Windows Software Repository¶

Operation¶

The install state/module function of the windows package manager works roughly as follows:

1. Execute pkg.list_pkgs and store the result
2. Check if any action needs to be taken. (i.e. compare required package and version against pkg.list_pkgs results)
3. If so, run the installer command.
4. Execute pkg.list_pkgs and compare to the result stored from before installation.
5. Success/Failure/Changes will be reported based on the differences between the original and final pkg.list_pkgs results.

If there are any problems in using the package manager it is likely to be due to the data in your sls files not matching the difference between the pre and post pkg.list_pkgs results.

Usage¶

By default, the Windows software repository is found at /srv/salt/win/repo This can be changed in the master config file (default location is /etc/salt/master) by modifying the win_repo variable. Each piece of software should have its own directory which contains the installers and a package definition file. This package definition file is a YAML file named init.sls.

The package definition file should look similar to this example for Firefox: /srv/salt/win/repo/firefox/init.sls

Firefox:
  '17.0.1':
    installer: 'salt://win/repo/firefox/English/Firefox Setup 17.0.1.exe'
    full_name: Mozilla Firefox 17.0.1 (x86 en-US)
    locale: en_US
    reboot: False
    install_flags: '-ms'
    uninstaller: '%ProgramFiles(x86)%/Mozilla Firefox/uninstall/helper.exe'
    uninstall_flags: '/S'
  '16.0.2':
    installer: 'salt://win/repo/firefox/English/Firefox Setup 16.0.2.exe'
    full_name: Mozilla Firefox 16.0.2 (x86 en-US)
    locale: en_US
    reboot: False
    install_flags: '-ms'
    uninstaller: '%ProgramFiles(x86)%/Mozilla Firefox/uninstall/helper.exe'
    uninstall_flags: '/S'
  '15.0.1':
    installer: 'salt://win/repo/firefox/English/Firefox Setup 15.0.1.exe'
    full_name: Mozilla Firefox 15.0.1 (x86 en-US)
    locale: en_US
    reboot: False
    install_flags: '-ms'
    uninstaller: '%ProgramFiles(x86)%/Mozilla Firefox/uninstall/helper.exe'
    uninstall_flags: '/S'

More examples can be found here: https://github.com/saltstack/salt-winrepo

The version number and full_name need to match the output from pkg.list_pkgs so that the status can be verified when running state.apply.

salt 'test-2008' pkg.list_pkgs
test-2008
    ----------
    7-Zip 9.20 (x64 edition):
        9.20.00.0
    Microsoft .NET Framework 4 Client Profile:
        4.0.30319,4.0.30319
    Microsoft .NET Framework 4 Extended:
        4.0.30319,4.0.30319
    Microsoft Visual C++ 2008 Redistributable - x64 9.0.21022:
        9.0.21022
    Mozilla Firefox 17.0.1 (x86 en-US):
        17.0.1
    Mozilla Maintenance Service:
        17.0.1
    NSClient++ (x64):
        0.3.8.76
    Notepad++:
        6.4.2
    Salt Minion 0.16.0:
        0.16.0

If any of these preinstalled packages already exist in winrepo the full_name will be automatically renamed to their package name during the next update (running state.apply or installing another package).

test-2008:
    ----------
    7zip:
        9.20.00.0
    Microsoft .NET Framework 4 Client Profile:
        4.0.30319,4.0.30319
    Microsoft .NET Framework 4 Extended:
        4.0.30319,4.0.30319
    Microsoft Visual C++ 2008 Redistributable - x64 9.0.21022:
        9.0.21022
    Mozilla Maintenance Service:
        17.0.1
    Notepad++:
        6.4.2
    Salt Minion 0.16.0:
        0.16.0
    firefox:
        17.0.1
    nsclient:
        0.3.9.328

Add msiexec: True if using an MSI installer requiring the use of msiexec /i to install and msiexec /x to uninstall.

The install_flags and uninstall_flags are flags passed to the software installer to cause it to perform a silent install. These can often be found by adding /? or /h when running the installer from the command line. A great resource for finding these silent install flags can be found on the WPKG project's wiki:

7zip:
  9.20.00.0:
    installer: salt://win/repo/7zip/7z920-x64.msi
    full_name: 7-Zip 9.20 (x64 edition)
    reboot: False
    install_flags: '/qn /norestart'
    msiexec: True
    uninstaller: '{23170F69-40C1-2702-0920-000001000000}'
    uninstall_flags: '/qn /norestart'

Alternatively the uninstaller can also simply repeat the URL of the msi file.

7zip:
  9.20.00.0:
    installer: salt://win/repo/7zip/7z920-x64.msi
    full_name: 7-Zip 9.20 (x64 edition)
    reboot: False
    install_flags: '/qn /norestart'
    msiexec: True
    uninstaller: salt://win/repo/7zip/7z920-x64.msi
    uninstall_flags: '/qn /norestart'

Generate Repo Cache File¶

Once the sls file has been created, generate the repository cache file with the winrepo runner:

salt-run winrepo.genrepo

Then update the repository cache file on your minions, exactly how it's done for the Linux package managers:

salt '*' pkg.refresh_db

Install Windows Software¶

Now you can query the available version of Firefox using the Salt pkg module.

salt '*' pkg.available_version Firefox

{'Firefox': {'15.0.1': 'Mozilla Firefox 15.0.1 (x86 en-US)',
                 '16.0.2': 'Mozilla Firefox 16.0.2 (x86 en-US)',
                 '17.0.1': 'Mozilla Firefox 17.0.1 (x86 en-US)'}}

As you can see, there are three versions of Firefox available for installation. You can refer a software package by its name or its full_name surround by single quotes.

salt '*' pkg.install 'Firefox'

The above line will install the latest version of Firefox.

salt '*' pkg.install 'Firefox' version=16.0.2

The above line will install version 16.0.2 of Firefox.

If a different version of the package is already installed it will be replaced with the version in winrepo (only if the package itself supports live updating).

You can also specify the full name:

salt '*' pkg.install 'Mozilla Firefox 17.0.1 (x86 en-US)'

Uninstall Windows Software¶

Uninstall software using the pkg module:

salt '*' pkg.remove 'Firefox'

salt '*' pkg.purge 'Firefox'

pkg.purge just executes pkg.remove on Windows. At some point in the future pkg.purge may direct the installer to remove all configs and settings for software packages that support that option.

Standalone Minion Salt Windows Repo Module¶

In order to facilitate managing a Salt Windows software repo with Salt on a Standalone Minion on Windows, a new module named winrepo has been added to Salt. winrepo matches what is available in the salt runner and allows you to manage the Windows software repo contents. Example: salt '*' winrepo.genrepo

Git Hosted Repo¶

Windows software package definitions can also be hosted in one or more git repositories. The default repo is one hosted on Github.com by SaltStack,Inc., which includes package definitions for open source software. This repo points to the HTTP or ftp locations of the installer files. Anyone is welcome to send a pull request to this repo to add new package definitions. Browse the repo here: https://github.com/saltstack/salt-winrepo .

Configure which git repos the master can search for package definitions by modifying or extending the win_gitrepos configuration option list in the master config.

Checkout each git repo in win_gitrepos, compile your package repository cache and then refresh each minion's package cache:

salt-run winrepo.update_git_repos
salt-run winrepo.genrepo
salt '*' pkg.refresh_db

Troubleshooting¶

salt-run winrepo.genrepo
salt 'MINION' pkg.refresh_db