community.general.appimage module – Manage AppImage packages

Note

This module is part of the community.general collection (version 14.0.0).

You might already have this collection installed if you are using the ansible package. It is not included in ansible-core. To check whether it is installed, run ansible-galaxy collection list.

To install it, use: ansible-galaxy collection install community.general.

To use it in a playbook, specify: community.general.appimage.

New in community.general 13.4.0

Synopsis

• Install, update, and remove applications distributed as AppImage files.

• The module installs AppImage files into a user-controlled directory.

• Sources can be local AppImage files, direct AppImage URLs, GitHub release pages containing AppImage assets, or https://appimage.github.io catalog entries.

Parameters

Parameter	Comments
asset_name string	Glob pattern used to select the AppImage asset from a GitHub release. If the pattern matches multiple assets, the module fails and asks for a more specific pattern. Default: "*.AppImage"
attributes aliases: attr string	The attributes the resulting filesystem object should have. To get supported flags look at the man page for chattr on the target system. This string should contain the attributes in the same order as the one displayed by lsattr. The = operator is assumed as default, otherwise + or - operators need to be included in the string.
catalog_url string	URL of the https://appimage.github.io-compatible JSON feed used when url is omitted. Default: "https://appimage.github.io/feed.json"
github_token string	GitHub token used when querying GitHub releases. This can be useful for private repositories or higher API rate limits.
group string	Name of the group that should own the filesystem object, as would be fed to chown. When left unspecified, it uses the current group of the current user unless you are root, in which case it can preserve the previous ownership. Specifying a numeric group name (for example, “1000”) will be assumed to be a group ID (GID) and not a group name. To prevent confusion, avoid using purely numeric group names.
install_dir path	Directory where the AppImage executable is installed. Default: "~/.local/bin"
mode any	The permissions the resulting filesystem object should have. For those used to /usr/bin/chmod remember that modes are actually octal numbers. You must give Ansible enough information to parse them correctly. For consistent results, quote octal numbers (for example, '644' or '1777') so Ansible receives a string and can do its own conversion from string into number. Adding a leading zero (for example, 0755) works sometimes, but can fail in loops and some other circumstances. Giving Ansible a number without following either of these rules will end up with a decimal number which will have unexpected results. As of Ansible 1.8, the mode may be specified as a symbolic mode (for example, u+rwx or u=rw,g=r,o=r). If mode is not specified and the destination filesystem object does not exist, the default umask on the system will be used when setting the mode for the newly created filesystem object. If mode is not specified and the destination filesystem object does exist, the mode of the existing filesystem object will be used. Specifying mode is the best way to ensure filesystem objects are created with the correct permissions. See CVE-2020-1736 for further details.
name string / required	Name of the managed AppImage. This is used as the installed executable filename. When url is omitted, this is also used to look up the AppImage in the https://appimage.github.io catalog.
owner string	Name of the user that should own the filesystem object, as would be fed to chown. When left unspecified, it uses the current user unless you are root, in which case it can preserve the previous ownership. Specifying a numeric username (for example, “1000”) will be assumed to be a user ID (UID) and not a username. To prevent confusion, avoid using purely numeric usernames.
selevel string	The level part of the SELinux filesystem object context. This is the MLS/MCS attribute, sometimes known as the range. When set to _default, it will use the level portion of the policy if available.
serole string	The role part of the SELinux filesystem object context. When set to _default, it will use the role portion of the policy if available.
setype string	The type part of the SELinux filesystem object context. When set to _default, it will use the type portion of the policy if available.
seuser string	The user part of the SELinux filesystem object context. By default it uses the system policy, where applicable. When set to _default, it will use the user portion of the policy if available.
state string	Desired state of the AppImage. When state=present, the AppImage is installed if missing. When state=latest, sources that support multiple versions, such as GitHub releases pages, are resolved to the latest release and updated when the recorded version differs. state=latest cannot be combined with version, and is not supported for fixed sources such as direct AppImage URLs or local files. Choices: "absent" "present" ← (default) "latest"
timeout integer	Timeout in seconds for HTTP requests. Default: 30
unsafe_writes boolean	Influence when to use atomic operation to prevent data corruption or inconsistent reads from the target filesystem object. By default this module uses atomic operations to prevent data corruption or inconsistent reads from the target filesystem objects, but sometimes systems are configured or just broken in ways that prevent this. One example is docker mounted filesystem objects, which cannot be updated atomically from inside the container and can only be written in an unsafe manner. This option allows Ansible to fall back to unsafe methods of updating filesystem objects when atomic operations fail (however, it doesn’t force Ansible to perform unsafe writes). IMPORTANT! Unsafe writes are subject to race conditions and can lead to data corruption. Choices: false ← (default) true
url string	Source used to obtain the AppImage. This can point directly to an AppImage URL, a local AppImage file path, a file:// AppImage URL, or to a GitHub releases page such as https://github.com/OWNER/REPO/releases or https://github.com/OWNER/REPO/releases/tag/TAG. When omitted with state=present or state=latest, the module looks up name in the https://appimage.github.io catalog.
validate_certs boolean	If false, TLS certificates are not validated. Choices: false true ← (default)
version string	GitHub release tag to install when url points to a GitHub releases page. This can only be used with sources that provide release versions, such as GitHub releases pages. By default, GitHub release pages use the latest release.

Attributes

Attribute	Support	Description
check_mode	Support: full	Can run in check_mode and return changed status prediction without modifying target.
diff_mode	Support: none	Returns details on what has changed (or possibly needs changing in check_mode), when in diff mode.

Examples

- name: Install an AppImage from a direct URL
  community.general.appimage:
    name: example
    url: https://example.com/downloads/example-x86_64.AppImage

- name: Install an AppImage from a local file
  community.general.appimage:
    name: example
    url: /tmp/example-x86_64.AppImage

- name: Install an AppImage from the appimage.github.io catalog
  community.general.appimage:
    name: appimagetool

- name: Install the latest x86_64 AppImage from GitHub releases
  community.general.appimage:
    name: example
    url: https://github.com/example/example/releases
    state: latest
    asset_name: "*x86_64.AppImage"

- name: Install a specific GitHub release tag
  community.general.appimage:
    name: example
    url: https://github.com/example/example/releases
    version: v1.2.3

- name: Remove an AppImage
  community.general.appimage:
    name: example
    state: absent

Return Values

Common return values are documented here, the following are the fields unique to this module:

Key	Description
catalog_name string	AppImage catalog entry name used to resolve the source. Returned: when installing from the appimage.github.io catalog Sample: "appimagetool"
catalog_url string	AppImage catalog page used to resolve the source. Returned: when installing from the appimage.github.io catalog Sample: "https://appimage.github.io/appimagetool/"
path string	Path to the managed AppImage executable. Returned: always Sample: "/home/user/.local/bin/example"
source_path string	Local AppImage source path. Returned: when installing from a local path or file:// source Sample: "/tmp/example-x86_64.AppImage"
source_url string	Resolved AppImage download URL. Returned: when state is present or latest Sample: "https://github.com/example/example/releases/download/v1.2.3/example-x86_64.AppImage"
version string	GitHub release tag that was installed. Returned: when installing from a GitHub release Sample: "v1.2.3"

Authors

• Travis Beale (@travisbeale)

Collection links

• Issue Tracker
• Repository (Sources)
• Ask for help
• Submit a bug report
• Request a feature
• Communication