nvim_build

This ansible role builds the nightly version of neovim on macOS and debian based linux distributions.

First, it installs or updates the dependencies, packages, repos, and optional features used for building and configuring your neovim. Then, it builds neovim using the makefile from the source repo. This role puts everything in place but does not open neovim nor run arbitrary neovim commands, so it neither updates nor installs plugins. To use this role, add the following to your requirements file and run ansible-galaxy install klooj.nvim_build

If the galaxy install method is throwing errors, put the following in a reqs.yaml file and run ansible-galaxy install -f -r reqs.yml

- src: https://github.com/klooj/nvim_build

requirements

• This role works on debian based linux distros and macOS and requires apt or homebrew, respectively.
• Ansible 2.10 is likely the minimum compatible version out of the box¹ because I used the new naming conventions(mostly). To that end, the role employs the community collection, which can be installed by running: ansible-galaxy collection install community.general.
• neovim explicitly requires lua5.1 . in most situations, this requires uninstalling later version, setting enivornment variables, or setting up shims. for now, this role does not venture down the "path" path but does make sure 5.1 is installed.
• github3.py >= 1.0.0a3

The are also a few optional dependencies listed below.

Role Variables

variable	default directory	description
nvim_build_dir	{{ gits_dir }}/neovim	local dest for clone of source repo
nvim_dir	{{ ansible_env.HOME }}/.config/nvim	local dest for clone of user config
nvim_source	neovim/neovim	build source repo
nvrc_repo		personal config repo
install_path	~/.local	dest for installed runtime files & binary

---

The default for nearly everything is non-action.

variable	default	description	type
daily_limit	yes	do not build if successfully built less than a day ago (nvim,lsp)	bool
build_it	no	whether to build and install nvim	bool
exe_make		path to executable	string
exe_shell		path to executable	string
exe_pip		path to executable	string
exe_yarn		path to executable	string
exe_gem		path to executable	string
git_key		path to host key when using ssh for pulls/clones	string
git_method	https	only supported options are ssh and https	string
gits_dir	~/gits	local parent directory where extra repos are cloned	string
gits		format: [- name: any, repo: foo/bar]	dict
lx_rtp_bin	no	whether to create "vim bin" at /usr/local/opt	bool
lx_rtp_packs	+	symlinks into vimbin; format:[- name: fzf, source: ~/go/bin/fzf]	dict
lsp_lua_lx	no	whether to install sumneko lua lsp linux	bool
lsp_lua_mac	no	whether to install sumneko lua lsp mac	bool
nv_dirs_mk	no	whether to create directories specified by nv_dirs	bool
nv_dirs	+	folders to create; i.e., ~/.cache/nvim/undodir, etc.	list

+ = see defaults/main.yml for default values

---

variable	default	type
install_apts	no	bool
apts	see below	list
install_brews	no	bool
brews	see below	list
brew_heads	see below	list
install_gems	no	bool
gems	neovim, minitest-neovim	list
install_cargos	no (fd, rg, rga)	bool
install_perls	no	bool
perls	Neovim	list
install_pips	no	bool
install_yarns	no	bool

---

apt	apt	brew
ack	libtool	ack
autoconf	libtool-bin	automake
automake	libunibilium-dev	ccache
build-essential	libutf8proc-dev	cmake
ccache	libuv1-dev	fd
cmake	libvterm-dev	fzy
dirmngr	lua5.3	gettext
ffmpeg	luajit	libtool
fzy	luarocks	lua
g++	ninja-build	ninja
git	pandoc	pkg-config
git-lfs	pkg-config	rg
gettext	poppler-utils	rga
gperf	software-properties-common	fzf -- HEAD
libluajit-5.1-dev	unzip	luajit -- HEAD
libmsgpack-dev	zsh	luarocks -- HEAD
libtermkey-dev

---

NOTE

1. I cannot get ansible's cpanm module to function properly. If you would like perl + neovim integration, run this from the command line: cpanm Neovim::Ext
2. pip and yarn² install from requirements.txt/package.json files, respectively, instead of taking a list. Make sure those files are in your nvrc_repo or use a pre-task to put them in nvim_dir (see playbook example below).
3. Only github is supported out of the box for cloning repos. I have never used gitlab or any other version control platform and do not know my way around.
4. The lx_rtp_bin "vim bin" is a directory with the same absolute path on each machine that is not in $PATH, and I use it for symlinking binaries that I want to made specifically available to neovim. So, in vimrc I can just rtp+=/usr/local/opt/fzf once and forget about it.

Lua LSP

If you enable the lua lsp installation in this role, put the following code or its equivalent in your init.lua or a lua herestring in your init.vim . If you kept the default value of $HOME/gits for gits_dir, then:

local sumneko_binary
local sumneko_root_path =  os.getenv("HOME") .. "gits/lua-language-server"
if vim.fn.has("mac") == 1 then
  sumneko_binary = sumneko_root_path .. "/bin/macOS/lua-language-server"
elseif vim.fn.has("unix") == 1 then
   sumneko_binary = sumneko_root_path .. "/bin/Linux/lua-language-server"
end

...

require('lspconfig').sumneko_lua.setup {
    ...
    cmd = {sumneko_binary, "-E", sumneko_root_path .. "/main.lua"},
    ...
}

...

dependencies

The dependencies are triggered in limited circumstances for certain optional features.

• Zsh might be required for some optional tasks that use shell modules. You can define the executable however you like, but I always specify zsh and have never tried with another shell. The tasks using shell modules are the install_cargos and lsp_lua, which are located in tasks/packs.yaml and tasks/lsp_lua.yaml. In theory, zsh is not required but check the shell syntax before using something else.

• C++17 is required for building the optional stand-alone sumneko lua lsp. If you enable lsp_lua_[mac|lx], it gets built from source. The dependencies are covered by the default brew/apt lists but the build may fail on machines with older versions of C++, which is well beyond scope and my comprehension. The only build failure I've come across is on a standard armv raspberry pi, which are excluded from building this feature even if enabled in the playbook.

• rust w/cargo for installing the optional crates on linux. The apt repositories created problems for ripgrep and fd due to outdated versions and a namespace issue. I do not know if those problems continue, but I switched to installing them as crates with cargo. Homebrew does not have the same issues with these binaries.

• go for installing the optional fzf package on linux This is not actually implemented in the role just yet, but it will address the same version issues described in the previous bullet. In the meantime, simply run go get -u github.com/junegunn/fzf

It is not required but is strongly recommended to get your virtual environment affairs in order before running this play.

Example Playbook

play/main.yml

---  
- hosts: all  

  pre_tasks:  
    - name: copy node package.json for yarn  
      copy:  
        src: files/package.json  
        dest: "{{ nvim_dir }}"  
        force: no  
    - name: copy requirements.txt for pip  
      copy:  
        src: files/requirements.txt  
        dest: "{{ nvim_dir }}"  
        force: no  

  vars:  
    nvrc_repo: klooj/nvim  

    build_it: yes  
    nv_dirs_mk: yes  

    gits_dir: "{{ ansible_env.HOME }}/gits"  
    git_key: "~/.ssh/{{ ansible_hostname }}_secretKey"  
    git_method: ssh  

    lsp_lua_lx: yes  
    lsp_lua_mac: yes  
    lx_rtp_bin: yes  

    install_brews: yes  
    install_apts: yes  
    install_pips: yes  
    exe_pip: ~/.pyenv/versions/neovim3.9/bin/pip  
    install_yarns: yes  
    exe_yarn: ~/.config/nvm/versions/node/v14.15.1/bin/yarn  
    install_gems: yes  

  roles:  
    - nvim_build  
...  

play/group_vars/macs.yml

---  
exe_make = /usr/local/gnubin/make  
exe_shell = /usr/local/bin/zsh  
exe_gem = /usr/local/opt/ruby/bin/gem  
...  

TODO

• supplement/modify defaults rather than accept as is or redefine for each one.
• option to build on one host then distribute to many
• default to build no more than once per day
• list of useful interactions between this role and nvim config, options, and features w/specific examples
• luarocks
• convert fzf and tab9 scripts to ansible tasks
• vimr?

Author	License
www.github.com/klooj	MIT

---

Footnotes

1. Compatability with earlier versions of ansible would only require a few task names to be modified. ↩

2. npm was constantly throwing errors over things that no self-respecting package manager should, so right now this role uses yarn only ... and I do not feel compelled to try reimplementing npm. ↩