group_vars/all not imported for implicit localhost when using dynamic inventory

[mark-casey]

Issue Type:

Bug Report

Ansible Version:

ansible-playbook 1.5

Environment:

Ubuntu 12.04.4 LTS x64

Summary:

I think group_vars/all import is getting skipped for localhost when I specify a dynamic inventory. Here is console output of causing the issue:

Steps To Reproduce:

jenkins@ip-172-41-15-124:~/jobs/dev/workspace/bin/ansible/test-things$ ansible-playbook testgroupvars.yml

PLAY [Tests to make sure group_vars are getting imported] *********************

GATHERING FACTS ***************************************************************
ok: [localhost]

TASK: [Print a var] ***********************************************************
ok: [localhost] => {
    "foobar": "{{ foobar }}"
}

PLAY RECAP ********************************************************************
localhost                  : ok=2    changed=0    unreachable=0    failed=0

jenkins@ip-172-41-15-124:~/jobs/dev/workspace/bin/ansible/test-things$ ansible-playbook -i test.py testgroupvars.yml

PLAY [Tests to make sure group_vars are getting imported] *********************

GATHERING FACTS ***************************************************************
ok: [localhost]

TASK: [Print a var] ***********************************************************
fatal: [localhost] => One or more undefined variables: 'mysql_root_password' is undefined

FATAL: all hosts have already failed -- aborting

PLAY RECAP ********************************************************************
           to retry, use: --limit @/var/lib/jenkins/testgroupvars.retry

localhost                  : ok=1    changed=0    unreachable=1    failed=0

Here is a gist of related files: https://gist.github.com/mark-casey/9627855

Expected Results:

I would have expected the variable to be available in either use case but it wasn't.

Actual Results:

^^^

(edited to add actual template headings instead of just basing the content on template)

[MartinPeschke]

Ive been experiencing the same issue. Using ansible 1.6 and the ec2.py inventory from the docs,

This is anoying since it means one has to run against a dummy-inventory for some tasks:

 ansible-playbook -i LOCAL -u ubuntu provision.yml
 ansible-playbook -i ec2.py -u ubuntu terminate.yml

otherwise:

 ansible-playbook -i ec2.py -u ubuntu provision.yml

 PLAY [Stage instance(s)] ******************************************************
 TASK: [Provision a set of instances] ******************************************
 fatal: [localhost] => One or more undefined variables: 'number' is undefined
 FATAL: all hosts have already failed -- aborting

[faraocious]

I'm seeing a similar things with a dynamic inventory script modified from the ec2.py file.

I'm ending up with undefined vars during execution. I was reading elsewhere (#3566) this is due to passing an inline list instead of a file, possibly? just trying to get to the root of the issue.

[quentinsf]

Yes, I'm seeing something probably related - I have default values for variables defined in the 'defaults' directories within roles, but I can't overwrite them using group_vars if the hosts & groups come from ec2.py. The only way is to override on the command line with '-e'.

I've tried this both with the tag_name_value groups that are automatically created, and with hosts that have been put into groups using add_host. Will try to put together a minimal demo case.

[quentinsf]

More details on what i think is a related issue at #8605 .

[mpdehaan]

That's not related. Will comment seperately on that post.

[jimi-c]

Closing This Ticket

Hi!

We believe the above commit should resolve this question or problem for you. This will also be included in the next major release.

If you continue seeing any problems related to this issue, or if you have any further questions, please let us know by stopping by one of the two mailing lists, as appropriate:

• https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/ansible-project - for user questions, tips, and tricks
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Because this project is very active, we're unlikely to see comments made on closed tickets, but the mailing list is a great way to ask questions, or post if you don't think this particular issue is resolved.

Thank you!

[ghost]

Thanks... I just ran into a case where I hit this bug :D

And I realized I hadn't git-pulled in a bit of time.

[danielsiwiec]

Seems like this issue still affects Ansible 1.7.2:
I'm running the debug module with the inventory passed either through a file or dynamically. In the latter option, the variable is not picked up.

[dsiwiec@NAdsiwiec /tmp]$ ansible --version
ansible 1.7.2

[dsiwiec@NAdsiwiec /tmp]$ more inv
192.169.0.10

[dsiwiec@NAdsiwiec /tmp]$ more group_vars/all.yml
my_var: Hello, I'm group var

[dsiwiec@NAdsiwiec /tmp]$ ansible all -m debug -a var=my_var -i inv
192.169.0.10 | success >> {
    "my_var": "Hello, I'm group var"
}

[dsiwiec@NAdsiwiec /tmp]$ ansible all -m debug -a var=my_var -i "192.169.0.10,"
192.169.0.10 | success >> {
    "my_var": "{{ my_var }}"
}

[sankalp-khare]

@danielsiwiec , I think this is intentional. The ad-hoc inventory method that you used the second time around doesn't support grouping of hosts (naturally, since it's a hack and not the standard method of specifying inventory), while group_vars/all.yml is clearly something that is loaded when the notion of groups comes into play.

Just my two cents. It might be wise to have this verified by someone who knows about this more deeply.

[danielsiwiec]

Hmm. My understanding was that the dynamically specified hosts are assigned the all group, like it is with the inventory file in case you don't enclose the host with a group tag (vide my first invocation of ansible). This is also how the dynamic inventory works for the ansible-playbook command, where the host is clearly matched with the all group:

[dsiwiec@NAdsiwiec /tmp]$ more playbook.yml
- hosts: all
  gather_facts: false
  tasks:
    - debug: var=my_var

[dsiwiec@NAdsiwiec /tmp]$ ansible-playbook playbook.yml -i "192.169.0.10,"

PLAY [all] ********************************************************************

TASK: [debug var=my_var] ******************************************************
ok: [192.169.0.10] => {
    "my_var": "Hello, I'm group var"
}

PLAY RECAP ********************************************************************
192.169.0.10    : ok=1    changed=0    unreachable=0    failed=0

[sheldonh]

Could someone clarify?

Given this group_vars/all:

---
foo: bar

And this playbook called test.yml:

---
-
  hosts: localhost
  connection: local
  tasks:
    -
      debug: msg="{{ foo }}"

Should this command error out with 'foo' is undefined?

ansible-playbook -i /dev/null test.yml

It errors for me with 2.0.0 (devel 6971e92).

[jimi-c]

@sheldonh the loading of group_vars is generally dependent on the inventory location, though it should also look relative to the current working path, so this may be a bug. Please open a new issue for this.

[bcoca]

by 'working path' james means adjacent to the play called:

 play.yml
 group_vars/all

[jimi-c]

Yes, what we call internally the basedir usually.

[jimi-c]

@sheldonh I went ahead and fixed this already:

commit 4e94bb64d82eeb8756ff54f208f001c1056a12bd
Author: James Cammarata 
Date:   Tue Jul 14 09:26:24 2015 -0400
    Fix group/host var loading relative to playbook basedir

[sheldonh]

Works for me, thanks.

[tamsky]

Both commits on this issue are only to the devel/v2 branch:
e389584
4e94bb6
Anyone know if these patches work on v.1.9.x?

[matajaz]

I just experience this problem on ansible-playbook 2.0.2.0
My playbook works on my laptop but when run the same playbook on a vm in a cloud all group_vars are undefined.
I updated the ansible.cfg in the cloud to set the same config params as I had on my laptop (the default ones) but it did not make any difference. It still does not work in my cloud.
Are there any configuration parameter to enable/disable group_vars?

Br Mathias