# Installing packages on multiple Operating Systems **URL:** \ **Category:** Ansible Project\ **Tags:** ubuntu\ **Created:** [September 25, 2013, 12:21pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/installing-packages-on-multiple-operating-systems/13549 "2013-09-25T12:21:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Alex\_Williams](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/da6949/32.png) [@Alex\_Williams](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Alex_Williams)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2013, 12:21pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/installing-packages-on-multiple-operating-systems/13549/1 "2013-09-25T12:21:55Z")
Hi, I’m wondering if there’s a better way to install packages on multiple operating systems. TL;DR: I’m looking for a method to abstract the OS differences to avoid duplicating files and templates all over the place. Here’s what I’m currently doing: > - name: Install OpenJDK > apt: pkg={{ item }} state=present with\_items: - openjdk-7-jdk > tags: > > - java > when: ansible\_distribution == ‘Ubuntu’ > - name: Install OpenJDK > yum: name=java-1.7.0-openjdk state=present > tags: > - java > when: ansible\_distribution == ‘CentOS’ This works fine when you only have 1 task or 1 role, but I currently have 10 roles with multiple configurations, and each role has its own set of tasks, files, templates, etc. I considered creating separate directories in each role, for each OS, but then handlers, templates and other files will need to be duplicated. Is there a “package” module to replace “yum/apt” ? If not, can someone recommend a better approach? So far all the solutions I’ve found are only good as “examples”, but far from ideal in the real world. Thanks ---
**Author:** ![James\_Cammarata1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d26b3c/32.png) [@James\_Cammarata1](https://forum.ansible.com/u/James_Cammarata1)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2013, 6:06pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/installing-packages-on-multiple-operating-systems/13549/2 "2013-09-25T18:06:41Z")
I would recommend using the group\_by option, which can be used to group systems based on facts or other variables. So something like this: - hosts: all tasks: - name: group hosts by distribution group\_by: key=“{{ ansible\_distribution }}-{{ ansible\_distribution\_version }}” - hosts: RedHat-6\*:CentOS-6\*:SL-6\* tasks: - name: Install OpenJDK yum: name=java-1.7.0-openjdk state=present tags: - java - hosts: Ubuntu-\* tasks: - name: Install OpenJDK apt: pkg=openjdk-7-jdk state=present tags: - java ---
**Author:** ![Walid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ea5d25/32.png) [@Walid](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Walid)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2013, 6:53pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/installing-packages-on-multiple-operating-systems/13549/3 "2013-09-25T18:53:46Z")
Dear James, This is very neat, related to this how do i use varaibles/facts for hosts, i tried the documentation example following in ansible, ansible-playbook but could not get it working webservers:!{{excluded}}:&{{required}} where should I define these variables, i tried to define them in the inventory hosts files, or pass them via the “-e” option both did not work for me. regards Walid ---
**Author:** ![James\_Cammarata1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d26b3c/32.png) [@James\_Cammarata1](https://forum.ansible.com/u/James_Cammarata1)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2013, 8:39pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/installing-packages-on-multiple-operating-systems/13549/4 "2013-09-25T20:39:29Z")
Walid, this question came up the other day and I mentioned that it works correctly when setting the variable with -e. Could you post some samples of your inventory/playbook. Also, if asking a new question it’s generally best to start a new thread, to avoid confusion and switching topics. ---
**Author:** ![Brian\_Coca1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Brian\_Coca1](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Brian_Coca1)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2013, 10:21pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/installing-packages-on-multiple-operating-systems/13549/5 "2013-09-25T22:21:11Z")
you can use the {{ansible\_pkg\_manager}} variable to try to make it a single task, but then you have the problem of the package names not matching, so James’ solution is the best option. ---
**Author:** ![Michael\_DeHaan2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/da6949/32.png) [@Michael\_DeHaan2](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Michael_DeHaan2)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2013, 11:54pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/installing-packages-on-multiple-operating-systems/13549/6 "2013-09-25T23:54:11Z")
The host selector is there for selecting groups defined in inventory explicitly. If you want to further pare down hosts, rather than doing the “-e” bits and making it more complex with {{ vars }}, it’s easier to just use --limit ansible-playbook site.yml --limit pod6 Would run the whole playbook just on machines in pod6. ---
**Author:** ![matt](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/ansible/user_avatar/forum.ansible.com/matt/32/1267_2.png) [@matt](https://forum.ansible.com/u/matt)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2013, 6:57am UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/installing-packages-on-multiple-operating-systems/13549/7 "2013-09-26T06:57:26Z")
Can this be achieved in a single role, or would multiple roles be required, one for each OS? ---
**Author:** ![James\_Cammarata1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d26b3c/32.png) [@James\_Cammarata1](https://forum.ansible.com/u/James_Cammarata1)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2013, 7:06am UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/installing-packages-on-multiple-operating-systems/13549/8 "2013-09-26T07:06:00Z")
This would need to be separate roles, since roles can’t contain hosts: entries. ---
**Author:** ![Michael\_DeHaan2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/da6949/32.png) [@Michael\_DeHaan2](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Michael_DeHaan2)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2013, 12:23pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/installing-packages-on-multiple-operating-systems/13549/9 "2013-09-26T12:23:40Z")
You can just use the when statement in this case if you want to keep things in the same role. when: ansible\_os\_family == ‘Debian’ etc