package: version specifiers only work with yum

[ansibot]

From @riccardomurri on 2016-08-19T14:14:21Z

ISSUE TYPE

• Bug Report

COMPONENT NAME

package module

ANSIBLE VERSION

ansible 2.1.0.0
  config file = /etc/ansible/ansible.cfg
  configured module search path = Default w/o overrides

CONFIGURATION

No changes to the stock ansible.cfg, and no settings in the environment either:

env | fgrep ANSIBLE_ -c
0

OS / ENVIRONMENT

Ubuntu 16.04 (xenial)

SUMMARY

Documentation for the OS-independent package module states that name=
can be a "package specifier with version, like name-1.0". The - however is not
considered a package/version separator by the apt module, which uses =
instead, and the package module does not translate it.

In short, invocation of package: name=foo-1.0 state=present use=apt makes
Ansible try to install package foo-1.0 instead of ensuring that package foo
is installed at version 1.0

STEPS TO REPRODUCE

Package lmod is installed on my system and is version 5.8:

dpkg -l lmod
Desired=Unknown/Install/Remove/Purge/Hold
| Status=Not/Inst/Conf-files/Unpacked/halF-conf/Half-inst/trig-aWait/Trig-pend
|/ Err?=(none)/Reinst-required (Status,Err: uppercase=bad)
||/ Name                                      Version                   Architecture              Description
+++-=========================================-=========================-=========================-=======================================================================================
ii  lmod                                      5.8-1                     all                       Lua based environment modules

However, if I try to check it with Ansible I get an error:

$ sudo ansible localhost -m package -a "name='lmod-5.8' state=present use=apt"
localhost | FAILED! => {
    "changed": false,
    "failed": true,
    "msg": "No package matching 'lmod-5.8' is available"
}

Using apt-compatible syntax works, but that defeats the purpose of an
OS-independent package manager:

$ sudo ansible localhost -m package -a "name='lmod=5.8*' state=present use=apt"
localhost | SUCCESS => {
    "cache_update_time": 0,
    "cache_updated": false,
    "changed": false
}

EXPECTED RESULTS

That the package version specifiers are translated to the appropriate syntax for
the apt or yum or whatever module Ansible's package module is using under
the hood.

Copied from original issue: ansible/ansible-modules-core#4472

[ansibot]

From @ansibot on 2016-08-19T14:14:21Z

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[ansibot]

From @riccardomurri on 2016-08-19T14:14:21Z

Currently I use the following workaround: early in the playbook I set a variable
__at__ to the value '-' on OSes that use yum, and to the value '=' on
Debian/Ubuntu.

Then I call the package module like this::

package:
  name='foo{{__at__}}version'
  state=present

(It's relatively straightforward, but may save someone a few minutes' time to
find it here.)

[abelgana]

Hi,

I will try to work on the issue. I just cloned the repos. I think this is where the function is defined:

https://github.com/ansible/ansible/blob/13631ececa4454397821d3805f4079d8cc157f33/lib/ansible/modules/packaging/os/yum.py

[robertdebock]

I've seen exactly the same, here are some details for reproducibility:

Failed: (using "-")

ansible -m package -a "name=libsemanage-common-2.3-1" reference-debian-8
reference-debian-8 | FAILED! => {
    "changed": false, 
    "msg": "No package matching 'libsemanage-common-2.3-1' is available"

Success: (using "=")

ansible -m package -a "name=libsemanage-common=2.3-1" reference-debian-8
reference-debian-8 | SUCCESS => {
    "cache_update_time": 1516107446, 
    "cache_updated": false, 
    "changed": false
}

I think an update to the documentation can help, although it would be better to change the module.

I'll make a merge request for fixing the documentation.

[bcoca]

the package module just passes the parameters through to 'detected' packaging module for that system, it does not know, nor should it, about package names nor version specifiers.

[bcoca]

closing as per above

[riccardomurri]

he package module just passes the parameters through to 'detected' packaging module for that system, it does not know, nor should it, about package names nor version specifiers.

I would say this limits the utility of the package module as a distro-independent way of installing packages. A great part of the utility of package: comes from the fact that I do not need to care whether the distro uses apt or yum; if I need to care b/c the syntax for specifying package version varies, then I might as well drop package: completely and use apt: or yum: directly...

[sivel]

We actually recommend not using package for anything other than the most basic of uses. Anything more complex than a simple name: foo should probably be using the individual modules directly instead.