Commits on Oct 21, 2024

1. refactor: Use vars/RedHat_N.yml symlink for CentOS, Rocky, Alma where… …

   …ver possible
   
   We have a lot of requests to support Rocky and Alma in various system roles. The
   first part of adding support is adding `vars/` files for these platforms. In
   almost every case, for a given major version N, the vars file RedHat_N.yml can
   be used for CentOS, Rocky, and Alma.  Rather than making a copy of the
   RedHat_N.yml file, just use a symlink to reduce size and maintenance burden, and
   standardize this across all system roles for consistency.
   
   NOTE: There is no Alma or Rocky version 7 or less.
   
   NOTE: OracleLinux is not a strict clone, so we are not going to do this for
   OracleLinux at this time.  Support for OracleLinux will need to be done in
   separate PRs. For more information, see
   linux-system-roles/cockpit#130
   
   **Question**: Why not just use `ansible_facts["os_family"] == "RedHat"`?
   
   **Answer**:  This is what Ansible uses as the RedHat os_family:
   https://github.com/ansible/ansible/blob/1e6ffc1d02559a26def6c9c3b07baf27032865a2/lib/ansible/module_utils/facts/system/distribution.py#L511
   There are a lot of distributions in there. I know that Fedora is not a clone of
   RHEL, but it is very closely related. Most of the others are not clones, and it
   would generally not work to replace ansible_distribution in ['CentOS', 'Fedora',
   'RedHat'] with ansible_facts['os_family'] == 'RedHat' (but it would probably
   work in specific cases with specific distributions).  For example, OracleLinux
   is in there, and we know that doesn't generally work.  The only ones we can be
   pretty sure about are `RedHat`, `CentOS`, `Fedora`, `AlmaLinux`, and `Rocky`.
   
   **Question**: Does my role really need this because it should already work on
   RHEL clones?
   
   **Answer**: Maybe not - but:
   
   * it doesn't hurt anything
   * it's there if we need it in the future
   * the role will be inconsistent with the other system roles if we don't have this
   
   **Question**: Why do I need the `tests/vars/rh_distros_vars.yml` file?  Doesn't
   the test load the vars from the role?
   
   **Answer**: No, the test does not load the vars from the role until the role is
   included, and many tests use version and distribution before including the role.
   
   **Question**: Do we need to change the code now to use the new variables?
   
   **Answer**: No, not now, in subsequent PRs, hopefully by Alma and Rocky users.
   
   Note that there may be more work to be done to the role to fully support Rocky
   and Alma.  Many roles have conditionals like this:
   
   ```yaml
   some_var: "{{ 'some value' if ansible_distribution in ['CentOS', 'RedHat'] else 'other value' }}"
   another_var: "{{ 'some value' if ansible_distribution in ['CentOS', 'Fedora', 'RedHat'] else 'other value' }}"
   
   ...
   
   - name: Do something
     when: ansible_distribution in ['CentOS', 'RedHat']
     ...
   - name: Do something else
     when: ansible_distribution in ['CentOS', 'Fedora', 'RedHat']
     ...
   ```
   
   Adding Rocky and AlmaLinux to these conditionals will have to be done
   separately. In order to simplify the task, some new variables are being
   introduced:
   
   ```yaml
   __$rolename_rh_distros:
     - AlmaLinux
     - CentOS
     - RedHat
     - Rocky
   
   __$rolename_rh_distros_fedora: "{{ __$rolename_rh_distros + ['Fedora'] }}"
   
   __$rolename_is_rh_distro: "{{ ansible_distribution in __$rolename_rh_distros }}"
   __$rolename_is_rh_distro_fedora: "{{ ansible_distribution in __$rolename_rh_distros_fedora }}"
   ```
   
   Then the conditionals can be rewritten as:
   
   ```yaml
   some_var: "{{ 'some value' if __$rolename_is_rh_distro else 'other value' }}"
   another_var: "{{ 'some value' if __$rolename_is_rh_distro_fedora else 'other value' }}"
   
   ...
   
   - name: Do something
     when: __$rolename_is_rh_distro | bool
     ...
   - name: Do something else
     when: __$rolename_is_rh_distro_fedora | bool
     ...
   ```
   
   For tests - tests that use such conditionals will need to use `vars_files` or
   `include_vars` to load the variables that are defined in
   `tests/vars/rh_distros_vars.yml`:
   
   ```yaml
   vars_files:
     - vars/rh_distros_vars.yml
   ```
   
   We don't currently have CI testing for Rocky or Alma, so someone wanting to run
   tests on those platforms would need to change the test code to use these.
   
   Signed-off-by: Rich Megginson <rmeggins@redhat.com>

   

   richm committed Oct 21, 2024
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