modprobe (without params) with persistent fails if /etc/modprobe.d does not exists

[VannTen]

Summary

When you try to execute the following:

 - name: Modprobe Kernel Module
   community.general.modprobe:
     name:  kernel_module_x
     state: present
     persistent: present

And the directory /etc/modprobe.d does not exists on the host, modprobe fails with a FileNotFound excetpion when trying to find a module parameters under /etc/modprobe.d

This came up in kubespray in kubernetes-sigs/kubespray#10677

Issue Type

Bug Report

Component Name

modprobe

Ansible Version

ansible [core 2.15.6]
config file = None
configured module search path = ['/home/andrei/.ansible/plugins/modules', '/usr/share/ansible/plugins/modules']
ansible python module location = /home/andrei/.pyenv/versions/kubespray/lib/python3.11/site-packages/ansible
ansible collection location = /home/andrei/.ansible/collections:/usr/share/ansible/collections
executable location = /home/andrei/.pyenv/versions/kubespray/bin/ansible
python version = 3.11.6 (main, Nov 25 2023, 11:49:51) [GCC 13.2.1 20230801] (/home/andrei/.pyenv/versions/kubespray/bin/python3)
jinja version = 3.1.2
libyaml = True

Community.general Version

$ ansible-galaxy collection list
 community.general

# /home/snip/upstream/kubespray/venv/lib/python3.11/site-packages/ansible_collections
Collection        Version
----------------- -------
community.general 7.5.0  

Configuration

No response

OS / Environment

Linux 5.15.138-flatcar x86_64
NAME="Flatcar Container Linux by Kinvolk"
ID=flatcar
ID_LIKE=coreos
VERSION=3602.2.2
VERSION_ID=3602.2.2
BUILD_ID=2023-11-20-1825
SYSEXT_LEVEL=1.0
PRETTY_NAME="Flatcar Container Linux by Kinvolk 3602.2.2 (Oklo)"
ANSI_COLOR="38;5;75"
HOME_URL="https://flatcar.org/"
BUG_REPORT_URL="https://issues.flatcar.org"
FLATCAR_BOARD="amd64-usr"
CPE_NAME="cpe:2.3:o:flatcar-linux:flatcar_linux:3602.2.2:::::::*"

Steps to Reproduce

Put the following task in a playbook, execute on Flatcar host.

 - name: Modprobe Kernel Module
   community.general.modprobe:
     name:  br_netfilter
     state: present
     persistent: present

Alternatively, use
ansible -m community.general.modrobe -a 'name=br_netfilter state=present persistent=present on a Flatcar host (or any host not having /etc/modprobe.d )

Expected Results

Two differents things:

1. Without a params parameter, modprobe should not fails on the absence of /etc/modprobe.d
2. Even if params is specified, modprobe should create /etc/modprobe.d on demand.

Actual Results

failed: [k8s07] (item=ip_vs_lc) => {"ansible_loop_var": "item", "changed": false, "item": "ip_vs_lc", "module_stderr": "Traceback (most recent call last):
  File \"<stdin>\", line 107, in <module>
  File \"<stdin>\", line 99, in _ansiballz_main
  File \"<stdin>\", line 47, in invoke_module
  File \"/opt/bin/pypy3/lib/pypy3.9/runpy.py\", line 213, in run_module
    return _run_module_code(code, init_globals, run_name, mod_spec)
  File \"/opt/bin/pypy3/lib/pypy3.9/runpy.py\", line 97, in _run_module_code
    _run_code(code, mod_globals, init_globals,
  File \"/opt/bin/pypy3/lib/pypy3.9/runpy.py\", line 87, in _run_code
    exec(code, run_globals)
  File \"/tmp/ansible_community.general.modprobe_payload_nper0d8d/ansible_community.general.modprobe_payload.zip/ansible_collections/community/general/plugins/modules/modprobe.py\", line 320, in <module>
  File \"/tmp/ansible_community.general.modprobe_payload_nper0d8d/ansible_community.general.modprobe_payload.zip/ansible_collections/community/general/plugins/modules/modprobe.py\", line 312, in main
  File \"/tmp/ansible_community.general.modprobe_payload_nper0d8d/ansible_community.general.modprobe_payload.zip/ansible_collections/community/general/plugins/modules/modprobe.py\", line 219, in load_module_permanent
  File \"/tmp/ansible_community.general.modprobe_payload_nper0d8d/ansible_community.general.modprobe_payload.zip/ansible_collections/community/general/plugins/modules/modprobe.py\", line 148, in params_is_set
  File \"/tmp/ansible_community.general.modprobe_payload_nper0d8d/ansible_community.general.modprobe_payload.zip/ansible_collections/community/general/plugins/modules/modprobe.py\", line 154, in permanent_params
  File \"/tmp/ansible_community.general.modprobe_payload_nper0d8d/ansible_community.general.modprobe_payload.zip/ansible_collections/community/general/plugins/modules/modprobe.py\", line 242, in modprobe_files
FileNotFoundError: [Errno 2] No such file or directory: '/etc/modprobe.d'
", "module_stdout": "", "msg": "MODULE FAILURE
See stdout/stderr for the exact error", "rc": 1}

(This is from the kubespray bug-report, reformatted for readability)

TL;DR (if my understanding of modprobe.d is correct) : modprobe try to found the file for the params of the module it handles, and fails because the parent directory does not exist.

Code of Conduct

• I agree to follow the Ansible Code of Conduct

[ansibullbot]

Files identified in the description:

• plugins/modules/modprobe.py

If these files are incorrect, please update the component name section of the description or use the !component bot command.

click here for bot help

[ansibullbot]

cc @jdauphant @mattjeffery
click here for bot help

[VannTen]

This does not have a PR, btw, not sure why the bot thinks so ?
Maybe because I linked to it from kubespray ?

[felixfontein]

The bot sees that a PR is referencing this issue, hence it adds the has_pr label. Unfortunately it does not care whether the PR is part of this repository or not...

[KubeKyrie]

Has the issue been completely fixed? I see #8005 merged but #8033 is closed.

[felixfontein]

Potentially not, see #8033 (comment). Can someone verify that it still crashes in this case when it tries to modify something?

[olarike]

@felixfontein It still crashes. any workaround?

[felixfontein]

@olarike put a ansible.builtin.file task first which ensures the directory is there.

Even if this is fixed in a better way, the module will still fail if the directory does not exist. So if you want your play to pass in that case, you need to ensure yourself that the directory exists.