# Hacking user module for portability **URL:** \ **Category:** Ansible Project\ **Created:** [October 29, 2012, 10:11pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/hacking-user-module-for-portability/12050 "2012-10-29T22:11:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Nigel\_Metheringham](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Nigel\_Metheringham](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Nigel_Metheringham)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2012, 10:11pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/hacking-user-module-for-portability/12050/1 "2012-10-29T22:11:28Z")
I've hacked around the user module specifically to add FreeBSD support, although the intention is to be able to add other OS support very simply by adding an OS flavour specific superclass. I would appreciate if folks could have a look at this abd ideally test to see what I broke... bearing in mind I am neither a python nor a FreeBSD person (yeah - I'm wondering why I started here too). Code is at   [https://github.com/nigelm/ansible/tree/nigelm\_freebsd](https://github.com/nigelm/ansible/tree/nigelm_freebsd) Only the user module has been changed, and basically its as one big commit (unfortunately the spacing changes caused by making most of the code into a class makes the changed lines look more substantial than they are). Unless someone shows me real problems with this I'm aiming to send it as a pull request as soon as I have had a little time to convince myself its stable.   Nigel. ---
**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:** [October 29, 2012, 10:35pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/hacking-user-module-for-portability/12050/2 "2012-10-29T22:35:25Z")
In general, looks good. If someone else would like to supply testing to this on FreeBSD, this would be helpful -- and I can take care of refactoring the class loader into something I think we want to have as a standard across modules (hopefully something in module common). Thanks! ---
**Author:** ![Romeo\_Theriault](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/839c29/32.png) [@Romeo\_Theriault](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Romeo_Theriault)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2012, 7:16am UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/hacking-user-module-for-portability/12050/3 "2012-10-30T07:16:56Z")
I haven't tried it but I love the idea. It will make adding solaris support (and others) that much easier. Thanks much. ---
**Author:** ![Nigel\_Metheringham](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Nigel\_Metheringham](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Nigel_Metheringham)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2012, 9:15am UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/hacking-user-module-for-portability/12050/4 "2012-10-30T09:15:59Z")
Michael DeHaan wrote: > If someone else would like to supply testing to this on FreeBSD, this > would be helpful Absolutely. I have only tested against FreeBSD 9.0 - a fresh install, and even that is fairly lightly tested. The python package goes into /usr/local/bin so the platform requires ansible\_python\_interpreter to be set. The standard part of it has been tested against Centos 6 > -- and I can take care of refactoring the class > loader into something I think we want to have as a standard across > modules (hopefully something in module common). I added a (slightly half-arsed) distribution part to the loader - it seemed likely that at least one of the linuxes will need something different, so having a way of picking up a new module based on that looked useful. I'm aiming to add some more comments around it, then I'll raise a pull req with you - unless you would prefer it now and I can then decorate it after merging. Not sure how much time I have in the next few days so there may be a pause.   Nigel. ---
**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:** [October 30, 2012, 12:03pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/hacking-user-module-for-portability/12050/5 "2012-10-30T12:03:12Z")
You can go ahead and send it over. I may hack around with it some in the next few days. Glad to see this, it can help set a standard for the other modules. ---
**Author:** ![Nigel\_Metheringham](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Nigel\_Metheringham](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Nigel_Metheringham)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2012, 12:10pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/hacking-user-module-for-portability/12050/6 "2012-10-30T12:10:55Z")
Pull request 1483 raised. Its been an interesting learning experience - not done serious python previously. Feel free to bat bugs back across to me - there are quite likely to be some (mostly of the leaving () off method names - I mostly write perl, these brackets are all optional!).   Nigel.