I was playing around with puppet and noticed this behavior. # puppet resource file

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Asked: June 17, 20262026-06-17T09:13:11+00:00 2026-06-17T09:13:11+00:00

I was playing around with puppet and noticed this behavior. # puppet resource file

0

I was playing around with puppet and noticed this behavior.

# puppet resource file /etc/passwd
file { '/etc/passwd':
  ensure   => 'file',
  content  => '{md5}7a63b133e1a086d9f35c2014b3b09218',
  ctime    => 'Thu Jan 10 17:16:11 -0700 2013',
  group    => '0',
  mode     => '644',
  mtime    => 'Thu Jan 10 17:16:11 -0700 2013',
  owner    => '0',
  selrange => 's0',
  selrole  => 'object_r',
  seltype  => 'etc_t',
  seluser  => 'system_u',
  type     => 'file',
}

vs

# puppet resource file /etc/passwd provider=posix
file { '/etc/passwd':
  ensure   => 'file',
  selrange => 's0',
  selrole  => 'object_r',
  seltype  => 'etc_t',
  seluser  => 'system_u',
}

This is on a Linux system where the file provider should be POSIX. Why is the output different when the provider is explicitly specified?

Edit: Added specific output for the commands.