Chapter 3. Installing Ansible development tools

Procedure

1. Install WSL2 without a distribution:

   $ `wsl --install --no-distribution`

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2. Use cgroupsv2 by disabling cgroupsv1 for WSL2:

   Edit the %USERPROFILE%/wsl.conf file and add the following lines to force cgroupv2 usage:

   [wsl2]
   kernelCommandLine = cgroup_no_v1="all"

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3. Install Podman Desktop. Follow the instructions in Installing Podman Desktop and Podman on Windows in the Podman Desktop documentation.

   You do not need to change the default settings in the set-up wizard.

4. Ensure the podman machine is using cgroupsv2:

   $ podman info | findstr cgroup

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5. Test Podman Desktop:

   $ podman run hello

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6. Configure the settings for Podman Desktop. Add a %USERPROFILE%\bin\docker.bat file with the following content:

   @echo off
   podman %*

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   This avoids having to install Docker as required by the VS Code Dev Container extension.

7. Add the %USERPROFILE%\bin directory to the PATH:

   1. Select Settings and search for "Edit environment variables for your account" to display all of the user environment variables.
   2. Highlight "Path" in the top user variables box, click Edit and add the path.
   3. Click Save to set the path for any new console that you open.

Procedure

1. Check whether you are already logged in to the registry.redhat.io registry:

   $ podman login --get-login registry.redhat.io

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   The command output displays your Red Hat login if you are logged in to registry.redhat.io.

2. If you are not logged in to registry.redhat.io, use the podman login command with your credentials to access content on the registry.

   $ podman login registry.redhat.io
   Username: my_redhat_username
   Password: ***********

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1. Open VS Code.
2. Click the Extensions ( ) icon in the Activity Bar, or click View Extensions, to display the Extensions view.
3. In the search field in the Extensions view, type Ansible Red Hat.
4. Select the Ansible extension and click Install.

Procedure

1. Open the Ansible extension settings:

   1. Click the Extensions icon in the activity bar.

   2. Select the Ansible extension, and click the 'gear' icon and then Extension Settings to display the extension settings.

      Alternatively, click Code Settings Settings to open the Settings page.

   3. Enter Ansible in the search bar to display the settings for the extension.

2. Select the Workspace tab to configure your settings for the current VS Code workspace.

   • If the Workspace tab is not displayed, open a folder or create a new folder using the File Open Folder menu.

3. The Ansible extension settings are pre-populated. Modify the settings to suit your requirements:

   • Check the Ansible Validation Lint: Enabled box to enable ansible-lint.
   • Check the Ansible Execution Environment: Enabled box to use an execution environment.
   • Specify the execution environment image you want to use in the Ansible > Execution Environment: image field.
   • To use Red Hat Ansible Lightspeed, check the Ansible > Lightspeed: Enabled box, and enter the URL for Lightspeed.

1. Open or create a YAML file in VS Code.
2. Hover the cursor over the language identified in the status bar at the bottom of the VS Code window to open the Select Language Mode list.

3. Select Ansible in the list.

   The language shown in the status bar at the bottom of the VS Code window for the file is changed to Ansible.

1. Open the settings.json file:

   1. Click View Command Palette to open the command palette.
   2. Enter Workspace settings in the search box and select Open Workspace Settings (JSON).

2. Add the following code to settings.json.

   {
     ...
   
     "files.associations": {
       "*plays.yml": "ansible",
       "*init.yml": "yaml",
     }
   }

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1. Open VS Code.
2. Click the Extensions ( ) icon in the Activity Bar, or click View Extensions, to display the Extensions view.
3. In the search field in the Extensions view, type Dev Containers.
4. Select the Dev Containers extension from Microsoft and click Install.

1. Replace docker with podman in the Dev Containers extension settings:

   1. In VS Code, open the settings editor.

   2. Search for @ext:ms-vscode-remote.remote-containers.

      Alternatively, click the Extensions icon in the activity bar and click the gear icon for the Dev Containers extension.

2. Set Dev > Containers:Docker Path to podman.
3. Set Dev > Containers:Docker Compose Path to podman-compose.