn’t be prouder to have him in the Chef community, and to have him as the author of this book.

I’m excited to see what you build, and I hope that you find the same joy in solving your problems that I do.