battleschool

Development environment provisioning using ansible, ala boxen which uses puppet and kitchenplan which uses chef Built on and for macs, but should be usable on Linux

See this blog post for some background.

install

#if needed
sudo easy_install pip

sudo pip install battleschool

install preview releases

sudo pip install https://github.com/spencergibb/battleschool/releases/download/v0.x.0/battleschool-0.x.0.tar.gz

running battleschool for the first time

battle --config-file http://somesite/path/to/your/config.yml

installing on linux

NOTE: You'll need to install libyaml-dev

e.g. on ubuntu based systems

sudo apt-get install libyaml-dev    

As long as your

config.yml

source.local

running battleschool

battle

configuration

NOTE: in the future, a default empty configuration will be created if you do not create one

mkdir ~/.battleschool

put the following in

~/.battleschool/config.yml

---
sources:
  local:
    #- playbook.yml

  url:
    #- name: playbook.yml
    #  url: https://db.tt/VcyI9dvr
  git:
    - name: 'osx'
      repo: 'https://github.com/spencergibb/ansible-osx'
      playbooks:
         #- adium.yml
         #- alfred.yml
         #- better-touch-tool.yml
         #- chrome-beta.yml
         #- dropbox.yml
         #- github.yml
         #- gitx.yml
         #- intellij-idea-ultimate.yml
         #- iterm2.yml
         #- java7.yml
         #- libreoffice.yml
         #- sequel-pro.yml
         #- skype.yml
         #- truecrypt.yml
         #- usb-overdrive.yml
         #- vagrant.yml
         #- virtualbox.yml
         #- xtra-finder.yml

Here is my config.yml

Here is my playbook.yml

explanation of ~/.battleschool/config.yml

local sources

sources:
  local:
    - playbook.yml

Any ansible playbooks located in

~/.battleschool/playbooks

url sources

  url:
    - name: playbook.yml
      url: https://db.tt/VcyI9dvr

Playbooks located at a url. Each playbook will be executed in order. Helpful for bootstrapping (ie, the first time you run battleschool.

git sources

git:
  - name: 'osx'
    repo: 'https://github.com/spencergibb/ansible-osx'
    playbooks:
       - adium.yml

Any git repo that hosts ansible playbooks (specific to battleschool or not) will work here. Each item under playbooks is the relative location to a playbook in the specified git repository. In the example above,

adium.yml

git repo sources

Directory Layout

The top level of the directory would contain files and directories like so:

local.yml                 # master playbook, after ansible-pull, automatically run, no need to list under playbooks
                          # NOT REQUIRED

dev.yml                   # playbook for dev
ux.yml                    # playbook for ux
chrome.yml                # playbook for chrome
roles/                    # standard ansible role hierarchy
library/                  # remote module definitions

See the roles docs for information about ansible roles and library is the location for placing custom ansible modules

the mac_pkg module

if you look most of the playbooks in this git repo you will see the use of the mac_pkg module. Mac apps are usually a pkg (or mpgk) installer, or the bare .app directory. They can be archived in a number of formats: DMG or zip commonly. Pkg files may not be archived at all. Less common formats (tar or 7zip) are not supported yet.

Lets look at adium.yml

---
- hosts: workstation

  tasks:
    - name: install Adium
      mac_pkg: pkg_type=app
               url=http://sourceforge.net/projects/adium/files/Adium_1.5.7.dmg/download
               archive_type=dmg archive_path=Adium.app
      sudo: yes

- hosts: workstation

workstation

pkg_type=app

url=....

src=/local/path/to/app.dmg

archive_type=dmg

archive_path=Adium.app

sudo: yes

NOTE: battleschool, currently does not install apps from the Apple App Store.

common battle options

I alias battle to

battle -K

-K, --ask-sudo-pass   ask for sudo password

Force update of the playbooks from a VCS such as git

-X, --update-sources      update playbooks from a version control system (vcs)

battle USAGE

$ battle -h
Usage: battle

Options:
  --acquire-only        configure mac_pkg module to only aquire package (ie
                        download only)
  --ask-become-pass     ask for privilege escalation password
  -k, --ask-pass        ask for SSH password
  --ask-su-pass         ask for su password (deprecated, use become)
  -K, --ask-sudo-pass   ask for sudo password (deprecated, use become)
  --ask-vault-pass      ask for vault password
  -b, --become          run operations with become (nopasswd implied)
  --become-method=BECOME_METHOD
                        privilege escalation method to use (default=sudo),
                        valid choices: [ sudo | su | pbrun | pfexec | runas ]
  --become-user=BECOME_USER
                        run operations as this user (default=None)
  -C, --check           don't make any changes; instead, try to predict some
                        of the changes that may occur
  --config-dir=CONFIG_DIR
                        config directory for battleschool
                        (default=/.battleschool)
  --config-file=CONFIG_FILE
                        config file for battleschool
                        (default=/.battleschool/config.yml)
  -c CONNECTION, --connection=CONNECTION
                        connection type to use (default=smart)
  -D, --diff            when changing (small) files and templates, show the
                        differences in those files; works great with --check
  -e EXTRA_VARS, --extra-vars=EXTRA_VARS
                        set additional variables as key=value or YAML/JSON
  -f FORKS, --forks=FORKS
                        specify number of parallel processes to use
                        (default=5)
  -h, --help            show this help message and exit
  -i INVENTORY, --inventory-file=INVENTORY
                        specify inventory host file
                        (default=/usr/local/share/battleschool/defaults/hosts)
  -l SUBSET, --limit=SUBSET
                        further limit selected hosts to an additional pattern
  --list-hosts          outputs a list of matching hosts; does not execute
                        anything else
  --list-tasks          do list all tasks that would be executed
  -M MODULE_PATH, --module-path=MODULE_PATH
                        specify path(s) to module library (default=None)
  -o, --one-line        condense output
  --private-key=PRIVATE_KEY_FILE
                        use this file to authenticate the connection
  --step                one-step-at-a-time: confirm each task before running
  -S, --su              run operations with su (deprecated, use become)
  -R SU_USER, --su-user=SU_USER
                        run operations with su as this user (default=root)
                        (deprecated, use become)
  -s, --sudo            run operations with sudo (nopasswd) (deprecated, use
                        become)
  -U SUDO_USER, --sudo-user=SUDO_USER
                        desired sudo user (default=root) (deprecated, use
                        become)
  --syntax-check        do a playbook syntax check on the playbook, do not
                        execute the playbook
  -T TIMEOUT, --timeout=TIMEOUT
                        override the SSH timeout in seconds (default=10)
  -t TREE, --tree=TREE  log output to this directory
  -X, --update-sources  update playbooks from sources(git, url, etc...)
  --use-default-callbacks
                        use default ansible callbacks (to exec vars_prompt,
                        etc.)
  -u REMOTE_USER, --user=REMOTE_USER
                        connect as this user (default=sgibb)
  --vault-password-file=VAULT_PASSWORD_FILE
                        vault password file
  -v, --verbose         verbose mode (-vvv for more, -vvvv to enable
                        connection debugging)
  --version             show program's version number and exit
For more options see ansible-playbook -h

=================

TODO: cleanup cli output

TODO: more docs

TODO: default to ask sudo pass (simpler options). Only don't ask if --no-sudo-pass is true