Christian Manivong
ac288823a7
uninstall_package judged success by searching apt/dnf/apk/pacman output
for failure words. That is guesswork in both directions: apt's commonest
failure ("E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (1)") read
as success until the previous change, and a prerm that prints "Failed to
stop ..." while the removal completes still reads as failure. The exit
status is the answer the package manager actually gives, but every
command went through `_sudo(... || true)`, which throws it away.
Add `_sudo_status()`, which runs the command via `_sudo` followed by
`; echo __NETORK_RC=$?` and returns `(output, exit_status)` with the
marker stripped. The `|| true` of other `_sudo` callers is untouched:
they still want output rather than a status. The marker is matched only
on a line of its own with digits, so an echoed command line (literal
`$?`) is never mistaken for it. If the marker never arrives the status
is None -- unknown, not success.
uninstall_package and its dpkg fallback now use it, and
`_uninstall_failed(output, rc)` lets rc decide whenever it is known,
falling back to the keyword check only when it is not.
Behaviour change worth knowing: removing a package that is not installed
exits 0 on apt (and dnf), so it now reports success where the keyword
"is not installed" used to report failure. The package is absent
afterwards, which is what the caller asked for, and netOrk dropping it
from the installed record is then correct.
Refs christianmanivong/netork#267
napalm-linux
NAPALM driver for generic Linux systems — Debian, Ubuntu, RHEL, Rocky, Alpine, Arch and any other distribution reachable via SSH.
Connects over SSH using Netmiko (linux device type) and
automatically detects the installed package manager (apt, dnf, yum, apk, pacman).
Requirements
| Dependency | Minimum version |
|---|---|
| Python | 3.9 |
| NAPALM | 4.0 |
| Netmiko | 4.0 |
| napalm-device-types | 0.2.0 |
Installation
pip install napalm napalm-linux
Or from source:
git clone https://github.com/chrismanivong/napalm-linux
pip install -e napalm-linux/
When working in the NetOrk monorepo, install both packages as editable:
pip install -e vendor/napalm-device-types/ -e vendor/napalm-linux/
Quick start
from napalm import get_network_driver
Driver = get_network_driver("linux")
with Driver(
"10.0.0.5",
"admin",
"s3cr3t",
optional_args={
# "port": 22,
# "pkg_manager": "apt", # force package manager; auto-detected by default
# "secret": "sudo-pass", # password for sudo / enable (defaults to login password)
# "debugging": True, # enable verbose logging
},
) as dev:
facts = dev.get_facts()
print(facts)
# OS-specific methods (from napalm-device-types OSDriver)
packages = dev.get_packages()
updates = dev.get_pending_updates()
services = dev.get_services()
users = dev.get_users()
procs = dev.get_processes()
jobs = dev.get_cron_jobs()
# Upgrade specific packages
result = dev.apply_updates(["openssh-server", "curl"])
print(result) # {"success": True, "output": "..."}
# Upgrade everything with pending updates
result = dev.apply_updates([])
Supported NAPALM methods
Standard NAPALM
| Method | Supported | Notes |
|---|---|---|
open() / close() |
✅ | SSH via netmiko linux |
is_alive() |
✅ | |
get_facts() |
✅ | DMI / /proc/uptime / ip link |
get_interfaces() |
✅ | ip link show |
get_interfaces_ip() |
✅ | ip addr show |
get_arp_table() |
✅ | ip neigh show |
get_config() |
✅ | Returns ip addr + ip route output |
ping() |
✅ | Executes ping on the remote host |
load_merge_candidate() |
❌ | Not applicable for generic Linux |
load_replace_candidate() |
❌ | Not applicable for generic Linux |
compare_config() |
❌ | Not applicable for generic Linux |
commit_config() |
❌ | Not applicable for generic Linux |
discard_config() |
❌ | Not applicable for generic Linux |
rollback() |
❌ | Not applicable for generic Linux |
OSDriver extensions (napalm-device-types)
| Method | Supported | Package managers |
|---|---|---|
get_packages() |
✅ | apt, dnf, yum, apk, pacman |
get_pending_updates() |
✅ | apt, dnf, yum, apk, pacman |
apply_updates(packages) |
✅ | apt, dnf, yum, apk, pacman |
get_services() |
✅ | systemd (fallback: SysV service) |
get_users() |
✅ | /etc/passwd + /etc/group |
get_processes() |
✅ | ps axo |
get_cron_jobs() |
✅ | user crontabs + /etc/cron.d/ |
Package manager auto-detection
The driver probes for each binary in order via command -v:
apt → dnf → yum → apk → pacman
Force a specific package manager:
optional_args={"pkg_manager": "dnf"}
SSH user permissions
The SSH user needs read access to:
| Data | Required permission |
|---|---|
/etc/passwd, /etc/group |
world-readable (default) |
/proc/uptime, /sys/class/dmi/… |
world-readable (default) |
User crontabs (/var/spool/cron/…) |
root or sudo required |
systemctl is-enabled <unit> |
unprivileged on most distros |
apt list --upgradable |
may require apt-get update (root) |
dnf check-update / yum check-update |
unprivileged, but slower without cache |
For full functionality it is recommended to run as root or grant passwordless sudo for
the above commands.
Tested distributions
| Distribution | Version | Package manager | Tested |
|---|---|---|---|
| Debian | 12 (Bookworm) | apt | ✅ |
| Ubuntu | 22.04 LTS | apt | ✅ |
| Rocky Linux | 9 | dnf | planned |
| Alpine Linux | 3.19 | apk | planned |
| Arch Linux | rolling | pacman | planned |
Contributions for additional distributions and versions are welcome.
Development
# Create venv
python -m venv .venv
source .venv/bin/activate
# Install in editable mode with dev dependencies
pip install -e ../napalm-device-types/ -e ".[dev]"
# Run tests
pytest tests/ -v
# Lint / format
ruff check napalm_linux/
ruff format napalm_linux/
License
Apache 2.0