Create Ubuntu development environment on macOSX using Vagrant and Ansible

Sun, 06 Nov 2022 00:00:00 +0900

To learn about compilers hands-on, I built a Linux development environment with configuration management.

Problems discussed in this article

how to install software on guest VM
share directory between host and guest

The GitHub repository that manages the configurations explained in this article: https://github.com/Rindrics/envs

Prerequisite

Environment of running examples described in this article:

macOS 12.3.1 (MacBook Pro 2020, Intel Core)
VirtualBox 6.1
Vagrant 2.2.19
- vagrant-vbguest
Ansible 2.13.2
Python 3.10.6

Need for Linux development environment

Recently I’ve been planning to learn about low-level technology, especially compilers. I already found an excellent guide for learning how to develop compilers, but the problem is that my development environment—macOSX is incompatible with the examples in that guide. So I need a Linux virtual development environment on my machine.

I wanted the provisioning procedure simple, but I also wanted to manage the VM configuration so that it is reproducible. Thus I decided to provision a Vagrant VM configured using Ansible.

Provision Ubuntu VM with minimum configuration

It’s easy to provision VM using Vagrant. Here’s the minimum Vagrantfile to provision Ubuntu22.04:

VAGRANTFILE_API_VERSION = "2"

Vagrant.configure(VAGRANTFILE_API_VERSION) do |config|
  config.vm.box = "ubuntu/jammy64"
end

To provision the VM, we just need to execute vagrant up:

❯vagrant up
Bringing machine 'default' up with 'virtualbox' provider...
==> default: Importing base box 'ubuntu/jammy64'...

...(Omitted)

Restarting VM to apply changes...
==> default: Attempting graceful shutdown of VM...
==> default: Booting VM...
==> default: Waiting for machine to boot. This may take a few minutes...
==> default: Machine booted and ready!
==> default: Checking for guest additions in VM...
==> default: Mounting shared folders...
    default: /vagrant => /Users/rindrics/envs/ubuntu22.04

How easy it is!

Configure VM using Ansible

Minimum configuration

Before starting to install specific software on Vagrant VM, I learned how to configure Vagrant VM using Ansible by reading this page.

To start managing the VM using Ansible, I fixed the IP address of the VM:

 VAGRANTFILE_API_VERSION = "2"

 Vagrant.configure(VAGRANTFILE_API_VERSION) do |config|
   config.vm.box = "ubuntu/jammy64"

+  config.vm.network "private_network", ip: "192.168.33.10"
 end

I need to specify that fixed IP in Ansible “inventory file” under a directory with an arbitrary name. In this example, I created provisioning/hosts as follows:

[devenv]
192.168.33.10

Then I told Ansible the location of the inventory file:

 VAGRANTFILE_API_VERSION = "2"

 Vagrant.configure(VAGRANTFILE_API_VERSION) do |config|
   config.vm.box = "ubuntu/jammy64"

   config.vm.network "private_network", ip: "192.168.33.10"
+
+  config.vm.provision "ansible" do |ansible|
+    ansible.inventory_path = "provisioning/hosts"
+  end
 end

Next, I wrote a minimum Ansible “playbook” that does nothing on the guest VM:

---
- name: Setup development environment
  hosts: devenv
  become: yes
  user: vagrant

I saved the configuration above as provisioning/playbook.yml and told Ansible the location:

 VAGRANTFILE_API_VERSION = "2"

 Vagrant.configure(VAGRANTFILE_API_VERSION) do |config|
   config.vm.box = "ubuntu/jammy64"

   config.vm.network "private_network", ip: "192.168.33.10"

   config.vm.provision "ansible" do |ansible|
+    ansible.playbook = "provisioning/playbook.yml"
     ansible.inventory_path = "provisioning/hosts"
   end
 end

All set, I updated the VM configuration as follows:

❯vagrant provision
==> default: Running provisioner: ansible...
    default: Running ansible-playbook...
 ______________________________________
< PLAY [Setup development environment] >
 --------------------------------------
        \   ^__^
         \  (oo)\_______
            (__)\       )\/\
                ||----w |
                ||     ||

 ________________________
< TASK [Gathering Facts] >
 ------------------------
        \   ^__^
         \  (oo)\_______
            (__)\       )\/\
                ||----w |
                ||     ||

ok: [192.168.33.10]
 ____________
< PLAY RECAP >
 ------------
        \   ^__^
         \  (oo)\_______
            (__)\       )\/\
                ||----w |
                ||     ||

192.168.33.10              : ok=1    changed=0    unreachable=0    failed=0    skipped=0    rescued=0    ignored=0

Cows in Vagrant output told me I managed to call Ansible via Vagrant!

Install a software on VM

To learn how to configure VM using Ansible, I looked for software that is small and easy to install. I chose Starship, my favorite software that enables easy customization of shell prompt.

As explained in “Installation”, we just need to run the following two commands to use Starship on bash:

curl -sS https://starship.rs/install.sh | sh
echo 'eval "$(starship init bash)"' >> ~/.bashrc

I did this via Ansible by updating playbook as follows:

 ---
 - name: Setup development environment
   hosts: devenv
   become: yes
   user: vagrant
+
+  tasks:
+    - name: Install Starship
+      ansible.builtin.shell:
+        cmd: curl -sSf https://starship.rs/install.sh | sh -s -- -y

Then applied the configuration:

❯vagrant provision
==> default: Running provisioner: ansible...
    default: Running ansible-playbook...
 ______________________________________
< PLAY [Setup development environment] >
 --------------------------------------
        \   ^__^
         \  (oo)\_______
            (__)\       )\/\
                ||----w |
                ||     ||

 ________________________
< TASK [Gathering Facts] >
 ------------------------
        \   ^__^
         \  (oo)\_______
            (__)\       )\/\
                ||----w |
                ||     ||

ok: [192.168.33.10]
 _________________________
< TASK [Install Starship] >
 -------------------------
        \   ^__^
         \  (oo)\_______
            (__)\       )\/\
                ||----w |
                ||     ||

changed: [192.168.33.10]
 ____________
< PLAY RECAP >
 ------------
        \   ^__^
         \  (oo)\_______
            (__)\       )\/\
                ||----w |
                ||     ||

192.168.33.10              : ok=2    changed=1    unreachable=0    failed=0    skipped=0    rescued=0    ignored=0

Starship seems to be installed on the VM.

Running Ansible commands in verbose mode is useful to know what is happening in the VM:

 VAGRANTFILE_API_VERSION = "2"

 Vagrant.configure(VAGRANTFILE_API_VERSION) do |config|
   config.vm.box = "ubuntu/jammy64"

   config.vm.network "private_network", ip: "192.168.33.10"

   config.vm.provision "ansible" do |ansible|
     ansible.playbook = "provisioning/playbook.yml"
     ansible.inventory_path = "provisioning/hosts"
     ansible.limit = 'devenv'
+    ansible.verbose = true
   end
 end

To use Starship, we have to update ~/.bashrc on VM. I added a task to the playbook:

 ---
 - name: Setup development environment
   hosts: devenv
   become: yes
   user: vagrant

   tasks:
     - name: Install Starship
       ansible.builtin.shell:
         cmd: curl -sSf https://starship.rs/install.sh | sh -s -- -y
+
+    - name: Add eval statement to .bashrc
+      lineinfile:
+        dest: /home/vagrant/.bashrc
+        line: "eval \"$(starship init bash)\""
+        owner: vagrant

and applied it:

 ______________________________________
< TASK [Add eval statement to .bashrc] >
 --------------------------------------
        \   ^__^
         \  (oo)\_______
            (__)\       )\/\
                ||----w |
                ||     ||

changed: [192.168.33.10]

Done.

Finally, I logged in to the VM by vagrant ssh:

❯vagrant ssh
Welcome to Ubuntu 22.04 LTS (GNU/Linux 5.15.0-41-generic x86_64)

 * Documentation:  https://help.ubuntu.com
 * Management:     https://landscape.canonical.com
 * Support:        https://ubuntu.com/advantage

  System information as of Sun Nov  6 04:58:58 UTC 2022

  System load:  0.0               Processes:               107
  Usage of /:   4.8% of 38.70GB   Users logged in:         0
  Memory usage: 21%               IPv4 address for enp0s3: 10.0.2.15
  Swap usage:   0%                IPv4 address for enp0s8: 192.168.33.10


108 updates can be applied immediately.
57 of these updates are standard security updates.
To see these additional updates run: apt list --upgradable


Last login: Sun Nov  6 04:59:03 2022 from 192.168.33.1

vagrant in🌐ubuntu-jammy in ~

A pretty prompt tells the installation of Starship succeeded.

During development, it is useful to have a host–guest shared folder.

So I also configured synced folder as follows:

 VAGRANTFILE_API_VERSION = "2"

 Vagrant.configure(VAGRANTFILE_API_VERSION) do |config|
   config.vm.box = "ubuntu/jammy64"

   config.vm.network "private_network", ip: "192.168.33.10"
+  config.vm.synced_folder "./shared", "/home/vagrant/shared", :mount_options => [ "dmode=777", "fmode=777"]

   config.vm.provision "ansible" do |ansible|
     ansible.playbook = "provisioning/playbook.yml"
     ansible.inventory_path = "provisioning/hosts"
     ansible.limit = 'devenv'
   end
 end

On host macOS, I created the synced directory and blank file under it:

❯mkdir shared
❯touch shared/foo

To see whether the shared/foo exists on the VM, I applied the configuration and logged in to the VM:

❯vagrant reload
...(Omitted)

❯vagrant ssh
Welcome to Ubuntu 22.04 LTS (GNU/Linux 5.15.0-41-generic x86_64)

 * Documentation:  https://help.ubuntu.com
 * Management:     https://landscape.canonical.com
 * Support:        https://ubuntu.com/advantage

  System information as of Sun Nov  6 05:08:41 UTC 2022

  System load:  0.01025390625     Processes:               111
  Usage of /:   4.8% of 38.70GB   Users logged in:         0
  Memory usage: 21%               IPv4 address for enp0s3: 10.0.2.15
  Swap usage:   0%                IPv4 address for enp0s8: 192.168.33.10


108 updates can be applied immediately.
57 of these updates are standard security updates.
To see these additional updates run: apt list --upgradable


Last login: Sun Nov  6 05:06:41 2022 from 10.0.2.2

vagrant in🌐ubuntu-jammy in ~
❯ls shared
foo

Yes, there it is!

I’ve successfully obtained a virtual development environment to start learning about compilers.

Mac on Rindrics Mumbles