Puppet Package Lists

Dynamcially creates a package resource for each element in a list, and ensures that each version is enforced. Any package not defined in your package list will automatically generate a package resource with an ensure => absent, giving you the power to define exactly what you want on your system in one list and enforce it using Puppet.

For each package in a package list, an ensure will be dynamically created to "latest". This allows you to either place an exact package version in (along with the name), or simply the package name if you want the latest from your mirror.

Options

source

Defines the path to a package list file. This option can be passed as the resource name as well. This argument conflicts with the packages argument.

packages

A package list to pass directly in. This argument conflicts with the source argument.

purge

Whether or not to purge packages that are not present in the package list.

Debian Support

Basic Debian-based OS families are supported as of 0.2.2. The package list format is a little different than RedHat's, but the tools and commands used are quite similar in nature. The key difference is the delimiter between package name and version.

Creating package lists

An easy way to create a package list for an entire system is using RPM directly. Examples follow.

With versions:

# RedHat
rpm -qa > my-packages-redhat.lst
# Debian
dpkg-query --show > my-packages-debian.lst

Without versions (to get latest):

# RedHat
rpm -qa --qf="%{name}\n" > my-packages-redhat.lst
# Debian
dpkg-query --show -f '${Package}\n' > my-packages-debian.lst

Examples

Keep kernel and grub at latest, don't purge other packages:

# RedHat
packagelist { 'mypackagelist': packages => [ 'kernel', 'grub' ] }
# Debian
packagelist { 'mypackagelist': packages => [ 'linux-image-generic', 'grub-common' ] }

Keep kernel at a specific version, grub at latest, don't purge:

# RedHat
packagelist { 'mypackagelist': packages => [ 'kernel-2.6.32-279.el6.x86_64', 'grub' ] }
# Debian
packagelist { 'mypackagelist': packages => [ 'linux-image-generic 3.5.0.17.19', 'grub-common' ] }

Load in a packagelist from a list file (one package per line):

# RedHat / Debian
packagelist { '/root/my-packages.lst': }

Load in a packagelist file, purging anything not mentioned within it:

# RedHat / Debian
packagelist { '/root/my-packages.lst': purge => true }

Pass in a packagelist loaded from somewhere else:

# RedHat / Debian
packagelist { 'mypackagelist': packages => $packages }