Alex W.'s Blog

Script the installation of .deb packages that have configuration prompts

Some packages open up a terminal UI to ask you several questions after you install them with dpkg -i. If you’re trying to install the package using Ansible apt’s deb feature then the installation will hang forever while it waits for these prompts to be answered.

You can pre-answer all of the questions by using Ansible’s debconf feature. To figure out what the questions are

  1. Install the package manually (e.g. dpkg -i filename.deb)
  2. Answer the questions it prompts you with
  3. Run debconf-show packagename to see all of the configuration options.

Then you can use debconf: name=packagename question=configurationquestion value=desiredanswer vtype=string/etc. to pre-answer any questions. When the package is installed then it won’t prompt for anything since it already has the answers it needs.

For example, to set up opensky-feeder I used the configuration:

- name: Preconfigure opensky-feeder
  become: yes
  debconf:
    name: opensky-feeder
    question: '{{ item.question }}'
    value: '{{ item.answer }}'
    vtype: string
  with_items:
    - {question: 'openskyd/host', answer: 'localhost'}
    - {question: 'openskyd/port', answer: '30005'}
    - {question: 'openskyd/serial', answer: '{{ serial_number }}'}
    - {question: 'openskyd/dump1090branch', answer: 'default'}
    - {question: 'openskyd/username', answer: '{{ username }}'}
    - {question: 'openskyd/latitude', answer: '{{ location_latitude }}'}
    - {question: 'openskyd/longitude', answer: '{{ location_longitude }}'}
    - {question: 'openskyd/altitude', answer: '{{ location_altitude_in_meters }}'}
  tags: [install, flight-tracker, opensky]

- name: Install opensky-feeder
  become: yes
  apt:
    deb: https://opensky-network.org/files/firmware/opensky-feeder_latest_armhf.deb
    state: present
    update_cache: true
  tags: [install, flight-tracker, opensky]