I'd like to automate setting up Linux VMs with some minimal stuff like installing some packages, copying my dotfiles and updating some configuration like ssh and firewall.

I know Ansible is used a lot for this kind of things, but is there anything simpler out there for the kind of minimal setup I am looking to automate? I see Ansible is not getting much love, not sure why, but that makes me think folks here may be using different tools at least for personal projects.

Curious to hear everyone's thoughts