# Module update\_alternatives for Debian/Ubuntu **URL:** \ **Category:** Ansible Project\ **Tags:** ubuntu\ **Created:** [October 31, 2012, 8:54am UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/module-update-alternatives-for-debian-ubuntu/12056 "2012-10-31T08:54:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Philipp\_Grau](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/74df32/32.png) [@Philipp\_Grau](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Philipp_Grau)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2012, 8:54am UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/module-update-alternatives-for-debian-ubuntu/12056/1 "2012-10-31T08:54:21Z")
Hello, to get my feet wet with ansible I wrote a small module that handles the update-alternative command ([http://www.debian-administration.org/articles/91](http://www.debian-administration.org/articles/91)) on Debian/Ubuntu systems. It is about setting the default application for awk (gwak|nawk|mawk) or x-browser and stuff like that. Even handling of diffrent java installations is possible. It's small and simple but "works for me"(tm). You can have a look here: [https://github.com/phgrau/ansible-stuff](https://github.com/phgrau/ansible-stuff) Feedback is welcome. Kind regards, Philipp ---
**Author:** ![Lorin\_Hochstein1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ce73a5/32.png) [@Lorin\_Hochstein1](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Lorin_Hochstein1)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2013, 7:54pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/module-update-alternatives-for-debian-ubuntu/12056/2 "2013-06-16T19:54:15Z")
Hi Phillip: Just today, I had a need for this module on Ubuntu, and I was very happy to discover that it existed already. I’ve tested it out, and it works for me as well. Could you contribute this to the upstream ansible project? Lorin ---
**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:** [June 17, 2013, 1:33am UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/module-update-alternatives-for-debian-ubuntu/12056/3 "2013-06-17T01:33:54Z")
And my todo list just got shortened, awesome thanks! Just send a pull request to the ansible project to get it merged into core. ---
**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:** [June 17, 2013, 3:46am UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/module-update-alternatives-for-debian-ubuntu/12056/4 "2013-06-17T03:46:41Z")
Alternatives is also a Red Hat thing, so you might want to also check it there to see if there are any differences. –Michael ---
**Author:** ![Ali-Akber\_Saifee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/13edae/32.png) [@Ali-Akber\_Saifee](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Ali-Akber_Saifee)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2013, 3:15am UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/module-update-alternatives-for-debian-ubuntu/12056/5 "2013-08-12T03:15:44Z")
Hi, Was there any progress on bringing this module into ansible core? If not, is there anything I can do to help? (I’d like to use the module and would rather not copy/paste) ---
**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:** [August 12, 2013, 9:09pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/module-update-alternatives-for-debian-ubuntu/12056/6 "2013-08-12T21:09:49Z")
I don’t recall seeing a pull request, but I could be misremembering. ---
**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:** [August 12, 2013, 9:26pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/module-update-alternatives-for-debian-ubuntu/12056/7 "2013-08-12T21:26:59Z")
one was rejected, i put on my list to ‘fix it up for acceptance’ but haven’t gotten around to it yet. ---
**Author:** ![Ben\_Turner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/77aa72/32.png) [@Ben\_Turner](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Ben_Turner)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2014, 12:12am UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/module-update-alternatives-for-debian-ubuntu/12056/8 "2014-02-28T00:12:23Z")
Keen to see this in Ansible Core too - does anyone have a link to any previous pull request ? ---
**Author:** ![Ernest0x](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ed655f/32.png) [@Ernest0x](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Ernest0x)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2014, 9:10am UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/module-update-alternatives-for-debian-ubuntu/12056/9 "2014-02-28T09:10:34Z")
If you don’t need this task to be idempotent, you can use something like this: ---
**Author:** ![Michael\_DeHaan1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5e9695/32.png) [@Michael\_DeHaan1](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Michael_DeHaan1)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2014, 2:05pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/module-update-alternatives-for-debian-ubuntu/12056/10 "2014-02-28T14:05:12Z")
Yep, that command won’t hurt anything so it would be fine to run that way.