How to Include Variables in My Vagrantfile

How do I include variables in my VagrantFile?

I use the approach of https://puphpet.com, I create a file config.yaml in the same directory of the Vagrantfile and...

In my Vagrantfile:

# encoding: utf-8
# -*- mode: ruby -*-
# vi: set ft=ruby :

require 'yaml'

current_dir    = File.dirname(File.expand_path(__FILE__))
configs        = YAML.load_file("#{current_dir}/config.yaml")
vagrant_config = configs['configs'][configs['configs']['use']]

Vagrant.configure('2') do |config|

    config.vm.network 'public_network', ip: vagrant_config['public_ip']
    ...

In my config.yaml:

---
configs:
    use: 'home'
    office:
        public_ip: '192.168.2.117'
        <more variables>...
    home:
        public_ip: '192.168.1.117'
        <more variables>...

How use local environment variable with Vagrant?

one way I manage to have settings dependency is to use an external file (I use yaml, but any file would work like json .... Vagrantfile is a ruby script so as long as you can easily read it using ruby you're fine)

An example of my Vagrantfile using a Yaml dependency

:# -*- mode: ruby -*-
# vi: set ft=ruby :

require 'yaml'
settings = YAML.load_file 'settings/common.yaml'

Vagrant.configure("2") do |config|

  config.vm.box = settings['host_box'] || "pws/centos65"
  config.ssh.username = settings['ssh_user']

  config.vm.define "db" do |db|
    db.vm.hostname = settings['db_hostname']
    db.vm.network "private_network", ip: settings['host_db_address']
  end

...

end

the file settings/common.yaml would be defined as

--- 
host_db_address:  "192.168.90.51" 
host_app_address: "192.168.90.52"

db_hostname:      "local.db"

ssh_user:         "pws"

As said in comment, the main advantage I found using this technique is when you distribute box. My team would git clone the project, has to fill up the settings (for password dependency and so on) and ready to go.

How do I reuse variables in quoted line in a Vagrantfile?

It's more a question about Ruby syntax. You can use:

ansible.playbook = 'install/mydir/install_' + name + '.yml'

or (thanks to Frédéric Henri)

ansible.playbook = "install/mydir/install_#{name}.yml"

---

To reference the value from the hash (per OP's own suggestion):

ansible.playbook = "install/mydir/install_#{host[:name]}.yml"

Vagrantfile: Assign result of inline shell script to variable

I ended up using an approach like this one.

Something I discovered along the way is that all Ruby conditionals in the Vagrantfile are evaluated in the very beginning, although the inline Shell scripts inside these conditionals (if there are any) are not evaluated at the same time. This lead to some strange behavior, which I could avoid by doing like I said above.

How to add environment variables. Vagrant and WSL

In case you still want to run with WSL, this should do the trick

you need to run this in your shell prompt (not add to your Vagrantfile)

$ export VAGRANT_WSL_ENABLE_WINDOWS_ACCESS="1"

Add this part to your Vagrantfile

config.vm.provider "virtualbox" do |vb|
  vb.customize [ "modifyvm", :id, "--uartmode1", "disconnected" ]
end

This was reported in vagrant issues

Vagrantfile: How do I pass a host environment variable with an unescaped dollar sign in it?

With a hint from @matt-schuchard, I added this at the top of Vagrantfile:

require 'shellwords'

and changed

env: {"MY_VARIABLE"=>ENV['CONTAINS_A_DOLLAR_SIGN']}

to

env: {"MY_VARIABLE"=>Shellwords.escape(ENV['CONTAINS_A_DOLLAR_SIGN'])}

Now vagrant up outputs before$after not just before!

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