group vars of other hosts don't appear in hostvars

[jeee]

Summary

A playbook which used to work fine stopped working. I am using the 'hash_behaviour = merge' option in ansible.cfg. The group variables of other hosts don't appear in hostvars anymore.

Issue Type

Bug Report

Component Name

inventory

Ansible Version

ansible [core 2.11.1] 
  config file = /etc/ansible/ansible.cfg
  python version = 3.8.10 (default, Jun  2 2021, 10:49:15) [GCC 9.4.0]
  jinja version = 2.10.1
  libyaml = True

Configuration

ansible-config dump --only-changed

OS / Environment

Ubuntu 20.04

Steps to Reproduce

  children:
  
    group:
      hosts:
        hostA:
          configx:
            var1: 11111
        hostB:
          configx:
            var1: 22222
          
      vars:
        configx:
          var2: 33333

- hosts: all
  become: yes
  vars:
    
  tasks:
  - name: Show HostVarsVars object
    debug:
      var: hostvars

Expected Results

            "configx": {
                "var1": 22222
                "var2": 33333
            },```

### Actual Results

```console
"hostB": {
            "configx": {
                "var1": 22222
            },

Code of Conduct

• I agree to follow the Ansible Code of Conduct

[ansibot]

Files identified in the description:

• lib/ansible/inventory

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

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[mkrizek]

Can you give us the output of ansible-config dump --only-changed?

needs_info

[ansibot]

@jeee This issue is waiting for your response. Please respond or the issue will be closed.

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[jeee]

Can you give us the output of ansible-config dump --only-changed?

needs_info

This command gives no output.

[mkrizek]

Can you give us the output of ansible-config dump --only-changed?
needs_info

This command gives no output.

Which is in contradiction with the statement in the issue description that says I am using the 'hash_behaviour = merge' option in ansible.cfg..

Since the command gives no output hash_behavior=replace is used because it is the default and as such the output in Actual Results is expected.

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[jeee]

$ cat /etc/ansible/ansible.cfg |grep merge
hash_behaviour = merge

[jeee]

looks like at least ansible-config is not using the config anymore?
$ ansible-config dump |grep -i hash
DEFAULT_HASH_BEHAVIOUR(default) = replace

[jeee]

strange. 'ansible-config view' shows hash_behaviour = merge at the end.

[jeee]

looks like it was in the wrong section in the config file. Don't understand what happened exactly cause it worked before. Sorry for the trouble.