Convert provisioning shell scripts to reusable Ansible playbooks (#96)

ansible/README.md

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+Ansible Playbooks for preCICE Development Environment Setup
+This repository contains a set of Ansible playbooks that automate the provisioning of the preCICE development environment. These playbooks are converted from original `.sh` shell scripts, making the setup process modular, idempotent, and more maintainable.
+## 📁 Directory Structure
+
+ansible/
+├── inventory.ini          # Target hosts configuration
+├── playbooks/             # Individual provisioning playbooks
+│   ├── install-basics.yml
+│   ├── install-aste.yml
+│   ├── install-calculix.yml
+│   ├── install-code_aster.yml
+│   ├── install-config-visualizer.yml
+│   ├── install-dealii.yml
+│   ├── install-devel.yml
+│   ├── install-dune.yml
+│   ├── install-fenics.yml
+│   ├── install-fmiprecice.yml
+│   ├── install-julia-bindings.yml
+│   ├── install-micro-manager.yml
+│   ├── install-openfoam.yml
+│   ├── install-paraview.yml
+│   ├── install-precice.yml
+│   ├── install-su2.yml
+│   └── install-vscode.yml
+└── README.md              # This file
+
+## ✅ Purpose
+These playbooks set up all necessary software components and development tools for contributing to or working with preCICE, a coupling library for partitioned multi-physics simulations.
+The playbooks were translated from original shell scripts to:
+- Ensure idempotency (safe to re-run)
+- Improve clarity and maintainability
+- Allow easier customization and reuse
+- Support inventory-based execution (local or remote hosts)
+## 🛠️ Conversion: Shell Script → Ansible Playbook
+
+| Shell Script Action             | Ansible Equivalent             |
+|--------------------------------|--------------------------------|
+| apt-get update/install         | apt module with update_cache   |
+| adduser, usermod               | user and group modules         |
+| chmod +x / mkdir -p            | file module with mode/path     |
+| curl or wget scripts           | get_url or uri module          |
+| bash install.sh                | script or command module       |
+| systemctl enable/start         | systemd module                 |
+
+## 🚀 Usage
+### 1. Clone the repository
+git clone https://github.com/<your-username>/ansible.git
+cd ansible
+### 2. Update inventory
+[local]
+localhost ansible_connection=local
+### 3. Run a playbook
+ansible-playbook -i inventory.ini playbooks/install-precice.yml
+## 🔍 Testing & Validation
+- All playbooks tested on Ubuntu 22.04 using Vagrant VM
+- Playbooks support `--check` mode for dry-run testing
+ansible-playbook -i inventory.ini playbooks/install-precice.yml --check --diff
+- Playbooks can be extended with tags and variables
+## 📌 Notes
+- These playbooks do not use Ansible roles yet, but future restructuring may modularize common logic (e.g., user setup, package installation)
+- Ensure Python and `sudo` are available on the target machines
+## 📈 Next Steps
+- Add Molecule-based testing
+- Introduce group_vars for better parameterization
+- Modularize with Ansible roles (e.g., docker, precice, visualization)
+## 🤝 Contributing
+Pull requests and suggestions are welcome! If you have a shell script you’d like converted into an Ansible playbook, open an issue or contribute directly.
+

ansible/inventory.ini

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+[local]
+localhost ansible_connection=local
+
+[remote]
+# Example: server1 ansible_host=192.168.1.100 ansible_user=youruser

ansible/playbooks/install-aste.yml

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+---
+- name: Install aste with dependencies
+  hosts: localhost
+  connection: local
+  become: true
+  vars:
+    user_home: "{{ lookup('env', 'HOME') }}"
+    aste_repo_url: "https://github.com/precice/aste.git"
+    aste_path: "{{ user_home }}/aste"
+    aste_venv_path: "{{ user_home }}/python-venvs/aste"
+
+  tasks:
+    - name: Install system dependencies for aste
+      apt:
+        name:
+          - libvtk9-dev
+          - libvtk9-qt-dev
+          - libmetis-dev
+          - python3-venv
+          - python3-pip
+        state: present
+        update_cache: yes
+
+    - name: Create Python virtual environment for aste
+      become: false
+      command: python3 -m venv {{ aste_venv_path }}
+      args:
+        creates: "{{ aste_venv_path }}/bin/activate"
+
+    - name: Install Python packages in aste venv
+      become: false
+      shell: |
+        source {{ aste_venv_path }}/bin/activate
+        pip install --upgrade pip
+        pip install sympy scipy jinja2
+      args:
+        executable: /bin/bash
+
+    - name: Clone aste repository
+      become: false
+      git:
+        repo: "{{ aste_repo_url }}"
+        dest: "{{ aste_path }}"
+        version: master
+        depth: 1
+        update: yes
+
+    - name: Build aste project
+      become: false
+      shell: |
+        mkdir -p build && cd build
+        cmake ..
+        make -j $(nproc)
+      args:
+        chdir: "{{ aste_path }}"
+        executable: /bin/bash
+
+    - name: Add aste build path to PATH in .bashrc
+      become: false
+      lineinfile:
+        path: "{{ user_home }}/.bashrc"
+        line: 'export PATH="${HOME}/aste/build:${PATH}"'
+        insertafter: EOF
+
+    - name: Add aste build path to LD_LIBRARY_PATH in .bashrc
+      become: false
+      lineinfile:
+        path: "{{ user_home }}/.bashrc"
+        line: 'export LD_LIBRARY_PATH="${HOME}/aste/build:${LD_LIBRARY_PATH}"'
+        insertafter: EOF

ansible/playbooks/install-basics.yml

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+---
+- name: Install GUI, development tools, and setup VM environment
+  hosts: all
+  become: true
+
+  vars:
+    keyboard_layout: us
+    hostname: precicevm
+    desktop_shortcut: /usr/share/applications/xfce-keyboard-settings.desktop
+
+  pre_tasks:
+    - name: Remove bad APT retry config if present
+      file:
+        path: /etc/apt/apt.conf.d/80-retries
+        state: absent
+
+    - name: Set correct APT retry config
+      copy:
+        dest: /etc/apt/apt.conf.d/80-retries
+        content: |
+          Acquire::Retries "4";
+        force: yes
+
+  tasks:
+    - name: Add multiverse repository
+      apt_repository:
+        repo: "deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu {{ ansible_distribution_release }} multiverse"
+        state: present
+        filename: multiverse
+
+    - name: Update APT cache
+      apt:
+        update_cache: yes
+
+    - name: Upgrade packages
+      apt:
+        upgrade: dist
+        force_apt_get: yes
+
+    - name: Install Xfce desktop environment
+      apt:
+        name: xubuntu-core
+        state: present
+
+    - name: Install GUI and terminal apps
+      apt:
+        name:
+          - thunar
+          - xfce4-terminal
+          - terminator
+          - bash-completion
+          - tree
+          - atril
+          - firefox
+          - firefox-locale-en
+          - baobab
+          - catfish
+        state: present
+
+    - name: Install Python development tools
+      apt:
+        name:
+          - python3-dev
+          - pipx
+          - python-is-python3
+          - python3-venv
+        state: present
+
+    - name: Install VirtualBox Guest Additions
+      apt:
+        name:
+          - virtualbox-guest-utils
+          - virtualbox-guest-x11
+        state: present
+
+    - name: Create Desktop directory if not present
+      file:
+        path: "{{ ansible_env.HOME }}/Desktop"
+        state: directory
+        mode: '0755'
+
+    - name: Set US keyboard layout
+      lineinfile:
+        path: /etc/default/keyboard
+        regexp: '^XKBLAYOUT='
+        line: 'XKBLAYOUT="{{ keyboard_layout }}"'
+
+    - name: Copy keyboard settings shortcut to Desktop
+      copy:
+        src: "{{ desktop_shortcut }}"
+        dest: "{{ ansible_env.HOME }}/Desktop/"
+        remote_src: yes
+        mode: '0755'
+
+    - name: Set hostname
+      hostname:
+        name: "{{ hostname }}"

ansible/playbooks/install-calculix.yml

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+---
+- name: Install CalculiX and the preCICE adapter
+  hosts: all
+  become: true
+  vars:
+    user_home: "{{ lookup('env', 'HOME') }}"
+    calculix_url: "http://www.dhondt.de/ccx_2.20.src.tar.bz2"
+    calculix_tarball: "ccx_2.20.src.tar.bz2"
+    calculix_dir: "ccx_2.20"
+    adapter_repo_url: "https://github.com/precice/calculix-adapter.git"
+    adapter_path: "{{ user_home }}/calculix-adapter"
+
+  tasks:
+    - name: Install dependencies for CalculiX
+      apt:
+        name:
+          - libarpack2-dev
+          - libspooles-dev
+          - libyaml-cpp-dev
+        state: present
+        update_cache: yes
+
+    - name: Download CalculiX source tarball
+      become: false
+      get_url:
+        url: "{{ calculix_url }}"
+        dest: "{{ user_home }}/{{ calculix_tarball }}"
+        mode: '0644'
+
+    - name: Extract CalculiX source
+      become: false
+      unarchive:
+        src: "{{ user_home }}/{{ calculix_tarball }}"
+        dest: "{{ user_home }}"
+        remote_src: true
+
+    - name: Remove CalculiX tarball
+      become: false
+      file:
+        path: "{{ user_home }}/{{ calculix_tarball }}"
+        state: absent
+
+    - name: Clone CalculiX adapter repository
+      become: false
+      git:
+        repo: "{{ adapter_repo_url }}"
+        dest: "{{ adapter_path }}"
+        version: master
+        depth: 1
+        update: yes
+
+    - name: Build CalculiX adapter
+      become: false
+      shell: |
+        make -j $(nproc) ADDITIONAL_FFLAGS=-fallow-argument-mismatch
+      args:
+        chdir: "{{ adapter_path }}"
+        executable: /bin/bash
+
+    - name: Add CalculiX adapter to PATH in .bashrc
+      become: false
+      lineinfile:
+        path: "{{ user_home }}/.bashrc"
+        line: 'export PATH="{{ user_home }}/calculix-adapter/bin:$PATH"'
+        insertafter: EOF