Ansible Installation of Postfix with No Prompts

Mar 13, 2015 linux scripting
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Using an Ansible configuration, I wanted to use postfix on ubuntu to send out mail. However, I couldn’t seem to figure out exactly how to get it to stop asking for input during the apt-get install postfix process. Turns out, you can use debconf to set the values that are necessary for the install.

Here’s what you’re looking for: Ansible debconf module, and questions to answer: postfix/mailname and postfix/main_mailer_type.

Here’s an excerpt of the Ansible file.

---
- name: Set Postfix option hostname
  debconf: 
    name=postifx 
    question="postfix/mailname" 
    value="sandbox" 
    vtype="string"

- name: Set Postfix option type as internet site
  debconf: 
    name=postfix 
    question="postfix/main_mailer_type" 
    value="'Internet Site'" 
    vtype="string"

- name: install postfix
  apt: name=postfix state=present

Of course, remember to copy over your required postfix/main.cnf file after you’re done, too.

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