diff --git a/defaults/main.yml b/defaults/main.yml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..1ba17813b0d5005c3f3ecd856121446c1d02abce
--- /dev/null
+++ b/defaults/main.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,43 @@
+---
+packages:
+  aptitude: {}
+  "apt-transport-https": {}
+  bsdtar: {}
+  bzip2: {}
+  curl: {}
+  dnsutils: {}
+  file: {}
+  git: {}
+  haveged: {}
+  htop: {}
+  iftop: {}
+  iotop: {}
+  less: {}
+  "locales-all": {}
+  lsof: {}
+  mailutils: {}
+  members: {}
+  mksh: {}
+  "molly-guard": {}
+  mosh: {}
+  mtr: {}
+  ncdu: {}
+  "ncurses-term": {}
+  "net-tools": {}
+  nmap: {}
+  pciutils: {}
+  pv: {}
+  python3: {}
+  rsync: {}
+  screen: {}
+  sshfs: {}
+  sudo: {}
+  sysstat: {}
+  tcpdump: {}
+  tmux: {}
+  tree: {}
+  usbutils: {}
+  vim: {}
+  vnstat: {}
+  "xz-utils": {}
+  zsh: {}
diff --git a/tasks/main.yml b/tasks/main.yml
index 8fd73111d299d3624a513a43bfebcbbdab42b3ca..0dcb8c006bd460a6f688a39ea669c107c5a07630 100644
--- a/tasks/main.yml
+++ b/tasks/main.yml
@@ -1,48 +1,7 @@
 ---
 - name: install basic packages
   apt:
-    pkg:
-      - aptitude
-      - bsdtar
-      - curl
-      - dnsutils
-      - file
-      - git
-      - htop
-      - iftop
-      - iotop
-      - less
-      - ncurses-term
-      - nmap
-      - rsync
-      - screen
-      - sshfs
-      - tcpdump
-      - tmux
-      - tree
-      - vim
-      - vnstat
-      - xz-utils
-      - zsh
-      - mailutils
-      - members
-      - molly-guard
-      - mksh
-      - pciutils
-      - usbutils
-      - mosh
-      - mtr
-      - sysstat
-      - ncdu
-      - locales-all
-      - python3
-      - lsof
-      - pv
-      - net-tools
-      - sudo
-      - bzip2
-      - haveged
-    state: latest
+    pkg: "{{ packages }}"
     update_cache: yes
 
 - name: copy environment