facter

system fact gathering tool for Puppet

TLDR

Show all facts

$ facter

Show specific fact

$ facter [os.family]

Show facts in JSON

$ facter --json

Show facts in YAML

$ facter --yaml

List all fact names

$ facter --list

Show timing information

$ facter --timing

Debug output

$ facter --debug

facter collects and displays system facts - information about the operating system, hardware, network, and other system properties. It's a core component of Puppet, providing data for configuration management.Facts include OS details, IP addresses, memory, processors, disk space, and more. Custom facts can be written in Ruby or as executable external facts.

PARAMETERS

--json

Output in JSON format.

--yaml

Output in YAML format.

--list

List all fact names.

--timing

Show timing for each fact.

--debug

Debug output.

--no-custom-facts

Disable custom facts.

--external-dir dir

Directory for external facts.

--puppet

Load Puppet's settings.

-p

Include Puppet facts.

CONFIGURATION

/etc/facter/facts.d/

Custom external facts directory for system-wide facts.

/opt/puppetlabs/facter/facts.d/

Puppet-specific custom facts directory.

~/.facter/facts.d/

User-specific custom facts directory.

COMMON FACTS

$ facter os.name           # Operating system
facter os.release.full   # OS version
facter networking.ip     # IP address
facter memory.total      # Total memory
facter processors.count  # CPU count
facter virtual           # Virtualization

INSTALL

sudo dnf install facter

sudo pacman -S facter

nix profile install nixpkgs#facter

CAVEATS

Some facts require root privileges. Custom facts may slow collection. Facts may differ between facter versions. Puppet-specific facts need --puppet flag.

HISTORY

Facter was created by Luke Kanies as part of the Puppet project at Puppet Labs (now Puppet) in the mid-2000s. Facter 3, a rewrite in C++ (later Ruby again), was released in 2015 for improved performance.