hblock

This role installs and then runs hBlock on Linux. It will backup then append to /etc/hosts in order to block adverts and trackers system-wide. Unlike the original hBlock script, your existing changes to the hosts file will be preserved.

Note: this is a work in progress and currently only supports a few settings for hBlock. In the future options will be added to provide a more customised setup, as well as systemd timer support for updating block lists. Although every effort has been taken to prevent bugs, this role will modify your systems hosts file. Usage is entirely at your own risk.

Requirements

• Either curl or wget must be available on the host machine
• A POSIX compatible shell is required on the host

Role Variables

Some configuration is left as an option to the user, but generally only the version should be changed.
NB: setting hblock_root_only: false will allow anyone to modify the hosts file using hBlock. It is not recommended.

hblock_version:  Version of hBlock script to download
hblock_download_checksum:  Hash of hBlock script prefixed with hash type (see example)
hblock_install_dir:  Directory to install hBlock to
hblock_root_only:  Whether to restrict usage of hBlock to root
hblock_output_file: File to write the blocklist to (default /etc/hosts)

Dependencies

None.

Example Playbook

- hosts: all
  roles:
     - jameswilliams1.hblock
  vars:
    hblock_version: '2.1.6'
    hblock_download_checksum: 'sha256:9e22c32c8ae4d93df18a41f08d31e8668ef4342fda82ca91ec4aa47f718fdadc'
    hblock_install_dir: /usr/local/bin  # Generally no reason to change this
    hblock_root_only: false  # WARNING If false, allows non root users to modify hosts file using hBlock
    hblock_output_file: /some/other/path

License

MIT

Author Information

James Williams
https://github.com/jameswilliams1/