After updating ChefDK, I get the error "undefined local variable or method `credentials_file'" in Test Kitchen or an error in credentials.rb in knife

Question

This issue was discovered after upgrading from ChefDK 3.2.30 to 4.2.0, and everything worked fine before the upgrade (Including these two commands).

The full error from "knife node list":

C:/opscode/chefdk/embedded/lib/ruby/gems/2.6.0/gems/rbvmomi-1.13.0/lib/rbvmomi/vim.rb:8: warning: Win32API is deprecated after Ruby 1.9.1; use fiddle directly instead
Traceback (most recent call last):
8: from C:/opscode/chefdk/bin/knife:359:in <main>' 7: from C:/opscode/chefdk/bin/knife:359:inload'
6: from C:/opscode/chefdk/embedded/lib/ruby/gems/2.6.0/gems/chef-15.1.36-universal-mingw32/bin/knife:24:in <top (required)>' 5: from C:/opscode/chefdk/embedded/lib/ruby/gems/2.6.0/gems/chef-15.1.36-universal-mingw32/lib/chef/application/knife.rb:162:inrun'
4: from C:/opscode/chefdk/embedded/lib/ruby/gems/2.6.0/gems/chef-15.1.36-universal-mingw32/lib/chef/knife.rb:221:in run' 3: from C:/opscode/chefdk/embedded/lib/ruby/gems/2.6.0/gems/chef-15.1.36-universal-mingw32/lib/chef/knife.rb:440:inconfigure_chef'
2: from C:/opscode/chefdk/embedded/lib/ruby/gems/2.6.0/gems/chef-15.1.36-universal-mingw32/lib/chef/knife.rb:185:in load_config' 1: from C:/opscode/chefdk/embedded/lib/ruby/gems/2.6.0/gems/chef-config-15.1.36/lib/chef-config/workstation_config_loader.rb:72:inload'
C:/opscode/chefdk/embedded/lib/ruby/gems/2.6.0/gems/chef-config-15.1.36/lib/chef-config/mixin/credentials.rb:92:in load_credentials': undefined local variable or methodcredentials_file' for #<ChefConfig::WorkstationConfigLoader:0x000000000c311e68> (NameError)

The full error from 'kitchen converge':

------Exception-------
Class: Kitchen::ClientError
Message: Could not load the 'chef_zero' provisioner. Error: undefined local variable or method `credentials_file' for #<ChefConfig::WorkstationConfigLoader:0x0000000006f176a0>
Did you mean?  credentials_profile
credentials_found
@credentials_found
----------------------
Please see .kitchen/logs/kitchen.log for more details
Also try running kitchen diagnose --all for configuration

Answer 1

We found that the problem in this case was an invalid profile being requested.

The profile can be set either with the CHEF_PROFILE environment variable, or in a file named 'context' in the users home .chef directory (~/.chef on Linux, C:\Users\username.chef on Windows).

If a profile other than 'default' is specified, than the ChefDK looks for a file named 'credentials' in that same directory. It will then parse that file and look for a section matching the profile name.

If it doesn't find a matching profile, then it will generate errors like the one in the question.

To fix the problem for this user, we changed the value of the 'context' file to "default" (without quotes) and everything started working again.

There are several possible resolutions, which one is best for you depends on where the problem comes from

• If the profile name is valid, then add the proper section to the ~/credentials file
• If the value of the CHEF_PROFILE environment variable is the problem, change it to "default" or to a valid name
• If the value of the ~/context file is the problem, than you can either delete it, or change the value in it to a valid profile (NOTE: Always make a back up of the file before deleting or making changes)

I found the details listed above that led me to the resolution by going through the code in C:/opscode/chefdk/embedded/lib/ruby/gems/2.6.0/gems/chef-config-15.1.36/lib/chef-config/mixin/credentials.rb (which was where the initial exception was thrown)