[RFC-001] Decouple Chef provisioner

rfcs/0001-decouple_chef_provisioner.md

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+# Decouple chef Provisioner from Core Test Kitchen
+
+---
+
+| **RFC** | **Author**                              | **Status** | **Type**     |
+|---------|-----------------------------------------|------------|--------------|
+| 0001    | Corey Hemminger <hemminger@hotmail.com> | Aproved    | Major Change |
+
+---
+
+## Summary
+
+This RFC proposes removing the chef provisioner from the core test-kitchen gem and creating three separate plugin gems:
+
+- kitchen-chef-enterprise: Official plugin maintained by Progress Chef.
+- kitchen-omnitruck-chef: Community-maintained plugin preserving current behavior with deprecation warnings.
+- kitchen-cinc: Community-maintained plugin for Cinc users.
+
+This change improves maintainability, clarifies ownership, and supports future evolution of both Progress Chef and community-driven workflows.
+
+---
+
+## Motivation
+
+The chef provisioner is currently tightly coupled with the core test-kitchen gem. This creates challenges for:
+
+- Progress Chef: Maintaining licensing and support boundaries.
+- Community: Supporting alternative distributions like Cinc.
+- Contributors: Navigating diverging goals between Progress Chef and community users.
+
+By decoupling the provisioner, we enable:
+
+- Independent evolution of provisioners.
+- Clear maintainership and support boundaries.
+- Easier contribution and upstream sync between forks.
+
+---
+
+## Proposal
+
+1. Remove chef Provisioner from Core
+   - Extract the current chef provisioner into a standalone gem: kitchen-chef-enterprise.
+   - Maintained by Progress Chef, supporting licensed Chef Infra usage.
+2. Create kitchen-omnitruck-chef Plugin
+   - Clone the current provisioner code into a new gem: kitchen-omnitruck-chef.
+   - Add deprecation warnings for Omnitruck-based downloads.
+   - Warn users that Omnitruck will be shut down in 2026.
+   - Recommend migration to kitchen-chef-enterprise or kitchen-cinc.
+3. Create kitchen-cinc Plugin
+   - Community-maintained plugin for Cinc users.
+   - Mirrors functionality of chef but uses Cinc downloads and tooling.
+   - Use cinc_(name) naming scheme for provioners to replace chef_infra, chef_zeo, etc...
+4. Update Default Behavior Post-Omnitruck Shutdown
+   - After Omnitruck is shut down:
+     - Community test-kitchen will default to kitchen-cinc.
+     - Progress Chef will maintain a fork defaulting to kitchen-chef-enterprise.
+
+This allows both ecosystems to co-exist without conflict.
+
+---
+
+## Benefits
+
+- Modularization: Easier maintenance and testing of provisioners.
+- Clear Ownership: Progress Chef owns kitchen-chef-enterprise; community owns others.
+- Future-Proofing: Avoids breakage when Omnitruck is shut down.
+- Contribution Flow: Simplifies upstream/downstream sync between forks.
+
+---
+
+## Implementation Plan
+
+1. Extract chef provisioner into kitchen-chef-enterprise.
+2. Create kitchen-omnitruck-chef and kitchen-cinc gems.
+3. Update documentation and migration guides.
+4. Add warnings to kitchen-omnitruck-chef.
+5. Coordinate with Progress Chef and community maintainers on release of changes.
+6. Update default behavior provisioners post-Omnitruck shutdown.
+
+---
+
+## Alternatives Considered
+
+- Keeping chef in core: Leads to long-term maintenance and support issues.
+- Single plugin with flags for Chef vs. Cinc: Adds complexity and blurs maintainablility.
+
+---
+
+## Feedback Requested
+
+- Does this separation meet the needs of both Progress Chef and the community?
+- Are there concerns about migration or compatibility?
+- Suggestions for naming, messaging, or rollout?
+
+---
+
+## Anticipated Downstream Impact
+
+- kitchen-dokken
+  - will need to update deps to add kitchen-cinc
+  - will need to update rb files requiring chef_infra or chef_zero methods available
+- kitchen-dsc
+  - will need to update deps to add kitchen-cinc
+  - will need to update rb files requiring chef_infra or chef_zero methods available
+
+Possibly others I may not be aware of that rely on chef_infra or chef_zero provisioner methods.
+
+---
+
+## Copyright
+
+This work is in the public domain. In jurisdictions that do not allow for this,
+this work is available under CC0. To the extent possible under law, the person
+who associated CC0 with this work has waived all copyright and related or
+neighboring rights to this work.
+
+---