Fully automated development environment

• Goals
  • Why Ubuntu?
  • Why Ansible?
• Requirements
  • Operating System
  • System Upgrade
• Setup
  • values.yaml
    • Environment
      • zsh_public
      • zsh_private
    • Kubernetes
      • kubectl_config
      • kubectl_config_active
    • NodeJS
    • SSH Keys
    • System Hosts
    • Examples
      • Minimal
      • Advanced
  • vault-password.txt
• Usage
  • Install
  • Update
• Known Issues
  • Neovim Updates

Provide fully automated Ubuntu with i3 development environment that is easy to setup and maintain.

Currently it's only one approved Linux distro at my work.

Ansible replicates what we would do to setup a development environment pretty well.

This Ansible playbook only supports Ubuntu distribution. This is by design to provide a consistent development expierence across hosts.

• Download Ubuntu
• Install OS

Verify your Ubuntu installation has all latest packages installed before running the playbook.

sudo apt-get update -y

NOTE: This will take some time.

The values.yaml file allows you to personalize your setup to your needs. Create a file located at ~/.config/dotfiles/values.yaml and include your desired settings.

cd $HOME && mkdir -p .config/dotfiles && vim .config/dotfiles/values.yaml

Below is a list of all available values. Not all are required but incorrect values will break the playbook if not properly set.

Manage environment variables by configuring the zsh_public and zsh_private values in values.yaml. See both values usecase below.

The zsh_public value allows you to include a dictionary of generic and unsecure key-value pairs that will be stored in a ~/.zsh_public.

---
zsh_public:
  MY_ENV_VAR: something

The zsh_private value allows you to include a dictionary of secure key-value pairs that will be stored in a ~/.zsh_private.

---
zsh_private:
  MY_ENV_VAR_SECRET: !vault |
    $ANSIBLE_VAULT;1.1;AES256
    62333533626436313366316235626561626635396233303730343332666466393561346462303163
    3666636638613437353663356563656537323136646137630a336332303030323031376164316562
    65333963633339323762663865363766303966643035303234376163616239663539366564396166
    3830376265316231630a623834333061393138306331653164626437623337366165636163306237
    3437

Manage kubectl configurations by setting the kubectl_config and kubectl_config_active values in values.yaml. See both values usecase below.

You can store kubectl configuration files as Ansible vault secrets and then store them in your values.yaml as shown below:

---
kubectl_config:
  myconfig: !vault |
    $ANSIBLE_VAULT;1.1;AES256
    62333533626436313366316235626561626635396233303730343332666466393561346462303163
    3666636638613437353663356563656537323136646137630a336332303030323031376164316562
    65333963633339323762663865363766303966643035303234376163616239663539366564396166
    3830376265316231630a623834333061393138306331653164626437623337366165636163306237
    3437

You can set one of your kubectl_config values as the active kubectl configuration in your values.yaml as shown below:

---
kubectl_config_active: myconfig

You can set nodejs_npmrc_config as an encrypted Ansible Vault value in your values.yaml file as shown below:

---
nodejs_npmrc_config: !vault |
  $ANSIBLE_VAULT;1.1;AES256
  62333533626436313366316235626561626635396233303730343332666466393561346462303163
  3666636638613437353663356563656537323136646137630a336332303030323031376164316562
  65333963633339323762663865363766303966643035303234376163616239663539366564396166
  3830376265316231630a623834333061393138306331653164626437623337366165636163306237
  3437

Manage SSH keys by setting the ssh_key value in values.yaml shown as example below:

---
ssh_key:
  <filename>: !vault |
    $ANSIBLE_VAULT;1.1;AES256
    62333533626436313366316235626561626635396233303730343332666466393561346462303163
    3666636638613437353663356563656537323136646137630a336332303030323031376164316562
    65333963633339323762663865363766303966643035303234376163616239663539366564396166
    3830376265316231630a623834333061393138306331653164626437623337366165636163306237
    3437

NOTE: All ssh keys will be stored at $HOME/.ssh/<filename>.

Manage /etc/hosts by setting the system_host value in values.yaml.

---
system_host:
  127.0.0.1: foobar.localhost

Below includes minimal and advanced configuration examples. If you would like to see a more real world example take a look at blackglasses public configuration repository.

Below is a minimal example of values.yaml file:

---
git_user_email: [email protected]
git_user_name: Foo Bar

Below is a more advanced example of values.yaml file:

---
git_user_email: [email protected]
git_user_name: Foo Bar
exclude_roles:
  - slack
kubectl_config:
  myconfig: !vault |
    $ANSIBLE_VAULT;1.1;AES256
    62333533626436313366316235626561626635396233303730343332666466393561346462303163
    3666636638613437353663356563656537323136646137630a336332303030323031376164316562
    65333963633339323762663865363766303966643035303234376163616239663539366564396166
    3830376265316231630a623834333061393138306331653164626437623337366165636163306237
    3437
kubectl_config_active: myconfig
neovim_version: master
nitrogen_background: cats.png
ssh_key: !vault |
  $ANSIBLE_VAULT;1.1;AES256
  62333533626436313366316235626561626635396233303730343332666466393561346462303163
  3666636638613437353663356563656537323136646137630a336332303030323031376164316562
  65333963633339323762663865363766303966643035303234376163616239663539366564396166
  3830376265316231630a623834333061393138306331653164626437623337366165636163306237
  3437
system_host:
  127.0.0.1: foobar.localhost
zsh_public:
  MY_PUBLIC_VAR: foobar
zsh_private:
  MY_SECRET_VAR: !vault |
    $ANSIBLE_VAULT;1.1;AES256
    62333533626436313366316235626561626635396233303730343332666466393561346462303163
    3666636638613437353663356563656537323136646137630a336332303030323031376164316562
    65333963633339323762663865363766303966643035303234376163616239663539366564396166
    3830376265316231630a623834333061393138306331653164626437623337366165636163306237
    3437

The vault-password.txt file allows you to encrypt values with Ansible vault and store them securely in source control. Create a file located at ~/.config/dotfiles/vault-password.txt with a secure password in it.

vim .config/dotfiles/vault-password.yaml

To then encrypt values with your vault password use the following:

$ ansible-vault encrypt_string --vault-password-file $HOME/.config/dotfiles/vault-password.txt "mynewsecret" --name "MY_SECRET_VAR"
$ cat myfile.conf | ansible-vault encrypt_string --vault-password-file $HOME/.config/dotfiles/vault-password.txt --stdin-name "myfile"

NOTE: This file will automatically be detected by the playbook when running dotfiles command to decrypt values. Read more on Ansible Vault here.

This playbook includes a custom shell script located at bin/dotfiles. This script is added to your $PATH after installation and can be run multiple times while making sure any Ansible dependencies are installed and updated.

This shell script is also used to initialize your environment after installing Manjaro with i3, performing a full system upgrade and creating your ~/.config/dotfiles/values.yaml configuration file as mentioned above.

NOTE: You must follow required steps before running this command or things may become unusable until fixed.

$ bash -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/AlexStasko/dotfiles-ubuntu/main/bin/dotfiles)"

This repository is continuously updated with new features and settings which become available to you when updating.

To update your environment run the dotfiles command in your shell:

$ dotfiles

This will handle the following tasks:

• Verify Ansible is up-to-date
• Generate SSH keys and add to ~/.ssh/authorized_keys
• Clone this repository locally to ~/.dotfiles
• Verify any ansible-galaxy plugins are updated
• Run this playbook with the values in ~/.config/dotfiles/values.yaml

Sometimes the cloning task in neovim role fails due to conflicts with the repository history. The easiest solution is to delete the repository at ~/Development/repository/github.com/neovim/neovim and let the playbook clone it again.