Ansible's service module fails on Ubuntu 18.04

[holta]

ISSUE TYPE

• Bug Report

COMPONENT NAME

Ansible's service module

ANSIBLE VERSION

ansible 2.5.0rc3
  config file = /etc/ansible/ansible.cfg
  configured module search path = [u'/root/.ansible/plugins/modules', u'/usr/share/ansible/plugins/modules']
  ansible python module location = /usr/local/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/ansible
  executable location = /usr/local/sbin/ansible
  python version = 2.7.14+ (default, Feb  6 2018, 19:12:18) [GCC 7.3.0]

CONFIGURATION

OS / ENVIRONMENT

It's true that Ubuntu 18.04 is unreleased, but it's entered final beta, for final release in April:

root@box:~# cat /etc/*elease
DISTRIB_ID=Ubuntu
DISTRIB_RELEASE=18.04
DISTRIB_CODENAME=bionic
DISTRIB_DESCRIPTION="Ubuntu Bionic Beaver (development branch)"
NAME="Ubuntu"
VERSION="18.04 LTS (Bionic Beaver)"
ID=ubuntu
ID_LIKE=debian
PRETTY_NAME="Ubuntu Bionic Beaver (development branch)"
VERSION_ID="18.04"
HOME_URL="https://www.ubuntu.com/"
SUPPORT_URL="https://help.ubuntu.com/"
BUG_REPORT_URL="https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/"
PRIVACY_POLICY_URL="https://www.ubuntu.com/legal/terms-and-policies/privacy-policy"
VERSION_CODENAME=bionic
UBUNTU_CODENAME=bionic

SUMMARY

Fails to create a link in /etc/systemd/system/multiuser.target.wants

As originally reported in: iiab/iiab#698

STEPS TO REPRODUCE

The following Ansible code fails on Ubuntu 18.04, with Ansible version 2.5.0 RC3 and similar:

- name: Start iiab-cmdsrv service
  service: name=iiab-cmdsrv
           state=restarted
           enabled=yes

The above fails to create a link in /etc/systemd/system/multiuser.target.wants

The following format also fails to create the link:

- name: Start iiab-cmdsrv service
  service: 
    name: iiab-cmdsrv
    state: restarted
    enabled: yes

EXPECTED RESULTS

The link should have been created in /etc/systemd/system/multiuser.target.wants — as does work on Raspbian and Ubuntu 16.04

ACTUAL RESULTS

On Ubuntu 18.04, no link is created in /etc/systemd/system/multiuser.target.wants

[ansibot]

Files identified in the description:

• lib/ansible/modules/system/service.py

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

click here for bot help

[alikins]

@holta

As originally reported in: iiab/iiab#698

That references a role in that repo that no longer exists (cmdsrv).

Could you update the bug with an example playbook and 'ansible-playbook' output with '-vvv' level verbosity?

[holta]

That references a role in that repo that no longer exists (cmdsrv).

CLARIF: The production code does exist, but apologies that may not have been obvious as it's in Internet-in-a-Box's other repo here: https://github.com/iiab/iiab-admin-console/blob/master/roles/cmdsrv/tasks/main.yml#L252-L255 (the last 4 lines)

[ergonlogic]

I've seen similar behaviour recently. service_facts reports that mysql is stopped, but - service: name=mysql state=started results in "ok".

The service can be forced to start with:

- command: service mysql start

[decentral1se]

Oh yes, been bitten by this one just now. Thanks for reporting.

[ctorgalson]

It's possible there is more than one bug here.

I'm seeing the same issue as @ergonlogic on Ubuntu Xenial in Docker, but in this case, the expected link (/etc/systemd/system/multi-user.target.wants/mysql.service) exists (contrary to the OP's description of the issue).

[ansibot]

Files identified in the description:

• lib/ansible/modules/service.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

[TheBlackMini]

This is still happening in Ubuntu 20.04 in docker. Service isn't starting the service.

• name: Start MySQL
  service: name=mysql status=started

or

• name: Start MySQL
  service:
  name: mysql
  status: started

Had to use

• name: Start MySQL
  command: service mysql start

[sivel]

I cannot replicate this issue. Using apache2 as the service creates the symlink:

$ ls -al /etc/systemd/system/multi-user.target.wants/apache2.service
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 35 Dec  1 21:51 /etc/systemd/system/multi-user.target.wants/apache2.service -> /lib/systemd/system/apache2.service

If you are still having problems, feel free to open a new issue with a full contained reproducer.

If you have further questions please stop by IRC or the mailing list:

• IRC: #ansible on irc.libera.chat
• mailing list: https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/ansible-project