Ubuntu – Fixing services that have been disabled in /etc/default/ with puppet

puppetserviceUbuntu

I'm using puppet to (theoretically) get npcd to start upon installation, however on Ubuntu, that service comes installed with the default setting in /etc/default/npcd of RUN="no": 

 $ cat /etc/default/npcd 
 # Default settings for the NPCD init script.

 # Should NPCD be started? ("yes" to enable)
 RUN="no"

 # Additional options that are passed to the daemon.
 DAEMON_OPTS="-d -f /etc/pnp4nagios/npcd.cfg"

I would think that this block of puppet config would take care of things: 

    service { "npcd":
       enable   => true,
       ensure   => "running",
       require  => Package["pnp4nagios"],
    }

But alas, it doesn't, and short of actually rewriting the file in /etc/default, I'm not sure what to do. Is there a straightforward way to enable the service that I'm not seeing?

For the record, I'm using Ubuntu 12.04.2 and puppet version 3.1.0.

Best Answer

Updating that file and then restarting the service is the only way. You can push a new file and then make the service Require that; that way when the contents are updated the service will properly start.

If you don't want to replace the file entirely you can use the Puppet augeas tool to just modify the single line in the defaults file.

There are a few services in Debian and its derivatives that don't autostart after the package is installed unless it's enabled in /etc/default. Kind of annoying.

Edit: FYI the init script is actually reading the values from that file (just sourcing it usually).

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