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
https://github.com/linux-system-roles/cockpit/issues/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>
