From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Return-Path: Received: from lists.gentoo.org (pigeon.gentoo.org [208.92.234.80]) (using TLSv1.2 with cipher ECDHE-RSA-AES256-GCM-SHA384 (256/256 bits)) (No client certificate requested) by finch.gentoo.org (Postfix) with ESMTPS id 6111F1396D0 for ; Tue, 5 Sep 2017 00:01:08 +0000 (UTC) Received: from pigeon.gentoo.org (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by pigeon.gentoo.org (Postfix) with SMTP id DD4991FC08A; Tue, 5 Sep 2017 00:01:02 +0000 (UTC) Received: from mail-qk0-x22f.google.com (mail-qk0-x22f.google.com [IPv6:2607:f8b0:400d:c09::22f]) (using TLSv1.2 with cipher ECDHE-RSA-AES128-GCM-SHA256 (128/128 bits)) (No client certificate requested) by pigeon.gentoo.org (Postfix) with ESMTPS id 83CAB1FC002 for ; Tue, 5 Sep 2017 00:01:02 +0000 (UTC) Received: by mail-qk0-x22f.google.com with SMTP id a128so6474422qkc.5 for ; Mon, 04 Sep 2017 17:01:02 -0700 (PDT) DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; c=relaxed/relaxed; d=gmail.com; s=20161025; h=mime-version:in-reply-to:references:from:date:message-id:subject:to; bh=Gynp8rTzWqnEQRT0qVl/lU8BO3vIZ7VwS8wf5gy07gk=; b=Kp+6K9a9qKssjFOVf2Z6zhRbi473J/2G1n7pe09OuD9TnBjpiw0kvZstKig4Y3Fost blsw8M5kt9MmxE+1LY4XDOmxZJ/F6c68AIp84fO3FNc4xBTZN44jcevAY4XEhz79hl6a 6jc3irFGy/YnQX/unezdOYJ8t63alK1aewwvnk7UsR4mC0EevJlVk4WcPb+StE3fziHK X7c20b1jYh7Coz0E25+a+4N8B+TYPxgvHJJQZ6VPmegQP8lNlj1zm2e6Fhmw3b3f/M39 px8wCwsbeL+/Oc81fXypaPIX8Y0efQobE3pa0VxbPR3uCk9vKr/K3vktRypRTbrYDq6O mzYA== X-Google-DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; c=relaxed/relaxed; d=1e100.net; s=20161025; h=x-gm-message-state:mime-version:in-reply-to:references:from:date :message-id:subject:to; bh=Gynp8rTzWqnEQRT0qVl/lU8BO3vIZ7VwS8wf5gy07gk=; b=iHL+IngOqCKZU2wV2V5j3vVLi3fxk6l1JYzMr5ev/7Muu0mWhXM3VhuS7kdt4ZINgb a+WgrYJxNxFeyWzkQ2Bfc56awVFv7HCSZcaJXg4/HSSmKxsCqHc7heubUDcizyTTx+3c /pM6QKflDCF66hpcEdnaB4Vv0VtjYgSIKl9iL5n3rmfRWwwuE05Cd3L5q29pviIaGFWi Dh2idewQBYb3HrRb2xKTtqFhKH838Sc/S6//S9KuOtMSvF8a2k0RFpi5EBkh9XT1MXgA q9Hbvha1YjQzIO5523i/VH/9wIq9P7J1MScPrHzsSVSLtcpxitRV9ZtjUSB0+8pIoOeZ Ylvw== X-Gm-Message-State: AHPjjUgVmKvP21ij3CyFlx0vtjoraMdeXK6nZ3/0ykMg3WgykExFRAcH nF42hjrAD5bcvikMGhE0pXmnEQSG6g== X-Google-Smtp-Source: ADKCNb4uUjWOvwv2uw6JpfeIQ2tpAEdhevfGjhaq7HA8DgAmygDLv/eZbm8VN6eZf4iUV+McedDJzna7y5Vk6LH/ICM= X-Received: by 10.55.128.130 with SMTP id b124mr3166779qkd.12.1504569661547; Mon, 04 Sep 2017 17:01:01 -0700 (PDT) Precedence: bulk List-Post: List-Help: List-Unsubscribe: List-Subscribe: List-Id: Gentoo Linux mail X-BeenThere: gentoo-user@lists.gentoo.org Reply-to: gentoo-user@lists.gentoo.org MIME-Version: 1.0 Received: by 10.140.20.98 with HTTP; Mon, 4 Sep 2017 17:01:00 -0700 (PDT) In-Reply-To: References: <17e2d911-7f53-f7c9-4392-7b33d9b422ae@gmail.com> From: Grant Date: Mon, 4 Sep 2017 17:01:00 -0700 Message-ID: Subject: Re: [gentoo-user] Re: Lowest common denominator compile To: Gentoo mailing list Content-Type: text/plain; charset="UTF-8" X-Archives-Salt: 44b99e4c-24fe-42ca-bf21-572d5d46ef26 X-Archives-Hash: 9974c02dbc2f65c2f0e41ce1d115cfd0 >>> This is exactly the use-case ansible was designed for: declarative, >>> idempotent, predictable management of a fleet of machines that may or >>> may not be around when you feel like updating something (so it catches >>> up later), and needs only sshd and python to do it's magic :-) >> >> ansible does sound pretty cool. I'll check it out if I outgrow my >> script but as long as I can keep using Dell XPS 13 laptops I don't >> think it will have any trouble scaling. > > > Allow me a few moments to convince you more :-) > > Maybe you don't need it right this minute, but your current method will > become less and less workable with time, and when you feel that maybe > you ought to do it differently, you might remember this conversation. > > ansible works like you do - ssh's into a host, and does what needs > doing. It figures out what to do the same way you do, by having a clear > picture of what should be and making the host that way. It's very much > like a proxy for you. > > The difference comes in when you observe that with ansible you don't > have to deal with the details of HOW to do something (the shipped > modules already deal with all of that), you only concern yourself with > WHAT you want to accomplish. > > If you only use ansible to basically run ssh in a for loop, then it's a > waste of the setup effort. But let's say Dell retire or change those > XPS13s dramatically. 4 of yours wear out, and you buy 8 Precisions. > Bugger, they have different hardware and the chipset running the SSDs > has a different drive. The GPU, the wifi NIC, these things all drift > with time. Then you figure you want 2 management Precisions, plus > your's, the wife's and the workshop manager's laptops need extra stuff; > and the plebs can stay the same on the XPS. > > And your script gets out of hand real quick (we've all been there). How > do you detect that some is a Precision and do appropriate actions in a > nasty script? It's not easy. > Ansible does all that for you upfront out the box. It always knows what > it's working on (thanks to a module called setup) and catering for > inevitable differences is trivial to handle. With none of the downsides > to copying entire tree structures around (like copying way too many > files you didn't intend to. Like /var/run...) It truly sounds great but the devil is in the details in my particular environment. If I feel like I'm outgrowing my script (and maybe even if I don't) I'll dig into ansible. How big of a duty is the implementation? Thanks, Grant