provisioners/shell: allow array args [GH-1949]

CHANGELOG.md

@@ -43,6 +43,7 @@ IMPROVEMENTS:
   - provisioners/ansible: allow files for extra vars [GH-2366]
   - provisioners/shell: Added `keep_color` option to not automatically color
     output based on stdout/stderr. [GH-2505]
+  - provisioners/shell: Arguments can now be an array of args. [GH-1949]
   - synced\_folders/nfs: Specify `nfs_udp` to false to disable UDP based
     NFS folders. [GH-2304]
 

plugins/provisioners/shell/config.rb

@@ -56,8 +56,8 @@ module VagrantPlugins
         end
 
         # If there are args and its not a string, that is a problem
-        if args && !args.is_a?(String)
-          errors << I18n.t("vagrant.provisioners.shell.args_not_string")
+        if args && (!args.is_a?(String) || !args.is_a?(Array))
+          errors << I18n.t("vagrant.provisioners.shell.args_bad_type")
         end
 
         { "shell provisioner" => errors }

plugins/provisioners/shell/provisioner.rb

@@ -7,11 +7,14 @@ module VagrantPlugins
   module Shell
     class Provisioner < Vagrant.plugin("2", :provisioner)
       def provision
-        case config.args
-        when String then args = " #{config.args}"
-        when Array  then args = " #{config.args.map{|arg| quote_and_escape(arg)}.join(" ")}"
-        else args = ""
+        args = ""
+        if args.is_a?(String)
+          args = " #{config.args}"
+        elsif args.is_a?(Array)
+          args = config.args.map { |a| quote_and_escape(a) }
+          args = " #{args.join(" ")}"
         end
+
         command = "chmod +x #{config.upload_path} && #{config.upload_path}#{args}"
 
         with_script_file do |path|
@@ -53,7 +56,7 @@ module VagrantPlugins
 
       protected
 
-      # Quote and escape strings for shell execution, thanks to @capistrano
+      # Quote and escape strings for shell execution, thanks to Capistrano.
       def quote_and_escape(text, quote = '"')
         "#{quote}#{text.gsub(/#{quote}/) { |m| "#{m}\\#{m}#{m}" }}#{quote}"
       end

templates/locales/en.yml

@@ -1266,7 +1266,7 @@ en:
         running_puppetd: "Running Puppet agent..."
 
       shell:
-        args_not_string: "Shell provisioner `args` must be a string."
+        args_bad_type: "Shell provisioner `args` must be a string or array."
         no_path_or_inline: "One of `path` or `inline` must be set."
         path_and_inline_set: "Only one of `path` or `inline` may be set."
         path_invalid: "`path` for shell provisioner does not exist on the host system: %{path}"

website/docs/source/v2/provisioning/shell.html.md

@@ -29,10 +29,11 @@ is required:
 
 The remainder of the available options are optional:
 
-* `args` (string) - Arguments to pass to the shell script when executing it
+* `args` (string or array) - Arguments to pass to the shell script when executing it
   as a single string. These arguments must be written as if they were typed
   directly on the command line, so be sure to escape characters, quote,
-  etc. as needed.
+  etc. as needed. You may also pass the arguments in using an array. In this
+  case, Vagrant will handle quoting for you.
 
 * `binary` (boolean) - Vagrant automatically replaces Windows line endings with
   Unix line endings. If this is true, then Vagrant will not do this. By default
@@ -131,3 +132,15 @@ Vagrant.configure("2") do |config|
   end
 end
 ```
+
+You can also specify arguments an array if you don't want to worry about
+quoting:
+
+```ruby
+Vagrant.configure("2") do |config|
+  config.vm.provision "shell" do |s|
+    s.inline = "echo $1"
+    s.args   = ["hello, world!"]
+  end
+end
+```