lineinfile module converts double quotes to single quotes unexpectedly

[pjmcquade]

ISSUE TYPE

• Bug Report

COMPONENT NAME

lineinfile

ANSIBLE VERSION

ansible 2.5.3
  config file = [REDACTED]
  configured module search path = [u'/home/a769/.ansible/plugins/modules', u'/usr/share/ansible/plugins/modules']
  ansible python module location = /usr/lib/python2.7/site-packages/ansible
  executable location = /usr/bin/ansible
  python version = 2.7.5 (default, Aug  2 2016, 04:20:16) [GCC 4.8.5 20150623 (Red Hat 4.8.5-4)]

CONFIGURATION

DEFAULT_FORKS([REDACTED]) = 15
DEFAULT_HOST_LIST[REDACTED]) = [u'/data/ansible-best-practice/inventories/all.inventory']
DEFAULT_REMOTE_USER([REDACTED]) = ansnixpr
DEFAULT_STDOUT_CALLBACK([REDACTED]) = skippy
DEFAULT_TIMEOUT([REDACTED]) = 30
HOST_KEY_CHECKING([REDACTED]) = False

OS / ENVIRONMENT

RedHat 7.3 (controller and target)

SUMMARY

double quotes being converted to single quotes; escaping does not help.

STEPS TO REPRODUCE

- name: fixing katello issue bugzilla <https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=1356714>
  lineinfile:
    dest: /etc/rhsm/facts/katello.facts
    create: yes
    mode: 0644
    owner: root
    group: root
    line: |
      { "network.hostname" : "{{ ansible_fqdn }}" }

EXPECTED RESULTS

Expected file: /etc/rhsm/facts/katello.facts to contain:

{ "network.hostname" : "hostname.example.com" }

ACTUAL RESULTS

File contained: all double quotes converted to single quotes. Suspect text is being interpreted as JSON format and quoting is occuring. Need double quotes:

{'network.hostname': 'hostname.example.com'}

<cl50168> SSH: EXEC ssh -vvv -C -o ControlMaster=auto -o ControlPersist=60s -o StrictHostKeyChecking=no -o KbdInteractiveAuthentication=no -o PreferredAuthentications=gssapi-with-mic,gssapi-keyex,hostbased,publickey -o PasswordAuthentication=no -o User=ansnixpr -o ConnectTimeout=30 -o ControlPath=/home/a769/.ansible/cp/1557137bb9 -tt cl50168 '/bin/sh -c '"'"'sudo -H -S -n -u root /bin/sh -c '"'"'"'"'"'"'"'"'echo BECOME-SUCCESS-jdrutbolsrcifhskyrjvbvreedlauery; /usr/bin/python /home/ansnixpr/.ansible/tmp/ansible-tmp-1526900035.75-49518744568055/lineinfile.py'"'"'"'"'"'"'"'"' && sleep 0'"'"''
Escalation succeeded
<cl50168> (0, '\r\n{"msg": "line added", "diff": [{"after": "", "before_header": "/etc/rhsm/facts/katello.facts (content)", "after_header": "/etc/rhsm/facts/katello.facts (content)", "before": ""}, {"before_header": "/etc/rhsm/facts/katello.facts (file attributes)", "after_header": "/etc/rhsm/facts/katello.facts (file attributes)"}], "changed": true, "backup": "", "invocation": {"module_args": {"directory_mode": null, "force": null, "remote_src": null, "backrefs": false, "insertafter": null, "path": "/etc/rhsm/facts/katello.facts", "owner": "root", "follow": false, "validate": null, "group": "root", "insertbefore": null, "unsafe_writes": null, "create": true, "setype": null, "content": null, "serole": null, "state": "present", "dest": "/etc/rhsm/facts/katello.facts", "selevel": null, "regexp": null, "line": "{\'network.hostname\': \'cl50168.sunlifecorp.com\'}", "src": null, "seuser": null, "delimiter": null, "mode": 420, "firstmatch": false, "attributes": null, "backup": false}}}\r\n', 'OpenSSH_6.6.1, OpenSSL 1.0.1e-fips 11 Feb 2013\r\ndebug1: Reading configuration data /home/a769/.ssh/config\r\ndebug1: /home/a769/.ssh/config line 1: Applying options for *\r\ndebug1: Reading configuration data /etc/ssh/ssh_config\r\ndebug1: /etc/ssh/ssh_config line 3: Applying options for *\r\ndebug1: auto-mux: Trying existing master\r\ndebug2: fd 3 setting O_NONBLOCK\r\ndebug2: mux_client_hello_exchange: master version 4\r\ndebug3: mux_client_forwards: request forwardings: 0 local, 0 remote\r\ndebug3: mux_client_request_session: entering\r\ndebug3: mux_client_request_alive: entering\r\ndebug3: mux_client_request_alive: done pid = 56878\r\ndebug3: mux_client_request_session: session request sent\r\ndebug1: mux_client_request_session: master session id: 2\r\ndebug3: mux_client_read_packet: read header failed: Broken pipe\r\ndebug2: Received exit status from master 0\r\nShared connection to cl50168 closed.\r\n')
<cl50168> ESTABLISH SSH CONNECTION FOR USER: ansnixpr
<cl50168> SSH: ansible.cfg set ssh_args: (-C)(-o)(ControlMaster=auto)(-o)(ControlPersist=60s)
<cl50168> SSH: ANSIBLE_HOST_KEY_CHECKING/host_key_checking disabled: (-o)(StrictHostKeyChecking=no)
<cl50168> SSH: ansible_password/ansible_ssh_pass not set: (-o)(KbdInteractiveAuthentication=no)(-o)(PreferredAuthentications=gssapi-with-mic,gssapi-keyex,hostbased,publickey)(-o)(PasswordAuthentication=no)
<cl50168> SSH: ANSIBLE_REMOTE_USER/remote_user/ansible_user/user/-u set: (-o)(User=ansnixpr)
<cl50168> SSH: ANSIBLE_TIMEOUT/timeout set: (-o)(ConnectTimeout=30)
<cl50168> SSH: found only ControlPersist; added ControlPath: (-o)(ControlPath=/home/a769/.ansible/cp/1557137bb9)
<cl50168> SSH: EXEC ssh -vvv -C -o ControlMaster=auto -o ControlPersist=60s -o StrictHostKeyChecking=no -o KbdInteractiveAuthentication=no -o PreferredAuthentications=gssapi-with-mic,gssapi-keyex,hostbased,publickey -o PasswordAuthentication=no -o User=ansnixpr -o ConnectTimeout=30 -o ControlPath=/home/a769/.ansible/cp/1557137bb9 cl50168 '/bin/sh -c '"'"'rm -f -r /home/ansnixpr/.ansible/tmp/ansible-tmp-1526900035.75-49518744568055/ > /dev/null 2>&1 && sleep 0'"'"''
<cl50168> (0, '', 'OpenSSH_6.6.1, OpenSSL 1.0.1e-fips 11 Feb 2013\r\ndebug1: Reading configuration data /home/a769/.ssh/config\r\ndebug1: /home/a769/.ssh/config line 1: Applying options for *\r\ndebug1: Reading configuration data /etc/ssh/ssh_config\r\ndebug1: /etc/ssh/ssh_config line 3: Applying options for *\r\ndebug1: auto-mux: Trying existing master\r\ndebug2: fd 3 setting O_NONBLOCK\r\ndebug2: mux_client_hello_exchange: master version 4\r\ndebug3: mux_client_forwards: request forwardings: 0 local, 0 remote\r\ndebug3: mux_client_request_session: entering\r\ndebug3: mux_client_request_alive: entering\r\ndebug3: mux_client_request_alive: done pid = 56878\r\ndebug3: mux_client_request_session: session request sent\r\ndebug1: mux_client_request_session: master session id: 2\r\ndebug3: mux_client_read_packet: read header failed: Broken pipe\r\ndebug2: Received exit status from master 0\r\n')
changed: [cl50168] => {
    "backup": "",
    "changed": true,
    "diff": [
        {
            "after": "",
            "after_header": "/etc/rhsm/facts/katello.facts (content)",
            "before": "",
            "before_header": "/etc/rhsm/facts/katello.facts (content)"
        },
        {
            "after_header": "/etc/rhsm/facts/katello.facts (file attributes)",
            "before_header": "/etc/rhsm/facts/katello.facts (file attributes)"
        }
    ],
    "invocation": {
        "module_args": {
            "attributes": null,
            "backrefs": false,
            "backup": false,
            "content": null,
            "create": true,
            "delimiter": null,
            "dest": "/etc/rhsm/facts/katello.facts",
            "directory_mode": null,
            "firstmatch": false,
            "follow": false,
            "force": null,
            "group": "root",
            "insertafter": null,
            "insertbefore": null,
            "line": "{'network.hostname': 'cl50168.sunlifecorp.com'}",
            "mode": 420,
            "owner": "root",
            "path": "/etc/rhsm/facts/katello.facts",
            "regexp": null,
            "remote_src": null,
            "selevel": null,
            "serole": null,
            "setype": null,
            "seuser": null,
            "src": null,
            "state": "present",
            "unsafe_writes": null,
            "validate": null
        }
    },
    "msg": "line added"
}

Note: removing the opening and closing braces. I.e.:

Change:
{ "network.hostname" : "{{ ansible_fqdn }}" }
to:
"network.hostname" : "hostname.example.com"

yields the expected output in the file (i.e. the double quotes are not converted to single quotes).

[ansibot]

Files identified in the description:

• lib/ansible/modules/files/lineinfile.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

[ansibot]

cc @ahtik @dhozac
click here for bot help

[sivel]

We are aware of this issue. This is not a side affect of the lineinfile module munging data, but a complex interaction between ansible and jinja2 (used for templating).

The problem is that your string contains a template, and because it looks like a python dictionary, it gets converted to a python dictionary, and loses it's context as a string.

There is a more in depth explanation available at #34595 (comment)

This will hopefully be resolved once we can implement jinja2 native types (#32738)

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

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• mailing list: https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/ansible-project