How do I get around “Filename too long” error when running `chef install` on Windows 10?

Question

I'm transitioning from berkshelf to the Policyfile workflow, and everything was running fine until I attempted to resolve all the dependencies. Two of my dependencies are from git, so when I run chef install in the cookbook directory, I get the following error:

Error: Failed to generate Policyfile.lock
Reason: (CookbookOmnifetch::GitCommandError) Git error: command `git reset --hard 7e5e4bccf57718cacc246f1b4d501ff7de8ac13d` failed. If this error persists, 
try removing the cache directory at 'C:/Users/pcummuskey/AppData/Local/chefdk/cache/.cache/git/780b7dbee933c3a9efbfd3898d54cdf72784fa7e'.Output from the command:

error: unable to create file test/kitchen/.kitchen/tmp/librarian/cache/source/chef/site/877777683730772c36b1e6a3fc3aa2c3/windows/version-uri/a3432e93fb3c21cb7111fde71e435661/package/files/default/handlers/windows_reboot_handler.rb: Filename too long
Checking out files: 100% (389/389), done.
fatal: Could not reset index file to revision '7e5e4bccf57718cacc246f1b4d501ff7de8ac13d'.

Predictably, removing the cache folder had zero effect on the problem. I'm in the middle of checking whether I can get it working in the ubuntu subsystem and/or docker atm, but it'd be nice to be able to run it natively on Windows.

Answer 1

I don't get this problem using "git bash" (MINGW64) packaged in Git for windows installer.

As an example:

$ pwd
/c/Users/foobar/AppData/Local/chefdk/cache/.cache/git/13036489648c6f8811262c6a50ff6b03da2395b7/4416ca3886d025b3ead519f1ee53af03ecb630f64416ca3886d025b3ead519f1ee53af03ecb630f64416ca3886d025b3ead519f1ee53af03ecb630f64416ca3886d025b3ead519f1ee53af03ecb630f6/4416ca3886d025b3ead519f1ee53af03ecb630f64416ca3886d025b3ead519f1ee53af03ecb630f64416ca3886d025b3ead519f1ee53af03ecb630f61

Answer 2

Managed to work around the issue by making a local cookbooks folder and checking out the dependencies to there and referencing them by path. It's not pretty, but it does the trick.