community.general.packer module – Manage HashiCorp Packer builds

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. You need further requirements to be able to use this module, see Requirements for details.

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

New in community.general 13.5.0

Synopsis 

Manage Packer builds and templates.
Supports building and initializing Packer templates.

Requirements 

The below requirements are needed on the host that executes this module.

packer >= 1.7.0

Parameters 

Parameter	Comments
cleanup boolean	Clean up temporary files after build (`-cleanup`). Choices: `false` ← (default) `true`
color boolean	Enable colored output if `true`. Choices: `false` ← (default) `true`
except_builders aliases: except list / elements=string	Build all builders except the specified ones (`-except`).
force boolean	Force rebuilding (passes `-force` flag). Choices: `false` ← (default) `true`
log_level string	Set the log level (`--log-level`). Choices: `"trace"` `"debug"` `"info"` ← (default) `"warn"` `"error"`
machine_readable boolean	Generate the output in machine-readable format (`-machine-readable` if `true`). Choices: `false` ← (default) `true`
name string / required	Name of the Packer build configuration (for identification).
only list / elements=string	Build only the specified builders (`-only`).
parallel boolean	Disable parallel building (`-parallel=false` if `false`). Choices: `false` `true` ← (default)
state string / required	Desired state of the Packer build configuration. Choices: `"built"`: Build the image from template. In check mode, the build configuration will be validated. `"initialized"`: Initialize the template. This installs required plugins.
template path / required	Path to the Packer template file or directory. Required for all states.
var_files list / elements=path	List of variable files to load (`-var-file`). Default: `[]`
variables dictionary	Dictionary of variables to pass to Packer (`-var`). Default: `{}`

Attributes 

Attribute	Support	Description
check_mode	Support: partial In check mode, `state=built` runs `packer validate` instead of building. Check mode is ignored for `state=initialized`, so `packer init` is executed and can install required plugins. `state=initialized` always returns `changed=true` in check mode.	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: Initialize Packer template (install plugins)
  community.general.packer:
    name: init-template
    state: initialized
    template: aws-ubuntu.pkr.hcl

- name: Initialize Packer template from directory
  community.general.packer:
    name: init-template-dir
    state: initialized
    template: ./packer-templates/

- name: Build AWS AMI with Packer (or validate in check_mode)
  community.general.packer:
    name: my-ami
    state: built
    template: aws-ubuntu.pkr.hcl
    variables:
      aws_region: us-west-2
      instance_type: t2.micro
    force: false

- name: Build from directory containing multiple templates
  community.general.packer:
    name: multi-template-build
    state: built
    template: ./packer-templates/
    force: false

- name: Validate template using check_mode
  community.general.packer:
    name: validate-check
    state: built
    template: template.pkr.hcl
    var_files:
      - dev.pkrvars.hcl
      - common.pkrvars.hcl
  check_mode: true

- name: Build with force rebuild
  community.general.packer:
    name: force-build
    state: built
    template: template.pkr.hcl
    force: true
    parallel: false
    machine_readable: true

- name: Build only specific builders
  community.general.packer:
    name: selective-build
    state: built
    template: template.pkr.hcl
    only:
      - amazon-ebs.builder1
      - virtualbox-iso.builder2

- name: Build local artifact (VirtualBox)
  community.general.packer:
    name: local-build
    state: built
    template: virtualbox.pkr.hcl
    force: true

Return Values 

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

Key	Description
artifacts list / elements=dictionary	List of created artifacts. Returned: when `state=built` and build successful Sample: `[{"build_index": 0, "name": "ami-12345678", "type": "amazon-ebs"}]`
artifacts_count integer	Number of artifacts created. Returned: when `state=built` and build successful Sample: `1`
build_start_timestamp string	Timestamp when the build started (UTC). Returned: when `state=built` Sample: `"2024-01-15T10:30:00Z"`
cmd list / elements=string	Full command line executed as a list. Returned: always Sample: `["/usr/local/bin/packer", "build", "template.pkr.hcl"]`
packer_version string	Packer version used. Returned: always Sample: `"1.9.4"`

Authors

Aleksandr Gabidullin (@a-gabidullin)

community.general.packer module – Manage HashiCorp Packer builds

Synopsis

Requirements

Parameters

Attributes

Examples

Return Values