macos_macprefs

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ansible-role-macos-macprefs

An Ansible role to install 'macprefs' tool on macOS via Homebrew

If MacPrefs is not installed in the system it will ne installed via Homebrew.

Used in Splinter, an opinionated provisioning tool for macOS.

(Soft) Requirements & Dependencies

Jeff Geerling's' geerlingguy.homebrew which is defined as Ansible Galaxy dependency

Ansible

It was tested on the following versions:

Operating systems

Target MacOS 10.15 possibly earlier versions too (not yet tested)

Example Playbook

Just include this role in your list. For example

- host: all
  vars:
    macprefs_regular_backup: 720 # every 12 hours
    macprefs_backup_dir: ~/Library/Mobile Documents/com~apple~CloudDocs/Macprefs # use iCloud instead of Dropbox

  roles:
    - marcomc.macos_macprefs

Variables

verbose: no
target_user_id: "{{ ansible_user_id }}"
target_user_default_shell: ''
macprefs_update_for_all_shell_types: no
macprefs_backup_dir: "~/Dropbox/MacPrefsBackup"
macprefs_regular_backup: 0
macprefs_log: '~/Library/Logs/macprefs.log'

By default MacPrefs will look for its backup folder in your Dropbox directory, but this assumes that Dropbox is already installed and configured in your system.

My personal preference is to have MacPrefs to backup into iCloud especially if you are using this role to restore your configuration on a new machine in which you have already signed in with iCloud which is part of the Setup Assistant process.

Setup periodic backup with Cron

Allow Full Disk Access to cron (manual operation)

Open System Preferences -> Security & Privacy -> Privacy -> Full Disk Access

Authenticate to unlock the list of allowed applications

Open the finder window to show the location of the cron binary
```
 open /usr/sbin/ # will
```
Drag & Drop the cron binary file into the Full Disk Access list