Dropping Support for Chef 14

[pbobov]

In the latest v4.1.0 release, Chef Cookbooks for ArcGIS support Chef >= 14. Note that Chef Infra Client 14 is the last release licensed with Apache License Version 2.0 license. Subsequent releases are governed by either the Chef End User License Agreement (Chef EULA) or commercial agreement with Progress Software Corporation.

Dropping support for Chef Infra Client 14 is required to properly support Chef Infra Client versions >= 17. The latest versions of many third-party cookbooks used by Chef Cookbooks for ArcGIS require Chef >=15. Additionally, the ArcGIS Cookbooks themselves must be updated to use Chef APIs supported only in Chef >= 15 instead of deprecated APIs.

Chef Cookbooks for ArcGIS support Cinc Client as well as Chef Infra Client. Cinc Client binaries are licensed with Apache License Version 2.0 license just like Chef Infra Client 14.

Dropping support for Chef 14 will have an impact on users of Chef Cookbooks for ArcGIS who are unable to upgrade their Chef Infra Client from version 14 or switch to using Cinc Client instead.

The purpose of this discussion is to assess the implications of dropping support for Chef Infra Client 14 in Chef Cookbooks for ArcGIS. Please feel free to share your thoughts.