many minor usability enhancements for chef, as shown by new simple example mysql-chef.yaml



- catch occasional NPE
- don't use ruby `absolute_path` as it is not in some common (older) versions
- better messages on errors
- respond to more flags in simple yaml
- install recipes from local machine (using classpath or file:/// URL's)
- misc tweaks to deploy/archive/install (cc @grkvlt) to run as tasks for traceability