Move wiki.js to dedicated role

[marcidy]

Issue to track planning, questions, and answers related to moving the wiki.js installation and configuration to a dedicated role.

I am considering two pathways:

1. moving the information in the existing playbook to a role
2. selecting an existing wiki.js role and mapping the config onto it

1. creating a new custom role

This ought to be quite easy. In this process, i would like to lift variables related to upgrading so that's easier. Right now the version selection is managed in the install.sh script. Would be nice to manage this with a single variable for future upgrades.

2. Selecting existing role

https://github.com/pmoscode/wikijs looks the most active and featureful.
There's 3 roles in ansible galaxy: one is empty, this one, and the role this one is forked from.

The pmoscode role (and it's parent) has the standard role layout and good separation of defaults, tasks, templates, etc. Looks updated to include deployment to an ubuntu host.

I am going to investigate further what it will take to use this role mapped onto the existing installation.
At first glance:

• variables are namespaced correctly and can be lifted to host_vars
• Tasks almost entirely refer to variables
• The version is selected via a variable
• The vars are not well documented even if obvious from the name

In my opinion that's a well written role which can serve at least as a basis for a custom role.

An open question is how best to include the role if deemed appropriate:

1. a custom role is clearly just written into the roles directory
2. an existing role can be forked and included
3. ... could be a git submodule
4. ... could be managed via ansible-galaxy with a requirements.yml

tbqff: probably just want to base a custom role off pmoscode's or it's parent.

feedback is appreciated, but I will continue gathering information and will write up PR before it's required

[marcidy]

Diffing the pmoscode role against what's installed, there is not much overlap. We use a different storage and auth scheme.

[marcidy]

note: https://docs.requarks.io/install/migrate

[marcidy]

The migration guide requires following the installation instructions as the upgrade cannot be done in place.

https://docs.requarks.io/install/requirements

mentions requiring PostgreSQL. This is getting to be a headache.

[marcidy]

and the upgrade also requires an update to node {12,14,16}. which will require some extra work to get a role for that dep.

Note that I do see the git backup stuff still available in wikijs, but i need to complete the upgrade to make sure it actually works. I'll include instructions and maybe include some vagrant config to help test infra changes in general.

[marcidy]

I've decided to go with a role to manage npm, so multiple node versions can be managed.

After checking a few roles which manage npm, I've selected https://github.com/morgangraphics/ansible-role-nvm due to the features it boasts and because i agree with it's criticisms of other roles. Simple, non-root, with a good interface. Ought to be easy to integrate as a gitmodule and add as a dep to the wikijs playbook.

[marcidy]

wikijs either needs a home directory or a bunch of annoying config, so it will get a home directory.

Jul 27 16:46:29 ubuntu1804.localdomain node[24837]: {
Jul 27 16:46:29 ubuntu1804.localdomain node[24837]:   code: 1,
Jul 27 16:46:29 ubuntu1804.localdomain node[24837]:   message: '`git --git-dir=/var/wiki/repo/.git --work-tree=/var/wiki/repo pull origin master` failed with code 1',
Jul 27 16:46:29 ubuntu1804.localdomain node[24837]:   stderr: "Could not create directory '/home/wikijs/.ssh'.\r\n" +
Jul 27 16:46:29 ubuntu1804.localdomain node[24837]:     'Failed to add the host to the list of known hosts (/home/wikijs/.ssh/known_hosts).\r\n' +
Jul 27 16:46:29 ubuntu1804.localdomain node[24837]:     'git@github.com: Permission denied (publickey).\r\n' +
Jul 27 16:46:29 ubuntu1804.localdomain node[24837]:     'fatal: Could not read from remote repository.\n' +
Jul 27 16:46:29 ubuntu1804.localdomain node[24837]:     '\n' +
Jul 27 16:46:29 ubuntu1804.localdomain node[24837]:     'Please make sure you have the correct access rights\n' +
Jul 27 16:46:29 ubuntu1804.localdomain node[24837]:     'and the repository exists.\n',
Jul 27 16:46:29 ubuntu1804.localdomain node[24837]:   stdout: ''
Jul 27 16:46:29 ubuntu1804.localdomain node[24837]: }

[marcidy]

wikijs v2 needs to be completely separate and then a migration handled from the UI. It does not appear to use any settings for git or auth from the config file. I assume they are now stored in the progres db, and will confirm functional changes for the migration subsequently.