Automate Go Setup through Ansible In 1 Easy command

Introduction

Go setup through Ansible eliminates the hassle and time-consuming nature of manual installations, making the process swift and hassle-free. With its powerful automation capabilities, Ansible allows for seamless Go installation across various environments, enhancing productivity and standardization. By diving into the specifics, one can witness how Ansible orchestrates the setup of Go across systems, configuring the necessary dependencies, paths, and environment variables effortlessly.

Leveraging Ansible for Go installation not only ensures uniformity in deployment but also simplifies maintenance and scalability, enabling developers to focus more on coding and less on the intricacies of setup across diverse systems.

Prerequisites

• Learn about ansible basics.
• Learn about Go.

Key Takeaways from this post

• How to manually install Go (Linux)
• Go installation through Ansible
• How to convert commands into ansible tasks
• How to solve command not found issue after installation from Ansible
• How to create go setup role in Ansible

How to manually install Go (Linux)

• Download the go tar file: wget https://go.dev/dl/go1.20.1.linux-amd64.tar.gz
• Delete previous installation: rm -rf /usr/local/go
• Extract and move the new go folder to /usr/local: sudo tar -C /usr/local -xzf go1.20.1.linux-amd64.tar.gz
• Delete downloaded tar file: rm -rf go1.20.1.linux-amd64.tar.gz*
• Add go binary path to ~/.profile if it is not done earlier: echo 'export PATH=$PATH:/usr/local/go/bin:$GOPATH/bin' >> ~/.profile
• Update shell to make go binary available in current shell: source ~/.profile
• test: go version

Go Setup through Ansible

We can convert the above commands to automate go setup into an Ansible playbook, it would look like the below

# go-setup-playbook.yml
---
- name: Go Setup
  hosts: my_server
  vars:
     - version: 1.20.1
  tasks:
    - name: Download go tar file
      command: wget https://go.dev/dl/go{{version}}.linux-amd64.tar.gz

    - name: Delete previous installation
      command: rm -rf /usr/local/go
      become: true

    - name: Extract and move new go folder to /usr/local
      command: tar -C /usr/local -xzf go{{version}}.linux-amd64.tar.gz
      become: true

    - name: Delete downloaded tar file
      shell: rm -rf go{{version}}.linux-amd64.tar.gz*

    - name: Add go binary path to ~/.profile
      lineinfile:
        path: ~/.profile
        line: 'export PATH=$PATH:/usr/local/go/bin:$GOPATH/bin'
        create: true
        state: present

    - name: Source updated profile
      shell: . ~/.profile

- name: Test go version
      command:  go version

Now let us run the above playbook as ansible-playbook go-setup-playbook.yml
We see that every command execution succeeded except the last one(getting the error go command not found) and we wonder why it failed although it worked manually.
Let us understand why.

Ansible executes each task in a separate shell because that go version is getting updated in a different shell as compared to the previous shell where source ~/.profile as . ~/.profile . Because of this, the updated go binary path is not available when we run go version.
The solution is simple: Run both commands in the same shell and it will work
The final updated playbook is as follows:

# go-setup-playbook.yml
---
- name: Go Setup
  hosts: my_server
  vars:
     - version: 1.20.1
  tasks:
    - name: Download go tar file
      command: wget https://go.dev/dl/go{{version}}.linux-amd64.tar.gz

    - name: Delete previous installation
      command: rm -rf /usr/local/go
      become: true

    - name: Extract and move new go folder to /usr/local
      command: tar -C /usr/local -xzf go{{version}}.linux-amd64.tar.gz
      become: true

    - name: Delete downloaded tar file
      shell: rm -rf go{{version}}.linux-amd64.tar.gz*

    - name: Add go binary path to ~/.profile
      lineinfile:
        path: ~/.profile
        line: 'export PATH=$PATH:/usr/local/go/bin:$GOPATH/bin'
        create: true
        state: present

    - name: Source updated profile and test go version
      shell: . ~/.profile && go version

Go Setup through Ansible using role

Please go through the role in Ansible and then follow the below steps

Create a go setup role (setup-go)

Update roles/setup-go/defaults/main.yml as below

version: 1.20.1

Update roles/setup-go/tasks/main.yml as below

- name: Download go tar file
    command: wget https://go.dev/dl/go{{version}}.linux-amd64.tar.gz

- name: Delete previous installation
  command: rm -rf /usr/local/go
  become: true

- name: Extract and move new go folder to /usr/local
  command: tar -C /usr/local -xzf go{{version}}.linux-amd64.tar.gz
  become: true

- name: Delete downloaded tar file
  shell: rm -rf go{{version}}.linux-amd64.tar.gz*

- name: Add go binary path to ~/.profile
  lineinfile:
    path: ~/.profile
    line: 'export PATH=$PATH:/usr/local/go/bin:$GOPATH/bin'
    create: true
    state: present

- name: Source updated profile and test go version
  shell: . ~/.profile && go version

Conclusion

In conclusion, the streamlined process of Go setup through Ansible encapsulates efficiency and simplicity within a single playbook. This approach not only minimizes the complexities associated with manual installations but also ensures consistency and reliability across diverse systems. By crafting a concise playbook for Go setup, Ansible empowers users to effortlessly deploy Go on multiple local or remote systems.

The playbook simplifies the Go setup process, automating the necessary steps to fetch, install, and configure Go, thereby saving time and effort for developers and administrators.

We have also extended the solution for go setup through Ansible using role.

Additionally, this centralized and automated approach through Ansible promotes scalability and maintainability, allowing for swift updates or modifications to the installation procedure without compromising accuracy.

Enjoy the post!

Editorial Team