This is a text-only version of the following page on https://raymii.org:

This is a text-only version of the following page on https://raymii.org:
---
Title : Ansible - Add an apt-repository on Debian and Ubuntu
Author : Remy van Elst
Date : 15-05-2016
Last update : 14-12-2018
URL : https://raymii.org/s/tutorials/Ansible_-_Add_an_apt-repository_on_Debian_and_Ubuntu.html
Format : Markdown/HTML
---

This is a guide that shows you how to add an apt repository to Debian and Ubuntu using Ansible. It includes both the old way, when the apt modules only worked on Ubuntu, and the new way, now that the apt-modules also support Debian, plus some other tricks.

 Recently I removed all Google Ads from this site due to their invasive tracking, as well as Google Analytics. Please, if you found this content useful, consider a small donation using any of the options below: <a href="https://leafnode.nl">I'm developing an open source monitoring app called Leaf Node Monitoring, for windows, linux & android. Go check it out!</a> <a href="https://github.com/sponsors/RaymiiOrg/">Consider sponsoring me on Github. It means the world to me if you show your appreciation and you'll help pay the server costs.</a> <a href="https://www.digitalocean.com/?refcode=7435ae6b8212">You can also sponsor me by getting a Digital Ocean VPS. With this referral link you'll get $100 credit for 60 days. </a> 

* 14-12-2018: updated ansible syntax to 2.5
* 15-05-2016: initial article

### Introduction

Ansible allows you to add apt repositories and apt repository signing keys
easily using the two modules `apt_repository` and `apt_key`. You can use this
when you need to install packages from an external location, for example,
`nginx` or `goaccess`. Both of these packages are in the repositories, but not
the latest version.

Using Ansible you can add the repository and the signing key, and then install
the package from the new repo. This guide will show you a few ways to do that in
playbooks.

### The new way

The easy way is to first add the repository key, then add the repository and
finally install the package. Here's an example for nginx:

# always try to use HTTPS. I'm not sure why the nginx folks don't provide it.
- name: add nginx apt-key
apt_key:
url: http://nginx.org/keys/nginx_signing.key
state: present

- name: add nginx apt repository
apt_repository:
repo: 'deb http://nginx.org/packages/mainline/ubuntu/ xenial nginx'
state: present
filename: nginx
update_cache: yes

- name: install nginx
apt:
name: nginx
state: present
update_cache: yes

This is a three line playbook which will download and install the repository
key, add the repository to a seperate file in `/etc/apt/sources.list.d/` and
install the package while also doing an `apt-get update` to refresh the apt
cache with the new repository.

This is the recommended way to add a repo and install packages from there. Read
on to find out the workarounds in ye olden days.

### The old way

In the past the `apt_key` module and behaved wonky on Debian installations, but
not on Ubuntu. The `apt_key` module also did not support downloading keys from
external locations and was tailored more to PPA's, which are nonexistent on
Debian. Here's the same NGINX example, using the older way, which still works by
the way.

- name: 'add nginx repository'
template:
src: nginx.list.j2
dest: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/nginx.list

- name: make sure folder /var/keys exists
file:
path: /var/keys
state: directory
owner: root

- name: 'get nginx package signing key'
get_url:
url: http://nginx.org/keys/nginx_signing.key
dest: /var/keys/nginx_signing.key
register: result

- name: add nginx apt-key
command: apt-key add '/var/keys/nginx_signing.key'
when: result.changed

- name: install nginx
apt:
name: nginx
state: latest
update_cache: yes

The nginx repository template contains the following:

# {{ ansible_managed }}
deb http://nginx.org/packages/mainline/{{ ansible_lsb.id|lower }}
/ {{ ansible_lsb.codename|lower }} nginx

deb-src http://nginx.org/packages/mainline/{{ ansible_lsb.id|lower }}
/ {{ ansible_lsb.codename|lower }} nginx

This is quite a nice trick, because it works on both Debian and Ubuntu, all
versions. On the latest Ubuntu 16.04 the resulting repository line is this:

deb http://nginx.org/packages/mainline/ubuntu/ xenial nginx

But on an onder Debian installation, the result is this:

deb http://nginx.org/packages/mainline/debian/ wheezy nginx

You do need to make sure the upstream repository also follows this structure. In
the nginx case, it does.

First a directory is created for the keyfile. The apt-key is downloaded manually
to there, the result is registered. If the key already exists or is the same, we
don't do anything. If the key isn't there or has changed, we execute the `apt-
key add` command manually to add the repository signing key. If that's all done,
we update the apt-cache and install nginx.

That's quite a bit more steps and ways to break stuff, plus, less idempotent due
to the manual command. My playbook was so old, it still used the `action: apt`
instead of just `apt:`.

This is not the recommended way, but it still works just fine. If you add
repositories this way, no problem, but you might want to consider rewriting the
playbooks to the newer way.

### More documentation

The official documentation for the two modules can be found on the Ansible docs
site: [apt_repository][2] and [apt_key][3].

You can also check out my other [Ansible articles][4].

[1]: https://www.digitalocean.com/?refcode=7435ae6b8212
[2]: https://docs.ansible.com/ansible/apt_repository_module.html
[3]: https://docs.ansible.com/ansible/apt_key_module.html
[4]: https://raymii.org/s/tags/ansible.html

---

License:
All the text on this website is free as in freedom unless stated otherwise.
This means you can use it in any way you want, you can copy it, change it
the way you like and republish it, as long as you release the (modified)
content under the same license to give others the same freedoms you've got
and place my name and a link to this site with the article as source.

This site uses Google Analytics for statistics and Google Adwords for
advertisements. You are tracked and Google knows everything about you.
Use an adblocker like ublock-origin if you don't want it.

All the code on this website is licensed under the GNU GPL v3 license
unless already licensed under a license which does not allows this form
of licensing or if another license is stated on that page / in that software:

This program is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or
(at your option) any later version.

This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the
GNU General Public License for more details.

You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
along with this program. If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.

Just to be clear, the information on this website is for meant for educational
purposes and you use it at your own risk. I do not take responsibility if you
screw something up. Use common sense, do not 'rm -rf /' as root for example.
If you have any questions then do not hesitate to contact me.

See https://raymii.org/s/static/About.html for details.