Improve pillar include documentation

[oliver-dungey]

In formula init files you can use relative path include syntax i.e. put a dot a the beginning of the line and it knows it is relative. The documentation on pillar suggests that the same should be possible but it appears to be failing:

/srv/pillar/top.sls:

base:
  '*':
    - buzz

/srv/pillar/buzz/init.sls

include:
  - .stuff

/srv/pillar/buzz/stuff.sls

zzzz:
  stuff:
    - 1
    - 2
    - 3

Then run salt-call pillar.items and there is an error at the top and the pillar data is missing:

aminion:
    ----------
    _errors:
        - Specified SLS '.stuff' in environment 'base' is not available on the salt master

If I then specify an absolute path it works i.e. change the init.sls file to:

include:
  - buzz.stuff

Versions Report

Salt Version:
           Salt: 2016.3.2

Dependency Versions:
           cffi: Not Installed
       cherrypy: Not Installed
       dateutil: Not Installed
          gitdb: Not Installed
      gitpython: Not Installed
          ioflo: Not Installed
         Jinja2: 2.7.3
        libgit2: Not Installed
        libnacl: Not Installed
       M2Crypto: Not Installed
           Mako: Not Installed
   msgpack-pure: Not Installed
 msgpack-python: 0.4.6
   mysql-python: Not Installed
      pycparser: Not Installed
       pycrypto: 2.6.1
         pygit2: Not Installed
         Python: 2.6.6 (r266:84292, Jul 23 2015, 15:22:56)
   python-gnupg: Not Installed
         PyYAML: 3.11
          PyZMQ: 14.5.0
           RAET: Not Installed
          smmap: Not Installed
        timelib: Not Installed
        Tornado: 4.2.1
            ZMQ: 4.0.5

System Versions:
           dist: centos 6.7 Final
        machine: x86_64
        release: 2.6.32-573.el6.x86_64
         system: Linux
        version: CentOS 6.7 Final

[DaveOHenry]

Ran into a similar issue today in 2016.3.2.
I tried to import a variable collection from a file "vars.jinja" in the file_roots directory /srv/salt. While this works in normal state files with the following code:

{% from "vars.jinja" import vars with context %}

... in pillar files an absolute path is needed:

{% from "/srv/salt/vars.jinja" import vars with context %}

Maybe this is related.

[Ch3LL]

@oliver-dungey looks like this is a duplicate of #8875

although as you state the documentation states it does work. Can you point me to which documentation you are referring to? If that is the case we will need to change issue 8875 from a feature to a bug to get that fixed. Once I have that information from you we will go ahead and close this issue adn track this issue on 8875. Thanks!

@DaveOHenry I think you are right in that the fix for the includes to work with relative paths might be related to your situation but just to make sure they are not two seperate fixes will you please open an issue with what you are seeing and we can just link your issue to 8875 but keep it open in case they are seperate fixes.

[oliver-dungey]

@Ch3LL Sorry, should have taken note of that - I've had a search around but can't find the page I was thinking of. What I have noted on searching around again is that the Pillar Walkthrough page doesn't mention include or talk about init files (https://docs.saltstack.com/en/latest/topics/tutorials/pillar.html) and Storing Static Data in The Pillar (https://docs.saltstack.com/en/latest/topics/pillar/) only has very simple include examples and no mention of init files.

[Ch3LL]

@oliver-dungey okay cool I will keep the feature tag on that same issue because it seems we do not document that it is possible for pillar. I will change the title of this issue report and we will keep this open to track the documentation improvements to add mention of init files with pillar includes. Thanks

[Ch3LL]

Also to note I think it would be smart to temporarily add to the documentation taht currently relative paths are not supported for pillar in the docs until that feature has been completed.

[damon-atkins]

+1 I just assumed they would behavior the same way.
The . is ignored, it tries to load it from ...../pillar/stuff.sls or ......./pillar/stuff/init.sls

include:
  - .stuff

[damon-atkins]

The work around for the missing enhancement is

include:
  - buzz.stuff

[stale]

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