We've tried to make the documentation on this wiki as comprehensive as possible, but inevitably folks need to get help.
Check the FAQs!
We have two FAQs on the wiki. The first covers general questions about Chef, but the second should help with common problems when disaster strikes the land. Check there first, then...
Help Us Help You
We want to help you! First, gather as much information as possible about the issue. We'll need the following in almost every case.
- Platform and version.
- How Chef was installed (packages, RubyGems, from source, etc).
- If using RubyGems, how it was installed.
- Debug logs from the server. Set "log_level :debug" in /etc/chef/server.rb.
- Debug logs from the client. Run "chef-client -l debug".
- If you custom compiled Ruby (or are using REE), we'll need to know about that.
- Anything else specific about your environment that may be helpful.
 | Log file locations Check the server or client config file for the log_location.
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Real-time Help
The best way to get help immediately is by joining the #chef channel on FreeNode. Several folks from Opscode are there regularly (easily distinguished by 'operator' status), as well as lots of people in the community who have probably run into your issue.
See the IRC page for more.
Mailing Lists
If no one responds to your queries on IRC, you can always post to the Chef Mailing List.
File a Ticket
If you've found a bug in Chef, Ohai or the Opscode Cookbooks, you'll probably be asked to file a ticket. Our ticket tracking system is Jira, at tickets.opscode.com. Your login there is the same as it is here, if you have one.
Be sure to provide as much information (as noted above) as you can, and select the appropriate component of Chef, Ohai or the Cookbooks when creating the ticket.