Dependent pack installation with "st2 pack install <pack>"

[sidkrishna]

Enhancement Request:

It would be good to if st2 pack install <pack1> could check for other pack dependencies for pack1 - say pack2, pack3 and implicitly also install them.

Example: If I create a custom pack eg. vslx and then pack uses actions from ansible pack (available in stackstorm exchange), then as part of the pack installation process for vslx, ansible pack can also be installed. The pack requirements can possibly be provided in the a file pack_requirements or any other better way of identification.

[arm4b]

+:100:

[nmaludy]

+1

[mickmcgrath13]

What about something like this: https://github.com/mickmcgrath13/bitovi_packs ?

[mickmcgrath13]

More specifically: https://github.com/bitovi-stackstorm-exchange/bitovi_packs/blob/master/actions/workflows/install.yaml
...?

[nmaludy]

@mickmcgrath13 that looks cool!!! mind creating a PR to implement that in the packs pack?

[jeking3]

I tried making my own pack that leverages the vSphere pack; when I try to run an action or workflow in the vSphere pack from my own pack, it fails claiming pyvmomi does not exist. This is a bit strange; I would expect that if execution crosses pack lines, the executions inside the dependent pack use the dependent pack's virtual environment, not the calling pack's. This does not appear to be the case. So any effort to allow for packs depending on other packs should address this issue. A good test for this is to try to call something in the vSphere pack from another path that does not set a requirements.txt dependency on pyvmomi. Should this be reported separately?

[LindsayHill]

@jeking3 if you have a workflow that calls an action in another pack - e.g. with vsphere.create_vm or whatever - then yes, that action will be executed using the vsphere pack's virtualenv, and will have access to whatever pip libs were installed in that pack.

This is standard functionality, and something I've done plenty of times, and it has always worked for me. If it's not working for you, then something else is going on. Probably worth posting on the support forum

[jeking3]

You are correct - I mistook the inventory not found error message for a class not found message. Thanks.