(R)?ex the friendly automation framework

News

2023-08-05
Rex-1.14.3

Rex-1.14.3 is now available on CPAN. It contains bug fixes for local package installation, command existence checks, and Git tests.

2023-05-05
Rex-1.14.2

The Rex-1.14.2 release is now available on CPAN. It contains bug fixes for running local commands on Windows, cloning git repositories, and test suite fixes for the upcoming perl-5.38.0 release.

2023-03-17
Call for papers TPRC 2023

Dean Hamstead from the The Perl and Raku Foundation Marketing Committee has sent an invitation to present about Rex at TPRC 2023. I’m posting it here to increase visibility.

2023-03-05
Rex-1.14.1

The Rex-1.14.1 release is now available on CPAN. It contains bug fixes and documentation updates.

2023-02-05
Rex-1.14.0

The Rex-1.14.0 release is now available on CPAN. It contains improved Rexfile loading, documentation updates, and bumps the minimum required Perl version to 5.12.5.

Events

2021-03-08
Learning automation using Rex

Ferenc Erki (FErki) will be the guest of Gábor Szabó on the next Code Maven live stream to learn about automation using Rex. Register for the free event via Code Maven or Meetup, and join the discussion!

2020-03-05
Unexpected use cases with Rex

Unexpected use cases with Rex at the 22nd German Perl/Raku Workshop 2020 in Erlangen by Ferenc Erki (FErki).

2019-11-09
Rex & Friends

Rex & Friends talk at the Barcelona Perl & Friends 2019 by Ferenc Erki (FErki).

» Home » Docs » Guides » Working with packages

Working with packages

If you want to install or remove packages on your server Rex gives you a few functions to do this. Rex tries to guess the right package provider based on the platform Rex connects to. If you want to use a special package provider (for example, if you're using SunOS and want to use OpenCSW) you can define the package provider with package_provider_for $os => $provider_name.

Installing a Package

To install a package you can use the pkg function.

task "prepare", "server1", sub {
    pkg "apache2", ensure => "present";
};

If you want to install multiple packages you can do it by providing an array reference.

task "prepare", "server1", sub {
    pkg [qw/apache2 vim php5/], ensure => "present";
};

If you want to install a special version of a package you just need to specify the version option.

task "prepare", "server1", sub {
    pkg "apache2", ensure => "2.2.4";
};

Removing a Package

If you don't need a package anymore you can remove it with the remove function.

task "prepare", "server1", sub {
    pkg "apache2", ensure => "absent";
};

Adding a Package Repository

Sometimes you have to add custom repositories to your Server. This can be done with the repository function. In the following code block you'll see an example for Debian and CentOS.

Debian

task "prepare", "server2", sub {

    # add a repository for debian/ubuntu
    repository
      add        => "myrepo",
      url        => "http://foo.bar/repo",
      distro     => "squeeze",
      repository => "stable";
};

CentOS

task "prepare", "server2", sub {

    # add a repository for redhat/centos
    repository
      add => "myrepo",
      url => "http://foo.bar/repo";
};

After you've added a new repository you need to run update_package_db to update the package database so that you can install packages from these repositories.

task "prepare", "server2", sub {

    # add a repository for redhat/centos
    repository
      add => "myrepo",
      url => "http://foo.bar/repo";

    # update package database
    update_package_db;
};

Supported Package Providers

Rex supports the following package providers:

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