How To Install python-reclass on Ubuntu 18.04

In this tutorial we learn how to install python-reclass on Ubuntu 18.04. python-reclass is hierarchical inventory backend for configuration management systems

Introduction

In this tutorial we learn how to install python-reclass on Ubuntu 18.04.

What is python-reclass

python-reclass is:

reclass is an “external node classifier” (ENC) as can be used with automation tools, such as Puppet, Salt, and Ansible. It is also a stand-alone tool for merging data sources recursively.

The purpose of an ENC is to allow a system administrator to maintain an inventory of nodes to be managed, completely separately from the configuration of the automation tool. Usually, the external node classifier completely replaces the tool-specific inventory (such as site.pp for Puppet, ext_pillar/master_tops for Salt, or /etc/ansible/hosts).

reclass allows you to define your nodes through class inheritance, while always able to override details further up the tree (i.e. in more specific nodes). Think of classes as feature sets, as commonalities between nodes, or as tags. Add to that the ability to nest classes (multiple inheritance is allowed, well-defined, and encouraged), and piece together your infrastructure from smaller bits, eliminating redundancy and exposing all important parameters to a single location, logically organised.

There are three methods to install python-reclass on Ubuntu 18.04. We can use apt-get, apt and aptitude. In the following sections we will describe each method. You can choose one of them.

Install python-reclass Using apt-get

Update apt database with apt-get using the following command.

sudo apt-get update

After updating apt database, We can install python-reclass using apt-get by running the following command:

sudo apt-get -y install python-reclass

Install python-reclass Using apt

Update apt database with apt using the following command.

sudo apt update

After updating apt database, We can install python-reclass using apt by running the following command:

sudo apt -y install python-reclass

Install python-reclass Using aptitude

If you want to follow this method, you might need to install aptitude first since aptitude is usually not installed by default on Ubuntu. Update apt database with aptitude using the following command.

sudo aptitude update

After updating apt database, We can install python-reclass using aptitude by running the following command:

sudo aptitude -y install python-reclass

How To Uninstall python-reclass on Ubuntu 18.04

To uninstall only the python-reclass package we can use the following command:

sudo apt-get remove python-reclass

Uninstall python-reclass And Its Dependencies

To uninstall python-reclass and its dependencies that are no longer needed by Ubuntu 18.04, we can use the command below:

sudo apt-get -y autoremove python-reclass

Remove python-reclass Configurations and Data

To remove python-reclass configuration and data from Ubuntu 18.04 we can use the following command:

sudo apt-get -y purge python-reclass

Remove python-reclass configuration, data, and all of its dependencies

We can use the following command to remove python-reclass configurations, data and all of its dependencies, we can use the following command:

sudo apt-get -y autoremove --purge python-reclass

References

Summary

In this tutorial we learn how to install python-reclass package on Ubuntu 18.04 using different package management tools: apt, apt-get and aptitude.