now using "packages" role

defaults/main.yml

----
-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: {}

meta/main.yml

+dependencies:
+- { role: packages }

tasks/main.yml

 ---
-- name: install basic packages
-  apt:
-    pkg: "{{ packages | dict2items | rejectattr('value', 'none') | map(attribute='key') | list }}"
-    update_cache: yes
-
 - name: copy environment
   copy:
     src: dotfiles/environment

vars/main.yml

+
+packages:
+  pkg:
+    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: {}