Ansible Role: RustDesk Install

Installs the RustDesk remote desktop software components (Server and/or Client) on Debian/Ubuntu-based systems.

This role can perform the following actions depending on configuration:

• Server Installation:
  • Downloads and executes an external installation script (install.sh from techahold/rustdeskinstall).
  • Uses the expect module to automate the script's prompts (choosing auto WAN IP and skipping HTTP server setup).
  • Extracts the generated RustDesk public key from the script's output.
  • Saves the extracted public key to ~/rustdesk_public_key.txt in the home directory of the user running the playbook (ansible_user).
• Client Installation:
  • Downloads a specific version (1.3.8) of the RustDesk client .deb package from GitHub releases.
  • Installs the downloaded .deb package using apt.

Requirements

• Target OS: Debian / Ubuntu (uses apt and expects .deb packages).
• Root Access: Requires become: yes as the role installs packages and runs the server install script with elevated privileges.
• Internet Access: Required to download the installation script and the client .deb package.
• Python pexpect: The ansible.builtin.expect module requires the pexpect Python library on the target machine (pip install pexpect or via system packages like python3-pexpect). Ansible usually handles this via apt dependencies if possible, but it's good to be aware of.
• Ansible Version: 2.9 or higher recommended.

Role Variables

Available variables are listed below, along with default values (see defaults/main.yml):

Variable	Required	Default	Type	Description
install_server	No	true	Boolean	If true, executes the tasks to install the RustDesk server component and extract/save its public key.
install_client	No	true	Boolean	If true, executes the tasks to download and install the RustDesk client component (version 1.3.8).

Dependencies

None. (Requires pexpect on the target, as noted in Requirements).

Example Playbook

---
- hosts: remote_desktops
  become: yes
  vars:
    # --- Optional Overrides ---
    # Only install the server, not the client
    # install_server: true
    # install_client: false

    # Only install the client, not the server
    # install_server: false
    # install_client: true

  roles:
    # Assuming the role is named 'ansible-role-rustdesk'
    # and located in the standard roles path
    - ansible-role-rustdesk


## License

GPL-3.0

## Author Information

Thorina Boenke (https://www.ait.ac.at)