# Ansible 0.3 "Baluchitherium" released

**URL:** <https://forum.ansible.com/t/ansible-0-3-baluchitherium-released/11436>\
**Category:** Ansible Project\
**Created:** [April 24, 2012, 2:02am UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/ansible-0-3-baluchitherium-released/11436 "2012-04-24T02:02:13Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Michael\_DeHaan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c4cdca/32.png) [@Michael\_DeHaan](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Michael_DeHaan)\
**Post date:** [April 24, 2012, 2:02am UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/ansible-0-3-baluchitherium-released/11436/1 "2012-04-24T02:02:13Z")

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Hi all,

0.3 escapes!

Tarballs and uploaded source RPMs are coming shortly, though I've gone  
ahead and updated the tags for the 0.3 release. We're stable and  
widely used enough to not call this "0.0.3", so this release is a  
whole 0.28 better than the last!

What is up with this release codename, you say? Perhaps Michael is  
naming releases after gigantic hornless rhinoceros-like mammals! Or  
perhaps he is naming things after Van Halen songs. Probably that.

Also, developers take note -- The integration branch is now named  
"devel", which will be for working on 0.4. This means this branch is  
no longer for just accepting pull requests and quickly rolling things  
into master. Hotfixes for things like tracebacks, if any, can be  
applied to master and I will work on merging those things over.  
Please send pull requests for devel unless fixing a traceback or  
something equivalent in master. This shouldn't be too confusing  
because it's basically how most projects do it 🙂

Now, time for the important part... thanks to everyone who has  
contributed to the release! I should have done this last time so  
please forgive me for the omissions!

Jeroen Hoekx (19 commits!)  
Stephen Fromm (16 commits!),  
Tim Bielawa (13 commits!),  
Seth Vidal (7),  
Henry Graham (5),  
Daniel Neri (3),  
Brad Olson (3),  
Michel Blanc (2),  
Matthew Williams (2),  
Stefane Fermigier (1),  
Rafal Lewczuk (1),  
Martijn Koster (1),  
John Eckersberg (1)

Also a huge thanks to everyone who has contributed ideas, helped test,  
or told their friends about Ansible. Every bit helps!

What's new in 0.3 compared to 0.0.2? LOTS! I'll forget something,  
but these include:

\* Packaging for Debian, Gentoo, and Arch  
\* Improvements to the apt and yum modules  
\* A virt module  
\* SELinux support for the file module  
\* Ability to use facts from other systems in templates (aka exported  
resources like support)  
\* Built in Ansible facts so you don't need ohai, facter, or Ruby  
\* tempdir selections that work with noexec mounted /tmp  
\* templates happen locally, not remotely, so no dependency on  
python-jinja2 for remote computers  
\* advanced inventory format in YAML allows more control over variables  
per host and per group  
\* variables in playbooks can be structured/nested versus just a flat namespace  
\* manpage upgrades (docs)  
\* various bugfixes  
\* can specify a default --user for playbooks rather than specifying it  
in the playbook file  
\* able to specify ansible port in ansible host file (see docs)  
\* refactored Inventory API to make it easier to write scripts using Ansible  
\* looping capability for playbooks (with\_items)  
\* support for using sudo with a password  
\* module arguments can be unicode  
\* A local connection type, --connection=local, for use with cron or  
in kickstarts  
\* better module debugging with -D  
\* fetch module for pulling in files from remote hosts  
\* command task supports creates=foo for idempotent semantics, won't  
run if file foo already exists

We also recieved some very good press for the release, which is  
responsible for accelerating the pace of development CONSIDERABLY.  
Here's a roundup:

High Scalability --  
[http://highscalability.com/blog/2012/4/18/ansible-a-simple-model-driven-configuration-management-and-c.html](http://highscalability.com/blog/2012/4/18/ansible-a-simple-model-driven-configuration-management-and-c.html)  
Dzone -- [http://server.dzone.com/articles/ansible-cm-deployment-and-ad](http://server.dzone.com/articles/ansible-cm-deployment-and-ad)  
Colo And Cloud --  
[http://www.coloandcloud.com/editorial/an-interview-with-ansible-author-michael-dehaan/](http://www.coloandcloud.com/editorial/an-interview-with-ansible-author-michael-dehaan/)

I also put together a presentation on Speakerdeck, which some of you  
may have seen:

[http://speakerdeck.com/u/mpdehaan/p/ansible](http://speakerdeck.com/u/mpdehaan/p/ansible)

I'd definitely encourage people to keep spreading the word, as that  
can only bring more contributors, more modules, and more awesome  
ideas. If folks would like to share Ansible at Unconferences,  
Barcamps, CloudCamps, OpsCamps, LUGs, etc, please do! I'd be glad to  
link up any of those presentations.

The documentation more or less already reflects 0.3 -- I have some  
changes flagged that I still need to update, in particular, to remove  
comments about the way things work in 0.0.2. I would definitely  
encourage everyone to update.

I will be sending an email out shortly about what is slated for 0.4,  
as well as another about recent features I just merged to the devel  
branch that need some testing and/or discussion! These are very fun  
times for Ansible, thank you all!

--Michael
