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

As long as your config.yml doesn't have a source.local section (see configuration below), you don't need to download or create a configuration for the first time.

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 and uncomment the items you want intstalled (remove the #)

---
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 can be listed under local. Each playbook will be executed in order. This can be useful for custom configuration per workstation. (You could install apps with homebrew or macports if those are installed, for example)

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 is in the root of the ansible-osx repository.

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 this is required in each playbook as it targets the local workstation. Though this is generally arbitrary for most ansible users, it must be workstation in battleschool.

pkg_type=app type must be pkg or app. Defaults to pkg

url=.... the url of the app to download, alternatively src=/local/path/to/app.dmg may be used instead.

archive_type=dmg one of dmg, zip or none. Defaults to none.

archive_path=Adium.app The path to the app or pkg in the archive.

sudo: yes required for mac_pkg tasks (this will prompt you to enter you sudo password only once)

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

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

battle USAGE

$ battle -h
Usage: battle

Options:
  -k, --ask-pass        ask for SSH password
  -K, --ask-sudo-pass   ask for sudo password
  -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=/Users/spencergibb/.battleschool)
  --config-file=CONFIG_FILE
                        config file for battleschool
                        (default=/Users/spencergibb/.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 key=value variables from the CLI
  -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/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=/usr/share/ansible/)
  -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, --sudo            run operations with sudo (nopasswd)
  --syntax-check        do a playbook syntax check on the playbook, do not
                        execute the playbook
  --tags=TAGS           only run plays and tasks tagged with these values
  -T TIMEOUT, --timeout=TIMEOUT
                        override the SSH timeout in seconds (default=10)
  -t TREE, --tree=TREE  log output to this directory
  -u, --update-source   update playbooks from sources(git, url, etc...)
  -v, --verbose         verbose mode (-vvv for more, -vvvv to enable
                        connection debugging)
  --version             show program's version number and exit

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

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