ReadyToCook: Workstation Setup Automation

This repository provides Ansible playbooks for automated workstation setup and configuration. It leverages community-shared configurations to streamline the deployment of development environments.

Rationale for Ansible over Dotfiles

Ansible provides comprehensive configuration management, including package installation verification, operating system-specific conditional execution, and service management. It offers state awareness, dependency handling, and conditional logic, ensuring robust environment setup, which are advanced capabilities beyond traditional dotfile management.

Installation

macOS:

brew install ansible

Arch Linux:

sudo pacman -S ansible

Usage

Ansible playbooks are located in OS-specific directories. Each .yml file represents a distinct playbook. Review embedded documentation for functionality and potential interactions.

Configuration Management (Dotfiles):

ansible-playbook <path/to/your/choosed/playbook.yml>

System Update (Linux packages and software):

ansible-playbook <path/to/your/choosed/playbook.yml> --ask-become --extra-vars "should_update_os=true"

Configuration files managed via symlinks are automatically updated upon source file modification. Playbook changes require re-execution of the setup command.

Directory Structure

This repository organizes Ansible playbooks by target operating system. Each .yml file within an OS-specific directory performs a distinct setup task. Common configurations for Python development are included, with provisions for additional user-contributed playbooks.

ReadyToCook_repo/
|--OperatingSystem/
|  |--00.playbook-for-a-thing.yml
|  |--01.playbook-for-b-thing.yml
|--Shared/
|  |--common-file.xyz
|  |--common-file.abc
|--Nonsharable/
|  |--something-else

Specialized Directories:

1. Shared/: Contains common configuration files for various applications, providing basic operational settings.
2. Nonsharable/: Designed for system-specific customizations. Files in this directory can be modified locally and applied via setup commands without Git tracking.

Contribution Guidelines

Local modifications are supported without requiring repository commits. For contributions, adhere to the following:

• Avoid committing sensitive information (e.g., SSL keys, certificates, passwords).
• Develop playbooks to include checks for existing files and system state, preventing loss of custom configurations.
• Place playbook files in the appropriate operating system directory, using an increasing numerical prefix. Ensure consistent prefix numbering across different OSes; skip numbers for OSes where a playbook is not applicable.