Introducing the ConfDroid Forge: A New Home for Custom Configuration Management Tools
Welcome to the launch of a brand-new series dedicated to the ConfDroid Forge — a dedicated platform built for creating, sharing, and growing a collection of specialized software products focused on configuration management. This series will explore the tools, workflows, and philosophy behind the forge, starting with this pilot post that explains what it is, why it exists, and where it’s headed.
Why Create the ConfDroid Forge?
The official Puppet Forge is an excellent resource for many users, offering thousands of community modules that cover a wide range of use cases and operating systems. However, when building solutions for very specific environments, company policies, or unique infrastructure requirements, the standard modules often include too much generality — or sometimes not enough of the exact features needed. Many custom Puppet modules simply don’t fit the Puppet Forge’s strict guidelines for structure, compatibility, testing, or documentation. Rather than force-fitting them or leaving them in private repositories, the ConfDroid Forge was created as an independent publishing destination.
The goal is straightforward:
- Publish high-quality, opinionated modules tailored to real-world needs, thoughly tested through established workflow and real-world usage
- Build a focused community around these tools
- Maintain full control over quality, release cadence, and direction
So far, the primary focus has been on Puppet modules, but the forge is designed to expand into other areas as well.
The Technical Foundation: Public-Facing Gitea Instance
While the internal development workflows rely heavily on GitLab for advanced features and Jenkins for CI/CD pipelines, not every detail of those private systems needs to be exposed.
To provide a clean, public-friendly entry point, a dedicated Gitea instance was set up at: https://gitea.confdroid.com
This lightweight, self-hosted Git service serves as the main public frontend for the forge. It hosts:
- All released repositories
- Tagged releases
- Documentation files (READMEs, CHANGELOGs, etc.)
- Module metadata and source code
- packages like docker containers and rpm repositories
Gitea keeps things simple, fast, and familiar — anyone can browse, clone, or fork the repositories without needing access to the internal GitLab setup.
Documentation and Collaboration Hubs
The forge extends beyond code hosting with these companion services:
- Wiki — Serves as the central place for in-depth documentation, usage guides, architecture overviews, and best practices. It is tightly integrated with the Gitea repositories for seamless linking between code and explanations.
- Feedback Portal – A dedicated space where users can submit questions, share feedback, report issues, or request new features. This portal helps prioritize development based on real community input.
In the near future, issue tracking will also move directly into the Gitea instance for forge members, creating a unified collaboration experience.
Membership Model (Coming Soon)
A structured membership system is currently in development. This will offer tiered access for individuals, teams, and enterprises. Members will unlock advanced features such as:
- Early access to upcoming modules and releases
- Priority support and feature requests
- Exclusive content and advanced documentation
- Potential private repositories or custom builds (details TBD)
The goal is to create sustainable support for ongoing development while rewarding active contributors and serious users.
GitHub Presence for Discovery
A collection of the published modules is also listed on GitHub This is purely for visibility — helping more people discover the projects through GitHub’s search and recommendations. The source of truth and primary development location remains the ConfDroid Gitea instance.
Looking Ahead: Expanding Beyond Puppet
Plans are already underway to include:
- Ansible playbooks and roles for different automation patterns
- Custom-built RPM packages for specialized software or patched components
- Potentially other configuration management formats or tools in the future
The vision is to create a cohesive ecosystem where related DevOps and automation artifacts live together under one trusted brand.
Join the Journey
The ConfDroid Forge is still in its early stages, but it represents a deliberate step toward independent, high-quality, and community-driven configuration management tools. Whether you’re tired of wrestling with overly generic modules, need something that perfectly matches your environment, or simply want to follow along with the development — this series is for you. Stay tuned for upcoming posts that will dive deeper into:
- Specific Puppet modules being published
- How to consume them in your infrastructure
- Best practices for custom module development
- And much more
Welcome to the ConfDroid Forge — let’s build better automation together! 🚀 Questions or ideas? Head over to the feedback portal at https://feedback.confdroid.com — your input will help shape the direction.
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