download, build, and install aur packages with ansible

ansible-aur-pkg-installer.md

About

When using ArchLinux, I typically prefer to use an AUR helper like pacaur or yaourt to automate away the process of installing a community package.

Ansible's pacman module is great, but it doesn't support AUR packages or pacman's -U flag. Installing AUR packages with Ansible seemed to be left as an exercise to the user, and since AUR helpers do not come with a fresh Arch install, I created this set of tasks to be a reusable way of installing AUR packages on my Arch hosts.

I should take the time to PR an AUR module for Ansible sometime soon, but this is a nice, resusable submodule for any Arch-based Ansible role.

Example

---
- name: install yaourt on ArchLinux hosts
  hosts: my_archlinux_host_group
  gather_facts: yes
  vars:
    makepkg_nonroot_user: "{{ ansible_ssh_user }}"
  tasks:
    - name: install package-query (a yaourt dependency)
      include: aur/pkg.yml pkg_name=package-query
      
    - name: install yaourt
      include: aur/pkg.yml pkg_name=yaourt

Reccommended Usage

1. Add this gist as a submodule to your Ansible role or playbook

# Example ./roles directory structure for an existing Ansible playbook with a 'foobar' role 
#   roles/
#     foobar/
#       tasks/
#         aur/          # Source repo added as a submodule (cloned into an `aur` directory)
#           pkg.yml     # Include this file with vars 'pkg_name' and 'makepkg_nonroot_user' to install an AUR package
$ cd ./roles/foobar/tasks
$ git submodule add https://gist.github.com/45bb9eee92c5f1fce66f.git aur

2. Now aur/pkg.yml may be included from any task or handler within the foobar role. Given the variables pkg_name and makepkg_nonroot_user, the tasks will validate, download, compile (as the makepkg_nonroot_user user), and install (as root) the pkg_name package.

Tip: Set makepkg_nonroot_user in your group_vars/all file to avoid repeating yourself.

pkg.yml

---
- name: AUR | get metadata from AurJson api
  connection: local
  sudo: no
  uri: >
    url=https://aur.archlinux.org/rpc.php?type=info&arg={{ pkg_name | mandatory }}
    return_content=yes
    timeout=6
  register: api_info

- assert:
    that:
      - api_info.status == 200
      - api_info.json is defined
      - api_info.json.type == 'info'
      - api_info.json.resultcount == 1
      - api_info.json.results is defined

- name: AUR | {{ pkg_name }} | download tarball
  sudo: no
  connection: local
  get_url: >
    url='https://aur.archlinux.org{{ api_info.json.results.URLPath }}'
    dest='/tmp/'
  register: aur_tarball

- name: AUR | {{ pkg_name }} | upload tarball to host and extract it
  sudo: yes
  sudo_user: "{{ makepkg_nonroot_user }}"
  unarchive: >
    src={{ aur_tarball.dest }}
    dest=/tmp/
  register: extracted_pkg

# This will break if run as root. Set user to use with makepkg with 'makepkg_user' var
- name: AUR | {{ pkg_name }} | build package, including missing dependencies
  when: extracted_pkg | changed
  sudo: yes
  sudo_user: "{{ makepkg_nonroot_user }}"
  command: >
    makepkg --noconfirm --noprogressbar -mfs
    chdir=/tmp/{{ pkg_name }}
  register: aur_makepkg_result

# Shameless variable declaration hack
- shell: ls -1 /tmp/{{ pkg_name | quote }} | grep pkg.tar
  register: compiled_package_name

- name: AUR | {{ pkg_name }} | install newly-built aur package with pacman
  when: aur_makepkg_result | changed
  sudo: yes
  shell: >
    pacman --noconfirm --noprogressbar --needed -U {{ compiled_package_name.stdout | quote }}
    chdir=/tmp/{{ pkg_name }}
  register: pacman_install_result
  changed_when: pacman_install_result.stdout is defined and pacman_install_result.stdout.find('there is nothing to do') == -1

Hey, @cahna! Hello. I have a question.
Can this approach find and make install all dependencies packages too?