"Installing capistrano didn't put anything in the path, had to execute cap directly from /var/lib/gems/1.8/bin/cap I also had to install these additional dependencies, otherwise cap would complain: sudo apt-get install libopenssl-ruby ruby1.8-dev make sudo gem install echoe activesupport Even then I couldn't get the recipe to work in my Linode Ubuntu 8.10 slice. I get this error INFO: Starting Chef Solo Run ERROR: directory[/etc/openvpn/easy-rsa] (/var/chef/cookbooks/openvpn/recipes/default.rb line 29) had an error: can't find group for admin" - Olifante