---
title:   "Automating desktop setup with ansible-pull part-2"
date:    2019-04-22
lastmod: 2020-07-12
tags:    ['ansible', 'ansible-pull', 'linux', 'fedora']
---

[[{{< ref "2019-03-07-ansible-part-1.org " >}}][See part 1]]

Now we're going to setup ansible to work with a git repository. The process is
quite similar to ~ansible-playbook~, the only difference is that the source for
the playbook will be a remote repository and not a local file. Following the
previous example we'll get vim setup automated.

Create a git repository wherever you see fit, [[https://about.gitlab.com/][gitlab]] and [[https://github.com/][github]] offer free
repositories. For this task we need to add only two file: one for the
~yml~ file describing the tasks and the ~.vimrc~ file.


In the ~.vimrc~ add your own configuration, you can see mine [[https://gitlab.com/gabrielgio/homestation/-/blob/debcf3458df511aef9f7dca0cb73f6cf6baddd5d/.vimrc][over here]], it is
pretty simple as I don't use it but for simple text editing (like this post) so
you can start with that if you don't have one.

The ~yml~ file will have two tasks, one is to install vim, just like we did in
the part 1.

#+BEGIN_SRC yaml
# main.yml
---
- name: install vim
  dnf:
    name: vim
    state: latest
#+END_SRC

To copy ~.vimrc~ file to your ~$HOME~ we going to use [[https://docs.ansible.com/ansible/latest/modules/copy_module.html][copy module]]:

#+BEGIN_SRC yaml
# main.yml
---
- name: copy vimrc file
  copy:
    src: config/.vimrc
    dest: ~/
    mode: 0644
#+END_SRC

After we've added those two files to repository you will have be something [[https://gitlab.com/gabrielgio/homestation/-/tree/debcf3458df511aef9f7dca0cb73f6cf6baddd5d][like
this]].

And now we just need to run ~ansible-pull~ command

#+BEGIN_SRC shell
# you may need run it as a sudo
ansible-pull -U $YOUR_REPO -i all main.yml
#+END_SRC

Params:
- *~-i~* is a list of hosts.
- *~-U~* is the git repository URL.

Remember ~man~ is your best friend, take a look at ~man ansible-pull~ to know
more about its parameters.

The best part you can quickly test and see the result by running my sample:
#+BEGIN_SRC shell
ansible-pull -U https://gitlab.com/gabrielgio/homestation.git -C debcf3458df511aef9f7dca0cb73f6cf6baddd5d -i all main.yml
#+END_SRC

The idea here is to keep your repository as a source of truth when comes to
configuration, you can add ~ansible-pull~ to a CRON tab, so you just need to push
something to your repository and after a few minutes not only your machine but
all the machines that have it setup will run the playbooks. You can use this
method as a simple way to install software, update machines or even distribute
tooling company-wise.