How do I speed up my puppet module development-testing cycle?

• cache your apt/yum repository on your host with the vagrant-cachier plugin
• use profile –evaltrace to find where you loose time on full provisioning
• use package base distribution :
  • eg: rvm install ruby-2.0.0 vs a pre-compiled ruby package created with fpm
  • avoid a "wget the internet and compile" approach
  • this will probably make your provisioning more reproducible and speedier.
• don't code modules
  • try reusing some from the forge/github/...
  • note that it can be against my previous advice
• if this is an option, upgrade your puppet/ruby version
• iterate and prevent full provisioning
  • vagrant up
  • vagrant provision
  • modify manifest/modules
  • vagrant provision
  • modify manifest/modules
  • vagrant provision
  • vagrant destroy
  • vagrant up
  • launch server-spec
• minimize typed command
  • launch command as you modify your files
  • you can perhaps setup guard to launch lint/test/spec/provision as you save
  • you can also send notifications from guest to host machine with vagrant-notify
• test without actually provisioning in vagrant
  • rspec puppet (ideal when refactoring modules)
• test your provisioning instead of manual checking
  • stop vagrant ssh-ing checking if service is running or a config has a given value
  • launch server-spec
  • take a look at Beaker
• delegate running the test to your preferred ci server (jenkins, travis-ci,...)
• if you are a bit fustrated by puppet... take a look at ansible
  • easy to setup (no ruby to install/compile)
  • you can select portion of stuff you want to run with tags
  • you can share the playbooks via synched folders and run ansible in the vagrant box locally (no librairian-puppet to launch)

update : after discussion with @garethr, take a look at his last presentation about guard.