If the refreshonly attribute is set to true in an exec resource, what does it imply about the execution behavior?

When the refreshonly attribute is set to true in an exec resource, it indicates that the exec resource is designed to run only when it receives a notification from another resource. This behavior is particularly useful for scenarios where a certain action should only occur as a response to changes or specific events rather than at every Puppet agent run. The implication is that the exec will remain idle during standard Puppet runs and will only trigger when a resource, such as a file or package, signals that it has changed.

This functionality allows for optimized resource management by preventing unnecessary executions, thus saving on system resources and execution time. For example, if a file is updated or a service is restarted, and it is linked to the exec resource through a notification, the exec will then execute in response to that specific event.