Packages

Manage packages. There are two modules maintained by the Ansible Core Team that manage Linux packages (package, yum). In addition to this, we also use here the module apt

Synopsis

There are four tasks that can be selected by tags:

  • Debug. Display variables.

  • Install automatically enabled packages

  • Install packages listed in lp_packages_install

  • Remove packages listed in lp_packages_remove

Both tasks which install packages import the task install_package.yml from the role vbotka.linux_lib. Red Hat ansible_os_family will use yum, Debian ansible_os_family will use apt, and others will use package.

See also

Quick guide

  • Install automatically enabled packages. This includes packages listed in the variables lp_<name>_packages where lp_<name>_install is true

    shell> ansible-playbook lp.yml -t lp_packages_auto -e lp_packages_auto=true

  • Install packages listed in lp_packages_install

    shell> ansible-playbook lp.yml -t lp_packages_install

  • Remove packages listed in lp_packages_remove

    shell> ansible-playbook lp.yml -t lp_packages_remove

Best practice

Create a playbook and configure variables

shell> cat lp.yml
- hosts: test_01
  become: true
  roles:
    - vbotka.linux_postinstall

Check the syntax of the playbook

shell> ansible-playbook lp.yml --syntax-check

Display variables

shell> ansible-playbook lp.yml -t lp_packages_debug -e lp_packages_debug=true

Don’t make any changes, predict and show differences

shell> ansible-playbook lp.yml -t lp_packages -e lp_packages_auto=true --check --diff

Optionally, limit the execution by tags

shell> ansible-playbook lp.yml -t lp_packages_auto -e lp_packages_auto=true --check --diff
shell> ansible-playbook lp.yml -t lp_packages_install --check --diff
shell> ansible-playbook lp.yml -t lp_packages_remove --check --diff

If all seems right manage the packages and display the results

shell> ansible-playbook lp.yml -t lp_packages -e lp_packages_auto=true -e lp_packages_debug=true

Optionally, limit the execution by tags

shell> ansible-playbook lp.yml -t lp_packages_auto -e lp_packages_auto=true -e lp_packages_debug=true
shell> ansible-playbook lp.yml -t lp_packages_install -e lp_packages_debug=true
shell> ansible-playbook lp.yml -t lp_packages_remove -e lp_packages_debug=true

To minimize both the execution and output, disable skipped hosts and sanity check

shell> ANSIBLE_DISPLAY_SKIPPED_HOSTS=false ansible-playbook lp.yml -t lp_packages -e lp_packages_auto=true -e ll_ipkg_sanity=false
  ...
TASK [vbotka.linux_postinstall : packages: Instantiate dynamic variables] ***********************
ok: [test_01]

TASK [vbotka.linux_lib : ll install_package: Install (apt)] *************************************
ok: [test_01]

TASK [vbotka.linux_lib : ll install_package: Install (apt)] *************************************
ok: [test_01]

See also

Note

  • By default, automatic installation of packages is turned off lp_packages_auto=false

Hint

Use yaml callback

Debug

By default, the debug is turned off lp_package_debug=false. If enabled the debug task will display the variables. For example,

  1shell> ansible-playbook lp.yml -t lp_packages_debug -e lp_packages_debug=True
  2
  3  ...
  4
  5TASK [vbotka.linux_postinstall : packages: Debug] ***********************************************
  6ok: [test_01] => 
  7  msg: |-
  8    ansible_os_family: Debian
  9    lp_packages_auto: False
 10    lp_package_state: present
 11    lp_packages_autoremove: True
 12    lp_packages_rescue_end_host: True
 13  
 14    lp_packages_selections_preinstall:
 15      - {name: ca-certificates, selection: install}
 16  
 17    lp_packages_install:
 18      - ansible
 19  
 20    lp_packages_remove:
 21      []
 22  
 23    lp_packages_selections_postinstall:
 24      []
 25  
 26    my_packages_install:
 27      apparmor: false
 28      autofs: true
 29      chrony: true
 30      debsums: true
 31      dnsmasq: false
 32      gpg: true
 33      gpsd: false
 34      kvm: false
 35      latex: true
 36      libvirt: false
 37      logrotate: true
 38      networkd: false
 39      nfsd: false
 40      nm: false
 41      packages: [ansible]
 42      passwordstore: true
 43      postfix: true
 44      resolvconf: true
 45      smart: true
 46      snap: false
 47      systemd: true
 48      tlp: true
 49      ufw: false
 50      virtualbox: false
 51      wpagui: true
 52      wpasupplicant: true
 53      xen: false
 54      zeitgeist: true
 55      zfs: true
 56  
 57    my_packages_lists:
 58      apparmor: [apparmor, apparmor-utils, snapd, jq]
 59      autofs: [autofs]
 60      chrony: [chrony]
 61      debsums: [debsums]
 62      dnsmasq: [dnsmasq]
 63      gpg: [gnupg, gpg, gpg-agent]
 64      gpsd: [gpsd, gpsd-clients]
 65      kvm: [qemu, qemu-kvm, libvirt-daemon, libvirt-daemon-system, libvirt-clients, bridge-utils]
 66      latex: [texlive]
 67      libvirt: [libvirt0, libvirt-daemon, libvirt-daemon-driver-storage-rbd, libvirt-daemon-system,
 68        libvirt-clients, virtinst]
 69      logrotate: [logrotate]
 70      networkd: []
 71      nfsd: [nfs-kernel-server]
 72      nm: [network-manager]
 73      passwordstore: [pass]
 74      postfix: [postfix]
 75      resolvconf: [resolvconf]
 76      smart: [smartmontools]
 77      systemd: []
 78      tlp: [tlp, tlp-rdw]
 79      ufw: [ufw]
 80      virtualbox: [virtualbox-5.2]
 81      wpagui: [wpasupplicant, wpagui, net-tools, ifupdown, wireless-tools]
 82      wpasupplicant: [wpasupplicant]
 83      xen: [xen-hypervisor-4.16-amd64, xen-utils-4.16, xen-utils-common, xenstore-utils]
 84      zfs: [zfsutils-linux]
 85  
 86    my_packages_auto:
 87      - [autofs]
 88      - [chrony]
 89      - [debsums]
 90      - [gnupg, gpg, gpg-agent]
 91      - [texlive]
 92      - [logrotate]
 93      - [pass]
 94      - [postfix]
 95      - [resolvconf]
 96      - [smartmontools]
 97      - []
 98      - [tlp, tlp-rdw]
 99      - [wpasupplicant, wpagui, net-tools, ifupdown, wireless-tools]
100      - [wpasupplicant]
101      - [zfsutils-linux]

Note

  • See defaults/main/packages.yml how the dynamic variables my_packages_* are declared.

  • The dictionary my_packages_install collects the variables lp_*_install

  • The dictionary my_packages_lists collects the variables lp_*_packages

  • The list of lists my_packages_auto is used to automatically install the listed packages. Flatten the list and remove duplicates by the filter unique if you want to iterate it.

Install packages automatically

By default, the automatic installation of packages is turned off lp_packages_auto=false. If enabled the dynamically created list my_packages_auto is used to install packages. The list my_packages_auto keeps lists of packages from the dictionary my_packages_lists enbled in my_packages_install.

See the tasks what lists of packages are required (apparmor, autofs, chrony, …, zfs). For each task, there might be two variables of the form

lp_<name>_packages .... list of packages
lp_<name>_install ..... install packages if true (default=false)

where name is typically a name of a subsystem. See Display subsystems. Install the packages:

shell> ansible-playbook lp.yml -t lp_packages_auto -e lp_packages_auto=true

See also

Example 1: Install packages automatically

Install packages

Install packages listed in lp_packages_install. For example,

lp_packages_install:
  - ansible
  - ansible-lint
  - ara-client

Install the packages:

shell> ansible-playbook lp.yml -t lp_packages_install

Hint

This list of packages will be included in the automatic installation if you declare:

lp_ansible_misc_install: true
lp_ansible_misc_packages:
  - ansible
  - ansible-lint
  - ara-client

The name of the list, ansible_misc in this case, must be unique. See Display subsystems.

See also

Example 2: Install packages

Remove packages

Remove packages listed in lp_packages_remove. For example,

lp_packages_remove:
  - zeitgeist

Remove the packages:

shell> ansible-playbook lp.yml -t lp_packages_remove

See also

Example 3: Remove packages

Examples