Update bashrc with virtualenv info using Ansible

Question

I have a python virtualenv running on a remote server. I am trying to update the bashrc of the remote server with the following info using Ansible.

export WORKON_HOME=~/TestEnvs
source /usr/local/bin/virtualenvwrapper.sh
workon my_virtual_env

Is there any way to accomplish this using Ansible?

Answer 1

1. Use Ansible blockinfile module to maintain the lines in the .bashrc or /etc/bashrc:

   - name: Ensure virtualenv is sourced from the .bashrc
     blockinfile:
       dest: "{{ ansible_env.HOME }}/.bashrc"
       block: |
         export WORKON_HOME=~/TestEnvs
         source /usr/local/bin/virtualenvwrapper.sh
         workon my_virtual_env
       marker: '# {mark} ANSIBLE MANAGED BLOCK - virtualenv'
       insertbefore: BOF
       create: yes 
   

2. Or better: create a .bashrc.d (or .bash_profile.d) directory, replace your .bashrc with a call to source all files in the directory:

   while read filename
   do
     source "$filename"
   done < <(find -L ~/.bashrc.d -type f)
   

   and add the above commands as a separate file. Move other commands from the current .bashrc to another file and place it in .bashrc.d directory.

   This you can easily achieve with file and copy modules in Ansible.