You’re using the command in the exec resource name and it’s ugly, unwieldy and awkward to use from other resources.
# exec with the command as the name
exec { "/bin/mkdir -p /tmp/needed/directory":
}
package { "needed":
ensure => "installed",
# awkward, long require
require => Exec["/bin/mkdir -p /tmp/needed/directory"],
}
# nicer, human friendly naming
exec { "create_needed_directory":
command => "/bin/mkdir -p /tmp/needed/directory",
}
package { "needed":
ensure => "installed",
# easier to read require
require => Exec["create_needed_directory"],
}Older manifests, as well as newer ones written by less experienced puppet users, often use the actual command as the name of the exec. While this works, and can even be used in other parameters such as require, it is a little unwieldy and leads to a certain unneeded leaking of information to other resources.
It’s much nicer to use a human readable explanation of what the command is for as the execs name and then put the actual command in the “command” property.