Problem with Ansible 2.4?

[dverdin]

Hi Pieter,
I tried running ansible-tools with a freshly installed ansible 2.4.0.0 and the playbook fails quite soon. It's as if ansible did no explore the host_vars dirctory in the environment (see output below).
I've been searching for quite some time but did not find how to fix it.
Do you have any idea?

$ ansible-playbook site.yml -i environments/vm/inventory

[DEPRECATION WARNING]: Instead of sudo/sudo_user, use become/become_user and make sure become_method is 'sudo' (default). This feature will be removed in version 2.6. Deprecation warnings can be disabled by setting 
deprecation_warnings=False in ansible.cfg.
[DEPRECATION WARNING]: The use of 'include' for tasks has been deprecated. Use 'import_tasks' for static inclusions or 'include_tasks' for dynamic inclusions. This feature will be removed in a future release. Deprecation warnings can be 
disabled by setting deprecation_warnings=False in ansible.cfg.
[DEPRECATION WARNING]: include is kept for backwards compatibility but usage is discouraged. The module documentation details page may explain more about this rationale.. This feature will be removed in a future release. Deprecation 
warnings can be disabled by setting deprecation_warnings=False in ansible.cfg.
 ____________________________________
< PLAY [Configuration for all nodes] >
 ------------------------------------
        \   ^__^
         \  (oo)\_______
            (__)\       )\/\
                ||----w |
                ||     ||

 _____________________________________________
< TASK [common : Set /etc/hostname to dev-vm] >
 ---------------------------------------------
        \   ^__^
         \  (oo)\_______
            (__)\       )\/\
                ||----w |
                ||     ||

fatal: [dev-vm]: FAILED! => {"failed": true, "msg": "The field 'remote_user' has an invalid value, which includes an undefined variable. The error was: 'ansible_remote_user' is undefined

The error appears to have been in '/home/verdin/tmp/ansible-tools/roles/common/tasks/main.yml': line 3, column 3, but may be elsewhere in the file depending on the exact syntax problem.

The offending line appears to be


- name: Set /etc/hostname to {{ inventory_hostname }}
  ^ here
We could be wrong, but this one looks like it might be an issue with
missing quotes.  Always quote template expression brackets when they
start a value. For instance:

    with_items:
      - {{ foo }}\n\nShould be written as:

    with_items:
     - \"{{ foo }}\"

exception type: <class 'ansible.errors.AnsibleUndefinedVariable'>
exception: 'ansible_remote_user' is undefined"}
	to retry, use: --limit @/home/verdin/tmp/ansible-tools/site.retry
 ____________
< PLAY RECAP >
 ------------
        \   ^__^
         \  (oo)\_______
            (__)\       )\/\
                ||----w |
                ||     ||

dev-vm                     : ok=0    changed=0    unreachable=0    failed=1   

[dverdin]

It looks like options to designate environments changed in 2.4: https://docs.ansible.com/ansible/2.4/porting_guide_2.4.html#inventory
Weirdly enough, if I replace
ansible-playbook site.yml -i environments/vm/inventory
with:
ansible-playbook site.yml -i environments/vm
The playbook goes further, though it fails later.

[pmeulen]

Hi David,

I haven't upgraded to 2.4 yet, still on 2.3. Your diagnosis regarding inventory seems correct. I'll have a look. Ideally I'd like to find a solution the works with both 2.3 and 2.4.

Regarding the error at name: Set /etc/hostname to {{ inventory_hostname }} it could be that the use of unquoted "{{ }}" is throwing it of. This is a pre 2.0 construction and much has changed (and improved) in the Ansible parser. Try changing this to name: "Set /etc/hostname to {{ inventory_hostname }}", or removing the "{{ }}" altogether. It's just the name of the task, it could be anything.

[dverdin]

thanks for your answer Pieter!
Yes, trying to find a solution that will fit all ansible versions is wise.

Actually, about the unquoted "{{}}", the doc explains that quotes are mandatory when a value starts with a brace to make sure we're not starting a dictionary at this place in YAML.
Otherwise, using unquoted braces is fine.
For example :

vars:
  key: "{{my-var}}"

or

vars:
  key: This is {{my-var}}

are fine, whereas:

vars:
  key: {{my-var}}

is wrong.