Issue modifying ssh keys for root users

[nicolasccit]

When I want to create a new user like so:

user_account 'new_user' do
  ssh_keys "ssh-rsa ..."
  action :create
end

Everything works as planned.

But when I try the following:

user_account 'root' do
  ssh_keys "ssh-rsa ..."
  action :modify
end

I get the following error:

Error executing action modify on resource 'user_account[root]'

Chef::Exceptions::Exec

user[root](/var/chef/cache/cookbooks/user/providers/account.rb line 94) had an error: Chef::Exceptions::Exec: usermod -m -d '/home/root' root returned 8, expected 0

Cookbook Trace:

/var/chef/cache/cookbooks/user/providers/account.rb:105:in user_resource' /var/chef/cache/cookbooks/user/providers/account.rb:46:inblock in class_from_file'

Resource Declaration:

In /var/chef/cache/cookbooks/rollcall/recipes/default.rb

13: user_account 'root' do
14: ssh_keys "ssh-rsa ..."
15: action :modify
16: end
17:

Compiled Resource:

Declared in /var/chef/cache/cookbooks/rollcall/recipes/default.rb:13:in `from_file'

user_account("root") do
action [:modify]
retries 0
retry_delay 2
cookbook_name "rollcall"
recipe_name "default"
ssh_keys "ssh-rsa ..."
username "root"
end

Any idea what I'm doing wrong?

Thanks,
Nicolas

[mckelvaney]

I had a similar problem when trying to mange authorized_keys for root.
I found that adding home '/root' and manage_home falsefixed things.

My block now looks like this :

user_account 'root' do
    home '/root'
    manage_home false
    ssh_keys ['ssh-rsa key_1', 'ssh-rsa key_2']
    action :modify
end

[eamonnfaherty]

Thanks for posting your fix @mckelvaney

...I had the same problem too.