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Make Targets and Variables

The Makefile orchestrates build, test, and publish tasks.

Targets

  • setup — NEW: Verify development environment setup and provide installation guidance.
  • Checks for required system packages (podman, python3, git, jq, envsubst)
  • Validates Python version (requires 3.10+ for ansible-navigator)
  • Detects and recommends Python 3.11/3.12 if available
  • Checks for Ansible Automation Platform tools (ansible-builder, ansible-navigator, ansible-core)
  • Provides RHEL-specific RPM installation instructions when applicable
  • Insight: Run this first before building to catch environment issues early
  • clean — remove build artifacts and prune images.
  • lint — run yamllint.
  • token — render ansible.cfg from template and pre-fetch collections (validates ANSIBLE_HUB_TOKEN).
  • build — build the EE via ansible-builder.
  • Note: Requires ANSIBLE_HUB_TOKEN environment variable for certified collections
  • Note: Requires login to registry.redhat.io to pull base image
  • inspect — podman inspect the built image.
  • list — list the built image (podman images --filter reference=...).
  • info — show layers, Ansible version, collections, pip packages, rpm list.
  • test — run files/playbook.yml via ansible-navigator using the built image.
  • Note: Uses --pull-policy never to use locally built images, preventing registry connection errors
  • Note: Does not require ANSIBLE_HUB_TOKEN (token only needed for build)
  • publish — tag and push to TARGET_HUB.
  • shell — open a shell in the image.
  • docs-setup/docs-build/docs-serve/docs-test — local docs workflows.
  • setup-openshift-tarball — setup Path B (tarball) configuration.
  • build-openshift-tarball — build with Path B (tarball install).
  • test-openshift-tarball — build and test Path B.
  • setup-openshift-rhsm — setup Path A (RHSM) configuration.
  • build-openshift-rhsm — build with Path A (RHSM/RPM install).
  • test-openshift-rhsm — build and test Path A.
  • test-openshift-tooling — test OpenShift/Kubernetes tooling in built image.

Variables

  • TARGET_NAME — image name (default: ansible-ee-minimal).
  • TARGET_TAG — image tag (default: v5).
  • CONTAINER_ENGINE — container runtime (default: podman).
  • VERBOSITY — ansible-builder verbosity level (default: 3).
  • TARGET_HUB — registry for publish (default: quay.io).

Environment requirements: - ANSIBLE_HUB_TOKEN — required for build and token targets; used to access Automation Hub/validated content. - Insight: Token check is performed at execution time, not parse time. This allows targets like test, setup, lint to run without requiring the token. - Note: The token is only needed when building images that include certified collections from Red Hat Automation Hub.

Common Invocations

# First-time setup: Verify environment
make setup

# Clean rebuild
make clean build

# Build with explicit container engine and tag
CONTAINER_ENGINE=podman TARGET_TAG=v5 make build

# Build then test (test doesn't require ANSIBLE_HUB_TOKEN)
make build test

# Test without building (if image already exists)
make test

# Publish to quay.io/your-namespace
TARGET_HUB=quay.io TARGET_NAME=your-namespace/ansible-ee make publish

Key Insights

Token Requirements

  • Build and token targets require ANSIBLE_HUB_TOKEN — These targets need to authenticate with Red Hat Automation Hub.
  • Test, setup, lint targets don't require token — These can run independently without authentication.
  • GitHub Actions workflows: Set ANSIBLE_HUB_TOKEN as a secret and pass it via env: for build steps only.

Image Pull Policy

  • The test target uses --pull-policy never to ensure it uses locally built images.
  • This prevents errors when ansible-navigator tries to pull from a registry that doesn't have your image.
  • Insight: Always test locally built images before pushing to registries.

Python Version Requirements

  • ansible-navigator requires Python 3.10 or later.
  • On RHEL 9, Python 3.9 is the default, but Python 3.11 is available via python3.11 package.
  • Recommendation: Install Python 3.11+ for best compatibility: sudo dnf install -y python3.11 python3.11-pip
  • The setup target detects and recommends the appropriate Python version.

System Dependencies

  • The minimal base image (ee-minimal-rhel9) doesn't include python3-pip by default.
  • Required: Add python3-pip to files/bindep.txt for pip to be available during builds.
  • See Troubleshoot EE Builds for the "No module named pip" error solution.

Optional Config Flows

OpenShift/Kubernetes Tooling

The project supports two paths for installing OpenShift/Kubernetes tooling, tested separately to avoid conflicts:

Path A — RHSM/RPM install (requires RHSM entitlements): 

# Create files/optional-configs/rhsm-activation.env with RH_ORG and RH_ACT_KEY
make setup-openshift-rhsm build-openshift-rhsm
# Or test it all at once:
make test-openshift-rhsm

Path B — Tarball install (no RHSM required): 

# Automatically creates files/optional-configs/oc-install.env
make setup-openshift-tarball build-openshift-tarball
# Or test it all at once:
make test-openshift-tarball

Test existing image: 

make test-openshift-tooling

See the Enable Kubernetes and OpenShift Tooling guide for details on the two-phase testing approach.