os_env resource

Use the os_env Chef InSpec audit resource to test the environment variables for the platform on which the system is running.

Availability

Install

This resource is distributed with Chef InSpec and is automatically available for use.

Version

This resource first became available in v1.0.0 of InSpec.

Syntax

A os_env resource block declares an environment variable, and then declares its value:

describe os_env('VARIABLE') do
  its('property') { should eq 1 }
end

where

('VARIABLE') must specify an environment variable, such as PATH
matcher is a valid matcher for this resource

Examples

The following examples show how to use this Chef InSpec audit resource.

Test the PATH environment variable

describe os_env('PATH') do
  its('split') { should_not include('') }
  its('split') { should_not include('.') }
end

Test the Path environment variable by specifying the target Environment (Windows)

On windows a User’s environment variable may obscure the local machine (system) environment variable. The correct environment variable may be tested as follows:

describe os_env('PATH', 'target') do
  its('split') { should_not include('') }
  its('split') { should_not include('.') }
end

where

'target' may be either system or user

Test Chef Habitat environment variables

Chef Habitat uses the os_env resource to test environment variables. The environment variables are first defined in a whitespace array, after which each environment variable is tested:

hab_env_vars = %w(HAB_AUTH_TOKEN
                  HAB_CACHE_KEY_PATH
                  HAB_DEPOT_URL
                  HAB_ORG
                  HAB_ORIGIN
                  HAB_ORIGIN_KEYS
                  HAB_RING
                  HAB_RING_KEY
                  HAB_STUDIOS_HOME
                  HAB_STUDIO_ROOT
                  HAB_USER)

hab_env_vars.each do |e|
  describe os_env(e) do
    its('content') { should eq nil }
  end
end

Matchers

For a full list of available matchers, see our Universal Matchers page.

This resource has the following special matchers.

content

The content matcher return the value of the environment variable:

its('content') { should eq '/usr/local/bin:/usr/local/sbin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/sbin' }

split

The split matcher splits the value of the environment variable with the : deliminator (use the ; deliminator if Windows):

its('split') { should include ('/usr/bin') }

Note: the split matcher returns an array including "" for cases where there is a trailing colon (:), such as dir1::dir2: