Group variables missing from hostvars

[joshbenner]

ISSUE TYPE

• Bug Report

COMPONENT NAME

ANSIBLE VERSION

Installed from v2.4.1.0-0.3.rc1

ansible 2.4.1.0
  config file = /Users/josh/devel/example.com/ansible/ansible.cfg
  configured module search path = [u'/Users/josh/.ansible/plugins/modules', u'/usr/share/ansible/plugins/modules']
  ansible python module location = /Users/josh/.virtualenvs/ansible/lib/python2.7/site-packages/ansible
  executable location = /Users/josh/.virtualenvs/ansible/bin/ansible
  python version = 2.7.10 (default, Feb  7 2017, 00:08:15) [GCC 4.2.1 Compatible Apple LLVM 8.0.0 (clang-800.0.34)]

CONFIGURATION

DEFAULT_CALLBACK_WHITELIST(/Users/josh/devel/example.com/ansible/ansible.cfg) = ['foreman_custom']
DEFAULT_GATHERING(/Users/josh/devel/example.com/ansible/ansible.cfg) = smart
DEFAULT_HOST_LIST(env: ANSIBLE_INVENTORY) = [u'/Users/josh/devel/example.com/ansible/inventories/production/hosts']
DEFAULT_REMOTE_TMP(/Users/josh/devel/example.com/ansible/ansible.cfg) = /tmp/ansible
DEFAULT_REMOTE_USER(env: ANSIBLE_REMOTE_USER) = root
DEFAULT_ROLES_PATH(/Users/josh/devel/example.com/ansible/ansible.cfg) = [u'/Users/josh/devel/example.com/ansible/galaxy-roles', u'/Users/josh/devel/example.com/ansible/roles']
DEFAULT_VAULT_PASSWORD_FILE(env: ANSIBLE_VAULT_PASSWORD_FILE) = /Users/josh/.lab_vault_password
HOST_KEY_CHECKING(/Users/josh/devel/example.com/ansible/ansible.cfg) = False
RETRY_FILES_ENABLED(/Users/josh/devel/example.com/ansible/ansible.cfg) = False

OS / ENVIRONMENT

macOS sierra

SUMMARY

Variables defined in group_vars do not appear in hostvars for dynamic inventories.

STEPS TO REPRODUCE

1. Use dynamic inventory
2. Define some_var in group_vars/some_group
3. Assign host to some_group
4. Try to access hostvars['some_host']['some_var']

EXPECTED RESULTS

Variable is accessible in hostvars.

ACTUAL RESULTS

Variable is missing from hostvars.

[joshbenner]

This does not happen on 2.4.0.

I run this playbook against a host in my infrastructure using 2.4.0 and 2.4.1:

- hosts: some_host
  tasks:
    - debug: msg="{{ hostvars[inventory_hostname].keys() | length }}"
    - debug: msg="{{ vars.keys() | length }}"

Output on 2.4.0:

TASK [debug] **********************************************************
ok: [some_host] => {
    "msg": "207"
}

TASK [debug] **********************************************************
ok: [some_host] => {
    "msg": "214"
}

Output on 2.4.1:

TASK [debug] **********************************************************
ok: [some_host] => {
    "msg": "130"
}

TASK [debug] **********************************************************
ok: [some_host] => {
    "msg": "214"
}

[alikins]

ping @bcoca

[alikins]

pinging @abadger possible regression from 2.4 -> v2.4.1.0-0.3.rc1 ?

[bcoca]

quick test, cannot reproduce:

#>cat ~/work/inventories/group_vars/all
test1: from inv group vars

i run in both 2.4. and 2.4.1 and get same:

#>ansible -m debug -a 'var=test1' all -i ~/work/inventories/inv.py
...
"test1": "from inv group vars"
...

[joshbenner]

@bcoca Could you try msg="{{ hostvars[inventory_hostname]['test1'] }}"? In my case, accessing the var directly continues to work as expected, but the variables are missing from the hostvars variable specifically.

I just confirmed the behavior using your approach with my suggested difference, which confirms what you saw, and what I'm seeing.

Following done with 2.4.1 rc3:

#>ansible some_host -m debug -a 'var=redis_version'
...
"redis_version": "4.0.2"
...

#>ansible some_host -m debug -a 'msg="{{ hostvars[inventory_hostname].redis_version }}"'
...
"failed": true,
"msg": "The task includes an option with an undefined variable. The error was: 'dict object' has no attribute 'redis_version' ... "
...

[bcoca]

same results

ansible -m debug -a "var=hostvars['MOCK_1478']['test1']" MOCK_1465  -i ~/work/inventories/test_inv.py
MOCK_1465 | SUCCESS => {
    "hostvars['MOCK_1478']['test1']": "from inv 'all' group vars"
}

and with your same ref:

ansible -m debug -a "var=hostvars[inventory_hostname].test1" MOCK_1465  -i ~/work/inventories/test_inv.py
MOCK_1465 | SUCCESS => {
    "hostvars[inventory_hostname].test1": "from inv 'all' group vars"
}

just to make sure, using msg:

ansible -m debug -a 'msg={{hostvars[inventory_hostname].test1}}' MOCK_1465  -i ~/work/inventories/test_inv.py
MOCK_1465 | SUCCESS => {
    "msg": "from inv 'all' group vars"
}```

[joshbenner]

When I reproduce your test more closely, I get the same result as you. The difference seems to be that the variable I'm accessing is not in the 'all' group, but in a different group the host is a member of.

inventories/production/group_vars/all/vars.yml:

platform_env: production

inventories/production/group_vars/redis-servers.yml:

redis_version: 4.0.2

I get the same results as before, with this notable additional detail:

#>ansible some_host -m debug -a "var=hostvars['some_host']['platform_env']"
...
"hostvars['some_host']['platform_env']": "production"
...

[bcoca]

Using another group:

#>ansible -m debug -a 'msg={{hostvars[inventory_hostname].test1}}' team  -i ~/work/inventories/test_inv.pyMOCK_1218 | SUCCESS => {
    "msg": "from team group"
}
MOCK_1221 | SUCCESS => {
    "msg": "from team group"
}
MOCK_1223 | SUCCESS => {
    "msg": "from team group"
}
MOCK_1229 | SUCCESS => {
    "msg": "from team group"
}

file used:

#>cat ~/work/inventories/group_vars/team
test1: from team group

[joshbenner]

Discussed in IRC. This issue seems to only affect playbook-level variables. I've tried changing the playbook_var_root to bottom, and I still same same behavior.

Per @bcoca's request, here's a sanitized/simplified tree of what I'm working with:

.
├── action_plugins
│   └── merge_vars.py
├── ansible.cfg
├── callback_plugins
│   └── foreman_custom.py
│── debug.yml
│── filter_plugins
│   └── interfaces.py
├── group_vars
│   ├── all
│   │   ├── global_vars.yml
│   │   ├── root_keys.yml
│   │   └── vault.yml
│   ├── redis-servers.yml
│   └── sensu-servers.yml
├── inventories
│   ├── foreman.py
│   ├── production
│   │   ├── group_vars
│   │   │   ├── all
│   │   │   │   └── vars.yml
│   │   │   ├── redis-servers.yml
│   │   │   └── sensu-servers.yml
│   │   └── hosts
│   └── vagrant
│       ├── group_vars
│       │   └── all.yml
│       └── hosts
├── library
│   └── merge_vars
├── requirements.txt
├── roles
├── site.yml
└── vagrant
    ├── Vagrantfile
    └── ansible.cfg

[bcoca]

So I cannot reproduce with play adjacent group_vars either, simple setup:

play.yml
group_vars
 |--all
  --team

when i run:

#>ansible-playbook play.yml -i ~/work/inventories/test_inv.py
ok: [MOCK_1000] => {
    "test1": "fromteam play vars"
}

[victorock]

@bcoca try specifying the inventory file in ansible.cfg.
For some reason i started to get some strange behaviour with 2.4.1 with variables missing.
In my case :

• connection: local
• ansible.cfg: inventory = <some_folder>
• ansible.cfg: hash_behaviour = merge
• play.yml residing alongside with group_vars and host_vars
• Some hash variables defined at group_vars/all/myhash.yml and group_vars/node/myhash.yml
• The hash content is supposed to merge.
• issue: Hashes are missing.

Solution:

• moved my inventory (hosts) file to the same folder as my play.yml
• changed my ansible.cfg:inventory = hosts

Where:

• I'am using Vagrant and i was referring in my ansible.cfg to the inventory file that is automatically generated by Vagrant.

[zigarn]

A simple use case to reproduce the problem:
No specific ansible.cfg

# group_vars/group/all.yml 
---
key: value

# inventories/test/inventory 
[group]
localhost ansible_connection=local

Result with ansible 2.4.0.0-1

$ ansible --inventory inventories/test/inventory all -m debug -a "var=key"
localhost | SUCCESS => {
    "key": "value"
}

$ ansible --inventory inventories/test/inventory all -m debug -a "var=hostvars[inventory_hostname].key"
localhost | SUCCESS => {
    "hostvars[inventory_hostname].key": "value"
}

Result with ansible 2.4.1.0-1

$ ansible --inventory inventories/test/inventory all -m debug -a "var=key"
localhost | SUCCESS => {
    "key": "value"
}

$ ansible --inventory inventories/test/inventory all -m debug -a "var=hostvars[inventory_hostname].key"
localhost | SUCCESS => {
    "hostvars[inventory_hostname].key": "VARIABLE IS NOT DEFINED!"
}
# Same result whatever the value of ANSIBLE_PLAYBOOK_VARS_ROOT

If you move the inventory file into the root folder, or the group_vars folder into inventories/test/, the variable is resolved.
The problems seems to come from loading the group_vars from current folder different from inventory folder.

[zigarn]

A git bisect points the commit 7f2c611 as the start for this regression.

The difference is that the basedirs variable is only filled when task is defined, but when called from hostvars.raw_get, task is undefined and so there is no basedirs and no variable is loaded.

[bcoca]

see if this fixes it #32269

[zigarn]

I confirm it fixes my use case.
@joshbenner: does it fix yours?