This is a simple (work-in-progress) Ansible playbook and shell script that I use to configure my new Debian systems!
TODO: Update description -- Arch config! Install Debian 12. This script has been tested with Debian 12 XFCE edition, which I find to be an excellent base on which to deploy alternate desktop environments. However, the only real expectation for the base system is that it already has NetworkManager installed.
Please ensure that Ansible is installed on your system.
ansible --version will tell you your Ansible version if it is installed. This script has been tested on version 2.10.8 on Debian 11.
sudo apt install ansible will install Ansible on your system.
Debian:
- On an existing Debian XFCE (or other Debian-based) system, clone this repository,
cdinto the Debian folder, and run the setup script with./setup.sh. The script does a few things:- Make required folders for configuration files
- Enable ntp for syncing time clock at startup
- Upgrade to Debian Unstable (if you don't want this, comment out those lines before you run
setup)
- Run
sudo ansible-playbook apt.ymlto install packages cdback out into the main directory and runsudo ansible-playbook copy.ymlto move config files to their correct locations
Arch: 1. 2. 3.
Void (Note: Playbooks still in progress): 1.
I found myself reinstalling my previous distros (particularly Void Linux and Artix) many times on many machines and trying to hack together a shell script to configure automatic setup, but to no avail. I finally decided to switch back to Debian, which I had used before my jump to Void, as my primary Linux distro. While this method still involves a shell script, I hope that the use of a prebaked XFCE base as well as the use of Ansible will make maintaining this deployment method more viable.
None of my configurations are particularly interesting or unique, but I hope that these resources may be useful to others who are looking to mass-deploy a fairly standard environment as I am.