[opensourcedex]

salt is a free, open source scheduling & event management project written in Python and released under Apache-2.0. It has 15,661 GitHub stars, 5,610 forks and 1,885 open issues, and was last pushed 15 hours ago. On this registry it ranks #3 of 23 tracked projects in Scheduling & Event Management, with 5 head-to-head comparisons available. It gained 3 stars over the last 3 tracked days.

What is salt?

Salt is a Python-based, event-driven automation framework that deploys, configures and manages complex IT systems at scale, built for system administrators, platform and infrastructure engineers, and DevOps teams responsible for keeping many servers, virtual machines, containers, databases, web servers and network devices in a consistent desired state.

What it is

Salt is an open source automation engine and framework written in Python and released under the Apache-2.0 licence. It lives in the Python packaging ecosystem as the PyPI package salt, and it is also distributed as native RPM and DEB packages through dedicated Salt Project repositories. The project is developed in the open on GitHub, where it holds roughly 15,600 stars and 5,600 forks, and it is published through an official install guide hosted at docs.saltproject.io/salt/install-guide. The topic list frames it squarely as configuration management, infrastructure-as-code and infrastructure-automation software, with adjacent coverage of cloud provisioning, cloud providers, edge and event streams.

The problem it solves is configuration drift and the manual labour that follows from it. Without a tool of this kind, an administrator configures each host by hand or through one-off scripts, and those hosts quietly diverge from their intended state until something breaks. Salt replaces that per-host manual administration with a single declarative framework that installs and configures operating systems, applications, services, databases, web servers and network devices, and then keeps them in the state they were declared to be in. Because the engine is event-driven rather than purely batch-oriented, it also automates routine orchestration work such as the tasks surrounding scheduled server downtime or operating system and application upgrades, and it can be used to build self-aware, self-healing systems that respond automatically to outages and common administration problems.

Key capabilities

  • Configuration management across operating system deployment, software installation, and application and service configuration, with explicit drift prevention as the goal.
  • Inventory breadth: manages servers, virtual machines, containers, databases, web servers and network devices, including switches and routers from a variety of vendors.
  • Event-driven architecture, reflected in the event-management and event-stream topics, enabling automated responses to outages and administration events.
  • Orchestration of routine IT processes, such as the standard tasks required for scheduled server downtimes and for upgrading operating systems or applications.
  • Cloud provisioning through salt-cloud -p, where VM attributes such as memory, cpu and vcpu belong in the profile configuration rather than on the command line.
  • Pluggable and customizable design that interoperates with many existing technologies instead of requiring a fixed stack.
  • Cross-platform packaging tested for CentOS, Debian, RHEL, Ubuntu, MacOS, Windows and other operating systems.

Who uses it and how

  • It powers VMware by Broadcom's Tanzu Salt, previously known as Aria Automation Config, vRealize Automation SaltStack Config and SaltStack Enterprise.
  • It runs under the hood of products from Juniper, Cisco, Cloudflare, Nutanix, SUSE and Tieto, which indicates adoption by vendors shipping network, cloud and platform products.
  • Broadcom acts as the official sponsor and manager of the project and reviews the modules for speed, quality and security, with many core contributors employed by Broadcom.
  • Community support and discussion happen through the Salt Project Discord server, the r/saltstack subreddit and the @Salt_Project_OS account on Twitter.

Getting started

Follow the Salt install guide, or install the salt package from PyPI or from the official Salt Project RPM and DEB repositories for the target Linux distribution.

How it compares

The facts provided do not name any comparable open source configuration management tools, and they do not give a list of paid products that Salt is positioned to replace. On the evidence available here, it stands alone in this registry.

When to use it

Choose Salt when infrastructure spans mixed operating systems, containers and network hardware that all need one consistent, event-reactive configuration layer, and when the team is willing to run the framework itself across Linux and Windows fleets. It is a poor fit for a team that wants a fully managed service, since no hosted option is described in these facts, and for a team expecting a short README-led onboarding, because the repository README orients rather than instructs and the real installation steps live in the external install guide. The open issue count sits near 1,885, which is worth weighing as a signal of operational backlog, even though the licence is unambiguous at Apache-2.0 and the project remains actively pushed.

project readme (upstream, from github) — read inline

.. image:: https://img.shields.io/github/license/saltstack/salt :alt: Salt Project License: Apache v2.0 :target: https://github.com/saltstack/salt/blob/master/LICENSE

.. image:: https://img.shields.io/pypi/dm/salt?label=pypi%20downloads :alt: PyPi Package Downloads :target: https://pypi.org/project/salt

.. image:: https://img.shields.io/badge/discord-SaltProject-blue.svg?logo=discord :alt: Salt Project Discord Community :target: https://discord.com/invite/J7b7EscrAs

.. image:: https://img.shields.io/reddit/subreddit-subscribers/saltstack?style=social :alt: Salt Project subreddit :target: https://www.reddit.com/r/saltstack/

.. image:: https://img.shields.io/twitter/follow/Salt_Project_OS?style=social&logo=twitter :alt: Follow SaltStack on Twitter :target: https://twitter.com/intent/follow?screen_name=Salt_Project_OS

.. figure:: https://gitlab.com/saltstack/open/salt-branding-guide/-/raw/master/logos/SaltProject_altlogo_teal.png?inline=true :scale: 80 % :width: 1000px :height: 356px :align: center :alt: Salt Project Logo

  • Latest Salt Documentation_
  • Open an issue_ (bug report, feature request, etc.)

.. note:: When using salt-cloud -p with a profile, pass only the VM name on the command line. Specify VM attributes (memory, cpu, vcpu, etc.) in the profile configuration, not as command-line arguments.

Salt is the world's fastest, most intelligent and scalable automation engine.

About Salt

Built on Python, Salt is an event-driven automation tool and framework to deploy, configure, and manage complex IT systems. Use Salt to automate common infrastructure administration tasks and ensure that all the components of your infrastructure are operating in a consistent desired state.

Salt has many possible uses, including configuration management, which involves:

  • Managing operating system deployment and configuration.
  • Installing and configuring software applications and services.
  • Managing servers, virtual machines, containers, databases, web servers, network devices, and more.
  • Ensuring consistent configuration and preventing configuration drift.

Salt is ideal for configuration management because it is pluggable, customizable, and plays well with many existing technologies. Salt enables you to deploy and manage applications that use any tech stack running on nearly any operating system _, including different types of network devices such as switches and routers from a variety of vendors.

In addition to configuration management Salt can also:

  • Automate and orchestrate routine IT processes, such as common required tasks for scheduled server downtimes or upgrading operating systems or applications.
  • Create self-aware, self-healing systems that can automatically respond to outages, common administration problems, or other important events.

About our sponsors

Salt powers VMware by Broadcom's Tanzu Salt_ (previously Aria Automation Config / vRealize Automation SaltStack Config / SaltStack Enterprise), and can be found under the hood of products from Juniper, Cisco, Cloudflare, Nutanix, SUSE, and Tieto, to name a few.

The original sponsor of our community, SaltStack, was acquired by VMware in 2020. VMware was later acquired by Broadcom in 2023 __. The Salt Project remains an open source ecosystem that Broadcom supports and contributes to. Broadcom ensures the code integrity and quality of the Salt modules by acting as the official sponsor and manager of the Salt project. Many of the core Salt Project contributors are also Broadcom employees. This team carefully reviews and enhances the Salt modules to ensure speed, quality, and security.

Download and install Salt

Salt is tested and packaged to run on CentOS, Debian, RHEL, Ubuntu, MacOS, Windows, and more. Download Salt and get started now. See supported operating systems _ for more information.

To download and install Salt, see:

  • The Salt install guide _
    • Salt Project Repository: Linux (RPM) __ - Where Salt rpm packages are officially stored and distributed.
    • Salt Project Repository: Linux (DEB) __ - Where Salt deb packages are officially stored and distributed.
    • Salt Project Repository: GENERIC __ - Where Salt Windows, macOS, etc. (non-rpm, non-deb) packages are officially stored and distributed.

Technical support

Report bugs or problems using Salt by opening an issue: ``_

To join our community forum where you can exchange ideas, best practices, discuss technical support questions, and talk to project maintainers, join our Discord server: Salt Project Community Discord_

Salt Project documentation

Installation instructions, tutorials, in-depth API and module documentation:

  • The Salt install guide _
  • The Salt user guide _
  • Latest Salt documentation_
  • Salt's contributing guide _

Security advisories

Keep an eye on the Salt Project Security Announcements _ landing page. Salt Project recommends subscribing to the Salt Project Security RSS feed _ to receive notification when new information is available regarding security announcements.

Other channels to receive security announcements include the Salt Community mailing list _ and the Salt Project Community Discord_.

Responsibly reporting security vulnerabilities ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ When reporting security vulnerabilities for Salt or other SaltStack projects, refer to the SECURITY.md_ file found in this repository.

Join our community

Salt is built by the Salt Project community, which includes more than 3,000 contributors working in roles just like yours. This well-known and trusted community works together to improve the underlying technology and extend Salt by creating a variety of execution and state modules to accomplish the most common tasks or solve the most important problems that people in your role are likely to face.

If you want to help extend Salt or solve a problem with Salt, you can join our community and contribute today.

Please be sure to review our Code of Conduct _. Also, check out some of our community resources including:

  • Salt Project Community Discord_
  • Salt Project YouTube channel _
  • Salt Project Community Notes and Wiki _

There are lots of ways to get involved in our community. Every month, there are around a dozen opportunities to meet with other contributors and the Salt Core team and collaborate in real time. The best way to keep track is by subscribing to the Salt Project Community Events Calendar on the main ``_ website.

If you have additional questions, email us at [email protected] or reach out directly to the Community Discord. We'd be glad to have you join our community!

License

Salt is licensed under the Apache 2.0 license. Please see the LICENSE file _ for the full text of the Apache license, followed by a full summary of the licensing used by external modules.

A complete list of attributions and dependencies can be found here: salt/DEPENDENCIES.md _

.. _Salt Project Community Discord: https://discord.com/invite/J7b7EscrAs .. _Tanzu Salt: https://www.vmware.com/products/app-platform/tanzu-salt .. _Latest Salt Documentation: https://docs.saltproject.io/en/latest/ .. _Open an issue: https://github.com/saltstack/salt/issues/new/choose .. _SECURITY.md: https://github.com/saltstack/salt/blob/master/SECURITY.md

Frequently asked questions

Is salt free to use?

salt is open source under the Apache-2.0 licence. There is no licence fee and no seat count — you can self-host it or, where the project offers one, pay a vendor for a managed version instead.

What does salt do?

Software to automate the management and configuration of infrastructure and applications at scale.

What is salt written in?

salt is primarily written in Python. Its source is publicly available at https://github.com/saltstack/salt, and it has 15,661 GitHub stars.