README/doc/example updates to go with group support and CLI option changes.

Minimizing manpage until CLI options stabilize.

README.md

@@ -47,76 +47,82 @@ which for bonus points you can install with ansible!  Easy enough.
 
    * python-jinja2 
 
-Inventory file
+Patterns and Groups
-==============
+===================
 
-To use ansible you must have a list of hosts somewhere.  The default inventory host list (override with -l) is /etc/ansible/hosts and is a list of all hostnames to manage with ansible, one per line.  These can be hostnames or IPs.
+Ansible works off an inventory file (/etc/ansible/hosts or overrideable with -i).  Hosts can
+be listed by IP or hostname, and groups are supported with square brackets:
 
 Example:
 
     abc.example.com
     def.example.com
+
+    [atlanta]
     192.168.10.50
     192.168.10.51
    
-This list is further filtered by the pattern wildcard (-p) to target
+    [raleigh]
-specific hosts.  This is covered below.  You can also organize groups of systems by having multiple inventory files (i.e. keeping webservers different from dbservers, etc)
+    192.168.10.52
 
-Massive Parallelism, Pattern Matching, and a Usage Example
+When running ansible commands, specific hosts are addressed by wildcard or group name. 
-==========================================================
+The default pattern is '*', meaning all ansible hosts.
+
+    -p '*.example.com'
+    -p 'atlanta;raleigh'
+    -p 'database*;appserver*'
+    -p '192.168.10.50;192.168.10.52'
+
+Example: Massive Parallelism and Running Shell Commands
+=======================================================
 
 Reboot all web servers in Atlanta, 10 at a time:
  
     ssh-agent bash
     ssh-add ~/.ssh/id_rsa.pub
+
     ansible -p "atlanta-web*" -f 10 -n command -a "/sbin/reboot"
 
-Other than the comamnd module, though, ansible modules are not scripts.  They make
+The -f 10 specifies the usage of 10 simultaneous processes.
-the remote system look like you state, and run the commands neccessary to get it 
-there.
 
-[Read the manpage](https://github.com/mpdehaan/ansible/blob/master/docs/man/man1/ansible.1.asciidoc)
+Note that other than the command module, ansible modules do not work like simple scripts.  They make
+the remote system look like you state, and run the commands neccessary to get it there.
 
-File Transfer
+[Read the ansible manpage](https://github.com/mpdehaan/ansible/blob/master/docs/man/man1/ansible.1.asciidoc)
-=============
 
-Ansible can SCP lots of files to lots of places in parallel.
+Example: File Transfer and Templating
+=====================================
 
-    ansible -p "web-*.acme.net" -f 10 -n copy -a "/etc/hosts /tmp/hosts"
+Ansible can SCP lots of files to multiple machines in parallel, and optionally use
+them as template sources.
 
-Templating
+To just transfer a file directly to many different servers:
-==========
 
-JSON files can be placed for template metadata using Jinja2.  Variables
+    ansible -n copy -a "/etc/hosts /tmp/hosts"
-placed by 'setup' can be reused between ansible runs.
 
-    ansible -p "*" -n setup -a "favcolor=red ntp_server=192.168.1.1"
+To use templating, first run the setup module to put the template variables you would
-    ansible -p "*" -n template -a "src=/srv/motd.j2 dest=/etc/motd"
+like to use on the remote host.  Then use the template module to write the
-    ansible -p "*" -n template -a "src=/srv/ntp.j2 dest=/etc/ntp.conf"
+files using the templates.  Templates are written in Jinja2 format.
+
+    ansible -p webservers -n setup -a "favcolor=red ntp_server=192.168.1.1"
+    ansible -p webservers -n template -a "src=/srv/motd.j2 dest=/etc/motd"
+    ansible -p webservers -n template -a "src=/srv/ntp.j2 dest=/etc/ntp.conf"
 
 Need something like the fqdn in a template?  If facter or ohai are installed, data from these projects
-will also be made available to the template engine, using 'facter_' and 'ohai_'
+will also be made available to the template engine, using 'facter_' and 'ohai_' prefixes for each.
-prefixes for each.
 
-Git Deployments
+Example: Software Deployment From Source Control
-===============
+================================================
 
 Deploy your webapp straight from git
 
-    ansible -p "web*" -n git -a "repo=git://foo dest=/srv/myapp version=HEAD"
+    ansible -p webservers -n git -a "repo=git://foo dest=/srv/myapp version=HEAD"
-
-Take Inventory
-==============
-
-Run popular open-source data discovery tools across a wide number of hosts.
-This is best used from API scripts that want to learn about remote systems.
-
-    ansible -p "dbserver*" -n facter
-    ansible -p "dbserver"" -n ohai
 
 Other Modules
 =============
 
+Ansible has lots of other modules.
+
 See the library directory for lots of extras.  There's also a manpage,
 [ansible-modules(5)](https://github.com/mpdehaan/ansible/blob/master/docs/man/man5/ansible-modules.5.asciidoc) that covers all the options they take.  You can
 read the asciidoc in github in the 'docs' directory.
@@ -124,15 +130,13 @@ read the asciidoc in github in the 'docs' directory.
 Playbooks
 =========
 
-Playbooks are particularly awesome.  Playbooks can batch ansible commands
+Playbooks are a completely different way to use ansible and are particularly awesome.
-together, and can even fire off triggers when certain commands report changes.
 
 They are the basis for a really simple configuration management system, unlike
 any that already exist, and one that is very well suited to deploying complex
 multi-machine applications.  
 
-An example showing just once pattern in a playbook is below.  Playbooks can contain
+An example showing a small playbook:
-multple patterns in a single file.
 
     ---
     - pattern: 'webservers*'
@@ -151,16 +155,17 @@ multple patterns in a single file.
         - name: restart apache
         - action: service name=httpd state=restarted
 
-See the playbook format manpage -- [ansible-playbook(5)](https://github.com/mpdehaan/ansible/blob/master/docs/man/man5/ansible-playbook.5.asciidoc) for more details.
-
 To run a playbook:
 
     ansible-playbook playbook.yml
 
+See the playbook format manpage -- [ansible-playbook(5)](https://github.com/mpdehaan/ansible/blob/master/docs/man/man5/ansible-playbook.5.asciidoc) for more details.
+
+
 API
 ===
 
-The Python API is pretty powerful.
+The Python API is very powerful:
 
     import ansible.runner
 
@@ -172,8 +177,9 @@ The Python API is pretty powerful.
     )
     datastructure = runner.run()
 
-And returns results per host, for hosts we could contact
+The run method returns results per host, grouped by whether they 
-and also ones that we failed to contact.
+could be contacted or not.  Return types are module specific, as
+expressed in the 'ansible-modules' manpage.
 
     {
         "dark" : {
@@ -182,33 +188,21 @@ and also ones that we failed to contact.
         "contacted" : {
            "web2.example.com" : 1
         }
- 
     }
 
-A module can return any type of JSON data it wants, so Ansible can
+Since a module can return any type of JSON data it wants, so Ansible can
-be used as a framework to build arbitrary applications and very powerful
+be used as a framework to rapidly build powerful applications and scripts.
-scripts.
-
-Future plans
-============
-
-See github's issue tracker for what we're thinking about
 
 License
 =======
 
 GPLv3
 
-Mailing List and IRC
+Communicate
-====================
+===========
 
-Join the mailing list to talk about Ansible:
+   * [ansible-project mailing list](http://groups.google.com/group/ansible-project)
-
+   * irc.freenode.net: #ansible
-[ansible-project](http://groups.google.com/group/ansible-project)
-
-irc.freenode.net: #ansible
-
-Everyone may not always be available on IRC, for important issues/questions, use the list or file a ticket.
 
 Author
 ======

bin/ansible

@@ -39,29 +39,28 @@ class Cli(object):
 
     def runner(self):
         parser = OptionParser()
-        parser.add_option("-l", "--host-list", dest="host_list",
-           help="path to hosts list", default=C.DEFAULT_HOST_LIST)
-        parser.add_option("-m", "--module-path", dest="module_path",
-           help="path to module library", default=C.DEFAULT_MODULE_PATH)
-        parser.add_option('-u', '--user', default=C.DEFAULT_REMOTE_USER,
-            dest='remote_user', help='set the default username')
-        parser.add_option("-p", "--pattern", dest="pattern",
-            help="hostname pattern", default=C.DEFAULT_PATTERN)
-        parser.add_option("-k", "--ask-pass", default=False, action="store_true",
-            help="ask the user to input the ssh password for connecting")
-        parser.add_option('-f','--forks', dest='forks', default=C.DEFAULT_FORKS, type='int',
-            help='set the number of forks to start up')
-        parser.add_option("-n", "--name", dest="module_name",
-            help="module name to execute", default=None)
         parser.add_option("-a", "--args", dest="module_args",
             help="module arguments", default=C.DEFAULT_MODULE_ARGS)
+        parser.add_option('-f','--forks', dest='forks', default=C.DEFAULT_FORKS, type='int',
+            help='set the number of forks to start up')
+        parser.add_option("-p", "--host-pattern", dest="hosts",
+            help="hostname glob or group name", default=C.DEFAULT_PATTERN)
+        parser.add_option("-i", "--inventory", dest="inventory",
+           help="inventory host list", default=C.DEFAULT_HOST_LIST)
+        parser.add_option("-k", "--ask-pass", default=False, action="store_true",
+            help="ask the user to input the ssh password for connecting")
+        parser.add_option("-m", "--module-path", dest="module_path",
+           help="path to module library", default=C.DEFAULT_MODULE_PATH)
+        parser.add_option("-n", "--name", dest="module_name",
+            help="module name to execute", default=None)
         parser.add_option('-o', '--one-line', dest='one_line', action='store_true',
             help="try to print output on one line")
         parser.add_option('-t', '--tree', dest='tree', default=None,
             help="if specified, a directory name to save output to, one file per host")
         parser.add_option('-T', '--timeout', default=C.DEFAULT_TIMEOUT, type='int',
             dest='timeout', help="set the timeout in seconds for ssh")
-
+        parser.add_option('-u', '--user', default=C.DEFAULT_REMOTE_USER,
+            dest='remote_user', help='set the default username')
         options, args = parser.parse_args()
 
         if options.module_name is None:
@@ -83,10 +82,10 @@ class Cli(object):
             module_args=shlex.split(options.module_args),
             remote_user=options.remote_user,
             remote_pass=sshpass,
-            host_list=options.host_list,
+            host_list=options.inventory,
             timeout=options.timeout,
             forks=options.forks,
-            pattern=options.pattern,
+            pattern=options.hosts,
             verbose=True,
         )
         return runner

docs/man/man1/ansible.1.asciidoc

@@ -12,8 +12,7 @@ ansible - run a command somewhere else
 
 SYNOPSIS
 --------
-ansible [-f forks] [-p pattern ] [-u remote_user]
+ansible [-f forks] [-p pattern ] [-n module_name] [-a args]
-        [-n module_name] [-a [args1 [args2 ...]]]
 
 
 DESCRIPTION
@@ -26,30 +25,15 @@ SSH.
 OPTIONS
 -------
 
-*-k*, *--ask-pass*::
 
-Ask the user to input the ssh password for connecting.  Generally using
+*-i*, *--inventory*::
-ssh-agent instead is preferred.
 
-
+Path to the inventory hosts file, which defaults to /etc/ansible/hosts.
-*-l*, *--host-list*::
-
-Path to hosts list, which defaults to /etc/ansible/hosts.  Users can use
-multiple files to emulate groups of systems.
-
-
-*-m*, *--module-path*::
-
-Override the path to module library, which defaults to /usr/share/ansible.
-The module library contains runnable modules that do 'things' to remote
-hosts.  See ansible-modules(5) for a list of those that bundled with
-Ansible.
 
 
 *-f*, *--forks*::
 
-Level of parallelism. Specify as an integer, the default is 3.  If set to "1" 
+Level of parallelism. Specify as an integer, the default is 5.
-debugging for certain classes of internal errors may become easier.
 
 
 *-n*, *--name*::
@@ -59,29 +43,25 @@ Module name to execute.
 
 *-a*, *--args*::
 
-Arguments to module, as a single string.  Be sure to observe proper shell quoting rules.
+Arguments to module, as a single string.  
-How these are handled are up to the module, but most modules take "key=value" pairs
-delimited by spaces.
 
 
 *-p*, *--pattern*::
 
 Hostname pattern. Accepts shell-like globs which can be seperated with ";"
-The default is "*" which matches all hosts in the ansible hosts file.
+The default is "*" which matches all hosts in the ansible hosts file.  Group
+names from the ansible inventory file can also be used.
 
 
-*-u*, *--remote-user*::
+See ansible --help for additional options.
-
-Remote user to connect as. Uses __root__ by default.
 
 
 INVENTORY
 ---------
 
 Ansible stores the hosts it can potentially operate on in an inventory
-file. The syntax is simple: one host per line. Organize your hosts
+file. The syntax is one host per line.  Groups headers are allowed and
-into multiple groups by separating them into multiple inventory files.
+are included on their own line, enclosed in square brackets.
-
 
 FILES
 -----

examples/ansible_hosts

@@ -1,2 +1,12 @@
-127.0.0.1
+[webservers]
-192.168.1.255
+alpha.example.org
+beta.example.org
+192.168.1.100
+192.168.1.110
+
+[dbservers]
+192.168.1.200
+192.168.1.201
+foo.example.org
+bar.example.org
+