packer

Ansible role for installing Packer.

Role variables

• 'packer_version': The version of Packer to install, such as 0.7.1.

• packer_download_url: The URL to download the Packer install from. Derives from packer_version.

• packer_archive_path: Where the Packer archive will be downloaded to. Derives from packer_version.

• packer_binary_path: Where Packer binaries will be extracted to.

• packer_force_install: Whether to force the installation of Packer and its plugins if they already exist. Useful for forcing an update.

• packer_plugins: A dictionary of plugins to be installed. Example:

packer_plugins:
  packer-builder-lxc:
    name: lxc
    type: builder
    url: https://s3.amazonaws.com/my-s3-bucket/packer-builder-lxc

Where

• name: the name of the plugin that can be used in a packer template.
• type: either builder or provisioner.
• url: URL to fetch the binary from.

A packer configuration file at /etc/packer.conf will automatically created that contains any builder or provisioner installed via packer_plugins.

Example playbook

---
- hosts: all
  sudo: True
  roles:
    - role: packer
      packer_version: 0.7.1
      force_install: True

Testing

Testing requires Ruby, Vagrant, and VirtualBox to be installed. Use of RVM (or similar) to maintain dedicated gemsets is highly recommended.

First, install Vagrant and VirtualBox. Next, (optional), create a gemset for testing this role. Next, run bundle install to install the required gems. Finally, test the role with kitchen test. It should spin up an Ubuntu VM, run the role, and run the test suite against the role.