Double Quotes in Command arguments are replaced with single quotes

[tsia]

SUMMARY

• I have some JSON data in a Variable (result of a previous command)
• looking at the output of debug the JSON content is valid
• i'm using this variable as a argument to another command
• the double quotes inside this variable are replaced with single quotes causing tools like jq to complain because that is not valid JSON

ISSUE TYPE

• Bug Report

COMPONENT NAME

command

ANSIBLE VERSION

ansible 2.9.12
  config file = None
  configured module search path = ['/home/<redacted>/.ansible/plugins/modules', '/usr/share/ansible/plugins/modules']
  ansible python module location = /usr/local/lib/python3.5/dist-packages/ansible
  executable location = /usr/local/bin/ansible
  python version = 3.5.3 (default, Jul  9 2020, 13:00:10) [GCC 6.3.0 20170516]

CONFIGURATION

<empty>

OS / ENVIRONMENT

target OS: CentOS 8
Python 3.6.8

STEPS TO REPRODUCE

---
- name: Test
  hosts: all
  become: yes
  tasks:
    - name: get some json data
      command:
        argv:
          - jq
          - .auths
          - /tmp/registry-auth.json
      register: docker_auth_data
    - debug:
        var: docker_auth_data
    - name: merge pull secrets
      command:
        argv:
          - jq
          - -c
          - --argjson
          - var
          - "{{ docker_auth_data.stdout }}"
          - .auths += $var
          - /tmp/pull-secret.json

EXPECTED RESULTS

json inside a variable should stay valid JSON

ACTUAL RESULTS

$ ansible-playbook -i hosts test.yml

PLAY [Test] ********************************************************************************************************************************************************************************

TASK [Gathering Facts] *********************************************************************************************************************************************************************
ok: [ansible.local]

TASK [get some json data] ******************************************************************************************************************************************************************
changed: [ansible.local]

TASK [debug] *******************************************************************************************************************************************************************************
ok: [ansible.local] => {
    "docker_auth_data": {
        "changed": true,
        "cmd": [
            "jq",
            ".auths",
            "/tmp/registry-auth.json"
        ],
        "delta": "0:00:00.007783",
        "end": "2020-09-07 16:42:30.771254",
        "failed": false,
        "rc": 0,
        "start": "2020-09-07 16:42:30.763471",
        "stderr": "",
        "stderr_lines": [],
        "stdout": "{\n  \"registry.example.com:8443\": {\n    \"auth\": \"Zm9vYmFyOm15X3NlY3JldF9wYXNzd29yZA==\"\n  }\n}",
        "stdout_lines": [
            "{",
            "  \"registry.example.com:8443\": {",
            "    \"auth\": \"Zm9vYmFyOm15X3NlY3JldF9wYXNzd29yZA==\"",
            "  }",
            "}"
        ]
    }
}

TASK [merge pull secrets] ******************************************************************************************************************************************************************
fatal: [ansible.local]: FAILED! => {"changed": true, "cmd": ["jq", "-c", "--argjson", "var", "{'registry.example.com:8443': {'auth': 'Zm9vYmFyOm15X3NlY3JldF9wYXNzd29yZA=='}}", ".auths += $var", "pull-secret.json"], "delta": "0:00:00.004928", "end": "2020-09-07 16:42:31.626875", "msg": "non-zero return code", "rc": 2, "start": "2020-09-07 16:42:31.621947", "stderr": "jq: invalid JSON text passed to --argjson\nUse jq --help for help with command-line options,\nor see the jq manpage, or online docs  at https://stedolan.github.io/jq", "stderr_lines": ["jq: invalid JSON text passed to --argjson", "Use jq --help for help with command-line options,", "or see the jq manpage, or online docs  at https://stedolan.github.io/jq"], "stdout": "", "stdout_lines": []}

PLAY RECAP *********************************************************************************************************************************************************************************
ansible.local  : ok=3    changed=1    unreachable=0    failed=1    skipped=0    rescued=0    ignored=0

output of run with -vvv: https://gist.github.com/tsia/34ebab74c71a20caef5eb5ca4ff648e8

[ansibot]

Files identified in the description:

• lib/ansible/modules/command.py

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

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[bcoca]

You will need - "{{ docker_auth_data.stdout|string }}" or to_json to prevent/force conversions back into JSON as they automatically get converted internally into Python data structures, which when serialized get single quotes, why you are seeing that 'substitution' happen but it is not really about quotes but data formats.

[tsia]

Thanks for clarifying. So that means I should consider all stdout of command as "potentially an object" just to be on the safe side?