This is an example Ansible playbook for the Korora Ansible role.

What does this do?

This Ansible playbook applies settings used in the Korora distribution on a stock Fedora install. Users can also modify the settings to their liking, making it a simple and repeatable way to get a customised Fedora system on any number of machines.

It will do things like:

Configure SELinux (enable by default)
Modify authentication (e.g. enable fingerprint readers)
Modify the firewall (e.g. enable mDNS, SSH, Samba)
Enable repos like RPMFusion, Flathub, Google Chrome and Copr
Install and remove packages
Enable and disable services
Apply Korora system tweaks and desktop look and feel

Requirements

Currently this requires:

Fedora 32 or later (Workstation and base cloud image are both supported)
Active Internet connection
User with sudo privileges
SSH access to remote hosts if not running against localhost
git and ansible packages installed:
- sudo dnf install ansible git

Note that Git is installed by default in Fedora Workstation and simply running the ansible-playbook command should prompt to install Ansible. So technically you shouldn't need to manually install these packages, but they are dependencies.

Note if you run into an error with systemd on Fedora 32 where "Service is in unknown state" then please ensure you update systemd to >= 245.7. See here for details: ansible/ansible#71528

Getting the code

Clone this repository recursively and it will pull in the role automatically.

git clone --recursive https://github.com/csmart/korora-ansible

Once cloned, run the playbook from the korora-ansible directory. There is a run.sh shell script to make this easy, which runs against localhost by default using the included sample inventory file.

cd korora-ansible
./run.sh

Updating the code

You can pull in updates to the playbook and role with Git.

cd korora-ansible
git pull origin master && git submodule update

Ansible inventory

Ansible requires an inventory file which contains the details of the computers you want to run the playbook against, as well as any custom variables for them.

There is a sample inventory file included in this repository which contains an entry for localhost. So if you just want to run this playbook against your current machine, you can use the default inventory file.

If you want to manage other machines, then you will need to add them to the inventory file yourself.

Sample inventory files

There is a sample ini style inventory file at ./inventory/hosts and a sample YAML inventory file at ./inventory/hosts.yml.

The ini file is more simple and ideal if you just want to manage a number of hosts, without much customisation.

The YAML file is probably easier if you want to manage a number of hosts along with lots of customisation. This is because the playbook uses structures such as lists for variables, which are easier to write in YAML.

Either way, I suggest copying the sample inventory file and then modifying it, if required. The locations used below are ignored by Git, making it easier to pull in new changes.

cd korora-ansible
cp ./inventory/hosts ./inventory/hosts-custom
# or YAML inventory
cp ./inventory/hosts.yml ./inventory/hosts-custom.yml

Running the Ansible playbook

If you are happy with the defaults for localhost, you can simply run with the sample localhost inventory file.

cd korora-ansible
ansible-playbook --inventory ./inventory/hosts korora.yml --ask-become-pass
# or YAML inventory
ansible-playbook --inventory ./inventory/hosts.yml korora.yml --ask-become-pass

Else, pass in your custom inventory file.

cd korora-ansible
ansible-playbook --inventory ./inventory/hosts-custom korora.yml --ask-become-pass
# or YAML inventory
ansible-playbook --inventory ./inventory/hosts-custom.yml korora.yml --ask-become-pass

Overriding settings

This playbook lets you customise certain things, such as packages to install or remove, and services to enable or disable.

While you can override the default variables for these things, there are also some matching custom variables which let you do your own thing without changing the defaults.

korora_packages_custom
korora_services_custom
korora_copr_repos_custom

You can add these on the command line, or as variables for hosts in your inventory files.

Variables in the inventory file

Complex variables are easier in the YAML inventory file, but it's also possible in the ini style.

ini style inventory

This ini inventory sets the korora_packages_custom variable to install and remove some packages.

[all]
localhost ansible_connection=local korora_packages_custom='{ "install": [ "vim" ], "remove": [ "nano" ] }'

[all:vars]
ansible_python_interpreter=/usr/bin/python3

YAML style inventory

This YAML inventory sets the same korora_packages_custom variable to install vim and remove nano. It also ensures dnsmasq is installed and the service is enabled, while then disabling dhcpcd service via the korora_services_custom variable.

all:
  hosts:
    localhost:
      ansible_connection: local
      korora_packages_custom:
        install:
          - vim
        remove:
          - nano
      korora_services_custom:
        packages:
          - dnsmasq
        enable:
          - dnsmasq
        disable:
          - dhcpcd
  vars:
    ansible_python_interpreter: /usr/bin/python3

Variables on the command line

You can override settings on the command line, for example adding extra packages to install and remove.

ansible-playbook --inventory ./inventory/hosts korora.yml --ask-become-pass \
--extra-vars '{ "korora_packages_custom": { "install": [ "pass", "mosquitto" ], "remove": [ "abrt" ] }}'