Jeff GeerlingJul 26, 2023

Michael DeHaan (original author of Ansible) thinks the time is ripe for the world to see a Rust-based Ansible alternative—with potentially 90-95% compatibility with exsiting playbooks—that can scale to 50-100k systems through a new message bus option.

https://laserllama.substack.com/p/a-new-it-automation-project-moving

A New IT Automation Project? Moving Beyond Ansible And Keeping The Spirit - An Invitation

update: whoa, this got popular! if you are reading this, check out https://jetporch.com for the start of the homepage (no code shared just yet) and development blog and Discord Chat information. Both links are at the bottom of the page. Hi everyone!

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Show threadChris BensenJul 26, 2023
@geerlingguy Not ecstatic about the choice of Rust. If it were me I'd use Java and @graalvm
Show threadJeff GeerlingJul 26, 2023

@chrisbensen @graalvm The problem with that is Java would immediately turn off a ton of sysadmins just based on the fact it's Java (regardless of merit!).

We all have plenty of war stories that deal with the JVM :D

Show threadChris Bensen
@geerlingguy @graalvm But have you used Rust? I'm all for languages, heck, I have my degree in compiler and language design worked on many different languages, and have friends with a similar background, Rust is not favored by us. But if this is for sysadmins then I suppose I can see the logic if thry like it. The thing about using GraalVM and native image is 1. It can run Python, I did it from the World's Largest Raspberry Pi Cluster and 2 Native Image, no install/config.
Jul 26, 2023 at 3:03pmMastodon for iOS
Show threadJeff GeerlingJul 26, 2023

@chrisbensen honestly I'd go with Python still if sysadmin is the main consideration.

I'm thinking Rust has just passed the top of its hype curve, still not sure if it'll settle in more like Go or fade into a lower level of obscurity.

Show threadChris BensenJul 26, 2023
@geerlingguy I could make a case for Python for this. Rust has the native compile thing which is cool but I think it'll be difficult to hire developers. But too many people got their panties in a bunch over Java.