ground-init

Set up a local Linux or macOS desktop automatically using a Python script. Requires PyYAML (pip install pyyaml).

But Why?

I got tired of setting up new GNOME desktops manually every time I created an LXC sandbox, and the day my Fedora desktop rebooted into emergency mode I realized it was time to automate the reinstall process. I later added macOS support via Homebrew.

The name is a pun on cloud-init (which I use for everything), and the YAML format is meant to be as close as possible.

Usage

python3 ground-init.py <config_file.yaml> [--steps <step1> <step2> ...]

You can execute specific steps (top-level keys in the YAML file like packages, runcmd, etc.) independently by listing them after --steps, or the script will execute all steps found in the file in the order they appear. Python 3.7+ maintains dictionary insertion order, so the ordering in the file is respected.

Sample Files

The samples directory contains various examples for different operating systems and tasks, including:

• Setting up Fedora (fedora-40.yaml, fedora-daw.yaml) and Debian/Ubuntu (ubuntu-xfce-rdp.yaml, syncthing.yaml) systems.
• Configuring specific services like Proxmox (proxmox.yaml), Piku PaaS (piku.yaml), Network UPS Tools (network-ups.yaml), or Bluetooth PAN (btpan.yaml).
• Building software from source (onnxstream.yaml).
• Setting up hardware like USB Ethernet gadgets (ethernet_gadget.yaml, radxa_zero_ethernet_gadget.yaml) or Wi-Fi adapters (rtl8188eus.yaml).

These can be adapted for different needs and operating systems (including macOS, using brew and cask: prefixes in the packages section).