salt.pillar.file_tree should support files for all hosts

[dr4Ke]

Description of Issue/Question

The only way to provide files for all hosts, in the current implementation, is to create a nodegroup containing all hosts. Then create a nodegroups/all_hosts directory structure in the file_tree external pillar.
This is an issue when using salt-ssh as it doesn't support nodegroups (nor grains) yet (#16068, #27842). And I guess it's the same with a standalone installation.

This behaviour is documented in https://docs.saltstack.com/en/latest/ref/pillar/all/salt.pillar.file_tree.html as "assigning Pillar Data to (Individual Hosts|Entire Nodegroups) but it's not clear that you can't just put your files in the root and let them be available to all nodes.

I suggest we add this ability in one of two methods:

• reference files inside the root dir and outside the nodegroups or hosts subdirectory for acces by all nodes
• add a subdirectory named all (for example) where we can place files for all hosts.

This way, this feature (file_tree external pillar) would be available for all flavor of Salt, even if in a limited way (no nodegroups support) for salt-ssh or standalone mode.

Setup

(Please provide relevant configs and/or SLS files (Be sure to remove sensitive info).)

• master.conf:

ext_pillar:
  - file_tree:
      root_dir: /srv/pillar/files
      follow_dir_links: False
      keep_newline: True

• /srv/pillar/files:

{files}
all/ {files}
hosts/host1/ {files}
hosts/host2/ {files}
nodegroups/group1/ {files}
nodegroups/group2/ {files}

Steps to Reproduce Issue

(Include debug logs if possible and relevant.)

Versions Report

(Provided by running salt --versions-report. Please also mention any differences in master/minion versions.)
Reading salt/pillar/file_tree.py ext_pillar function from salt version 2015.8.8 or develop.

[jfindlay]

@dr4Ke, thanks for reporting.

[The-Loeki]

Related/for cached minions solved: #39050

[h0jeZvgoxFepBQ2C]

Yeah, pleaseeeee add a folder for all hosts... I would really need this..

[stale[bot]]

This issue has been automatically marked as stale because it has not had recent activity. It will be closed if no further activity occurs. Thank you for your contributions.

If this issue is closed prematurely, please leave a comment and we will gladly reopen the issue.

[davidjb]

Still an issue (reviving so stale bot doesn't close it)

[stale[bot]]

Thank you for updating this issue. It is no longer marked as stale.

[rallytime]

@saltstack/team-triage FYI

[stale[bot]]

This issue has been automatically marked as stale because it has not had recent activity. It will be closed if no further activity occurs. Thank you for your contributions.

If this issue is closed prematurely, please leave a comment and we will gladly reopen the issue.

[davidjb]

Still an issue (reviving so stale bot doesn't close it)

[stale[bot]]

Thank you for updating this issue. It is no longer marked as stale.