.github - common file and configuration management for system roles

The configuration source for linux-system-roles repositories. This uses Ansible to manage configuration, github actions, and other common files used by repositories in the linux-system-roles organization. This allows org admins to easily rollout updates to all repos.

File structure

The structure of the files/directories under playbooks/files and playbooks/templates should match exactly the name and location of the files/directories in the role repositories. For example, playbooks/templates/.ansible-lint corresponds to the .ansible-lint file in the root directory of the role repositories. playbooks/.github/workflows/weekly_ci.yml corresponds to the file .github/workflows/weekly_ci.yml in the role repositories.

The file inventory.yml is the list of all roles and contains the groups active_roles for all of the actively maintained and supported roles, and the group python_roles for the roles that provide Ansible python plugins such as modules, filters, etc.

The file inventory/group_vars/active_roles.yml is used for settings common to all roles.

The file inventory/group_vars/python_roles.yml is used for settings common to all roles that have python modules, filters, and other Ansible plugin python code.

The file inventory/host_vars/$ROLENAME.yml is used for settings that are specific to that role. Some examples:

• The scheduled time for a github action
• .ansible-lint or .yamllint.yml customizations

Add a new role

• Edit inventory.yml
• Add the role in alphabetical order to the all.hosts section:

all:
  hosts:
    ...
    postgresql:
      ansible_host: localhost
    quite_a_good_new_role:
      ansible_host: localhost
    rhc:
      ansible_host: localhost

• Add the role to the active_roles.hosts section:

        postgresql:
        quite_a_good_new_role:
        rhc:

• If the role has python modules or filters or other plugins, add to the python_roles.hosts section:

        network:
        quite_a_good_new_role:
        selinux:

• Add the new file inventory/host_vars/$ROLENAME.yml - add any customizations for the github actions weekly_ci, ansible_lint, etc.

Add a new config or github action file

• Add the file under playbooks/files or playbooks/templates

Add the file according to the location in the role repository under playbooks/files or playbooks/templates. If the file is static, and needs no per-role configuration (such as a github action cron schedule), then add under playbooks/files.

NOTE: github action files will almost always be templates, due to the checkout action being template-ized.

• Add the file to the appropriate list in inventory/group_vars/active_roles.yml or inventory/group_vars/python_roles.yml

present_templates are files that should be present in all roles that are generated by templates. present_files are files that should be present in all roles that are static. absent_files are files that should be removed from all roles. present_python_templates are files that should be present in roles that provide Ansible python code that are generated by templates. present_python_files are files that should be present in roles that provide Ansible python code that are static. absent_python_files are files that should be removed from roles that provide Ansible python code.

Preparing for using the automation

This uses the gh command line tool provided by the gh package on Fedora. To configure Github tools to run the automation, complete the following steps:

• Configure gh to authenticate to github using ~/.config/gh/hosts.yml:

  github.com:
    user: my_user_name
    oauth_token: my_oauth_token
    git_protocol: ssh

  Or by running interactive gh auth login.

• Configure credentials caching by running:

  $ git config --global credential.helper cache
  

  The next time GitHub asks you to log in, use your username and auth token.

Creating PRs in every role with updated files

The playbook playbooks/update_files.yml will create PRs in all roles with the new/updated/deleted files. If you just want to see what the playbook will do without actually creating anything on github, add -e lsr_dry_run=true to the ansible-playbook command.

Parameters

• update_files_commit_file - REQUIRED, no default - This is the path to the file containing the git commit message to use for the commit, and will also be used as the PR title and body. Please use good practices for creating the commit message as described in Contributing under "Write a good commit message".
• update_files_branch - default "update_role_files" - this is the name of the git branch that will be used for the PR. You probably don't want to change this unless you have some conflict.
• lsr_dry_run - default true - use false to actually push and create PRs
• test_dir - default none - if you specify this, the playbook will checkout the role directories under this directory - by default, the playbook will create and remove a tmpdir
• exclude_roles - default none - you can specify a comma-delimited list of roles to exclude from processing. This is useful when you want to update all roles except the given roles.
• include_roles - default none - you can specify a comma-delimited list of roles to include in processing, and all other roles will be excluded. This is useful when you want to update only the given roles, and exclude the rest. NOTE: include_roles currently only works with 1 role at a time. You cannot currently specify a list of roles.

Run it

Run it like this:

ansible-playbook -vv -i inventory -e lsr_dry_run=false \
  -e update_files_branch=my_update_branch -e exclude_roles=nbde_client \
  -e test_dir=/var/tmp/lsr \
  -e update_files_commit_file=/path/to/git-commit-msg playbooks/update_files.yml

How it works

• A temp directory is created if test_dir is not specified
• All of the roles are cloned into that directory, except for the roles listed in exclude_roles
• Figure out the name of the main branch
• If the branch update_files_branch does not exist, it is created from the main branch
• If the branch update_files_branch already exists, it will be rebased on top of the main branch
• Add/update/remove the files to be managed in each role
• If there are no updates to be done, just exit
• Create a git commit using update_files_commit_file for the message
• Push the commit to update_files_branch in github.com/linux-system-roles/$ROLE If the branch already exists, it will be pushed with git push -f
• Create the PR if it doesn't already exist
• Wait for review feedback

NOTE: This process may create multiple commits if you need to make edits to an existing PR. Use the Squash commits and merge functionality in the github PR to merge.