There is no difference between files in a recursive directory

[zyayun]

Summary

A single file in the directory shows the difference ,But multiple files will not show the difference

/tmp » ansible localhost  -m copy  -a 'src=/tmp/test1 dest=/tmp/test5' -C --diff -v                                                                                                                  yayun@zyyMAC
[WARNING]: You are running the development version of Ansible. You should only run Ansible from "devel" if you are modifying the Ansible engine, or trying out features under development. This is a rapidly
changing source of code and can become unstable at any point.
No config file found; using defaults
[WARNING]: No inventory was parsed, only implicit localhost is available
--- before
+++ after: /tmp/test1/tox.ini
@@ -0,0 +1,31 @@
+[tox]
+envlist = py26,py27,py35,py36
+
+[testenv]
+deps = -c{toxinidir}/test/runner/requirements/constraints.txt
+       -r{toxinidir}/test/runner/requirements/ansible-test.txt
+       -r{toxinidir}/test/runner/requirements/sanity.txt
+       -r{toxinidir}/test/runner/requirements/units.txt
+commands =
+    python --version
+    # The recommended method of running tests with tox is to execute
+    # ansible-test directly and use the --tox and --python options.
+    # The commands below are provided as a convenience for those who
+    # prefer to run tox directly instead of through ansible-test.
+    {toxinidir}/test/runner/ansible-test sanity  --python default -v
+    {toxinidir}/test/runner/ansible-test units   --python default -v
+passenv =
+    # Pass HOME to the test environment to avoid the missing HOME env
+    # variable error. See issue: #20424
+    HOME
+
+[pytest]
+xfail_strict = true
+cache_dir = .pytest_cache
+
+[flake8]
+# These are things that the devs don't agree make the code more readable
+# E402 module level import not at top of file
+ignore = E402
+# not all the devs believe in 80 column line length
+max-line-length = 160

localhost | CHANGED => {
    "changed": true
}

Issue Type

Bug Report

Component Name

copy,file,state

Ansible Version

$ ansible --version
ansible [core 2.12.0.dev0]
  config file = None
  configured module search path = ['/Users/yayun/.ansible/plugins/modules', '/usr/share/ansible/plugins/modules']
  ansible python module location = /Users/yayun/workspace/venv/lib/python3.8/site-packages/ansible_core-2.12.0.dev0-py3.8.egg/ansible
  ansible collection location = /Users/yayun/.ansible/collections:/usr/share/ansible/collections
  executable location = /Users/yayun/workspace/venv/bin/ansible
  python version = 3.8.2 (default, Dec 21 2020, 15:06:04) [Clang 12.0.0 (clang-1200.0.32.29)]
  jinja version = 2.10.3
  libyaml = True

Configuration

$ ansible-config dump --only-changed
...skipping...
~
~
~
~

OS / Environment

Centos,Ubuntu,MacOS

Steps to Reproduce

The source directory has single file

/tmp » ansible localhost  -m copy  -a 'src=/tmp/test1 dest=/tmp/test5' -C --diff -v

[WARNING]: You are running the development version of Ansible. You should only run Ansible from "devel" if you are modifying the Ansible engine, or trying out features under development. This is a rapidly
changing source of code and can become unstable at any point.
No config file found; using defaults
[WARNING]: No inventory was parsed, only implicit localhost is available
--- before
+++ after: /tmp/test1/tox.ini
@@ -0,0 +1,31 @@
+[tox]
+envlist = py26,py27,py35,py36
+
+[testenv]
+deps = -c{toxinidir}/test/runner/requirements/constraints.txt
+       -r{toxinidir}/test/runner/requirements/ansible-test.txt
+       -r{toxinidir}/test/runner/requirements/sanity.txt
+       -r{toxinidir}/test/runner/requirements/units.txt
+commands =
+    python --version
+    # The recommended method of running tests with tox is to execute
+    # ansible-test directly and use the --tox and --python options.
+    # The commands below are provided as a convenience for those who
+    # prefer to run tox directly instead of through ansible-test.
+    {toxinidir}/test/runner/ansible-test sanity  --python default -v
+    {toxinidir}/test/runner/ansible-test units   --python default -v
+passenv =
+    # Pass HOME to the test environment to avoid the missing HOME env
+    # variable error. See issue: #20424
+    HOME
+
+[pytest]
+xfail_strict = true
+cache_dir = .pytest_cache
+
+[flake8]
+# These are things that the devs don't agree make the code more readable
+# E402 module level import not at top of file
+ignore = E402
+# not all the devs believe in 80 column line length
+max-line-length = 160

localhost | CHANGED => {
    "changed": true
}

The source directory has multiple files, No differences between multiple files are shown

/tmp » cp ~/workspace/ansible/Makefile ./test1                                                                                                                                                       yayun@zyyMAC
(venv) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
/tmp » ansible localhost  -m copy  -a 'src=/tmp/test1 dest=/tmp/test5' -C --diff -v                                                                                                                  yayun@zyyMAC
[WARNING]: You are running the development version of Ansible. You should only run Ansible from "devel" if you are modifying the Ansible engine, or trying out features under development. This is a rapidly
changing source of code and can become unstable at any point.
No config file found; using defaults
[WARNING]: No inventory was parsed, only implicit localhost is available
localhost | CHANGED => {
    "changed": true,
    "dest": "/tmp/test5/",
    "src": "/tmp/test1"
}
(venv)

Expected Results

···yaml
/tmp » ansible localhost -m copy -a 'src=/tmp/test1 dest=/tmp/test5' -C --diff -v yayun@zyyMAC
[WARNING]: You are running the development version of Ansible. You should only run Ansible from "devel" if you are modifying the Ansible engine, or trying out features under development. This is a rapidly
changing source of code and can become unstable at any point.
No config file found; using defaults
[WARNING]: No inventory was parsed, only implicit localhost is available
--- before
+++ after: /tmp/test1/tox.ini
@@ -0,0 +1,31 @@
+[tox]
+envlist = py26,py27,py35,py36
+
+[testenv]
+deps = -c{toxinidir}/test/runner/requirements/constraints.txt

•   -r{toxinidir}/test/runner/requirements/ansible-test.txt
  

•   -r{toxinidir}/test/runner/requirements/sanity.txt
  

•   -r{toxinidir}/test/runner/requirements/units.txt
  

.....

--- before
+++ after: /tmp/test1/Makefile
@@ -0,0 +1,31 @@
+# WARN: gmake syntax
+########################################################
+# Makefile for Ansible
+#
+# useful targets:
+# make sdist ---------------- produce a tarball
+# make srpm ----------------- produce a SRPM
+# make rpm ----------------- produce RPMs
+# make deb-src -------------- produce a DEB source
+# make deb ------------------ produce a DEB
+# make docs ----------------- rebuild the manpages (results are checked in)
+# make tests ---------------- run the tests (see +https://docs.ansible.com/ansible/devel/dev_guide/testing_units.html for requirements)
+# make pyflakes, make pep8 -- source code checks

localhost | CHANGED => {
"changed": true
}

### Actual Results

```console
/tmp » ansible localhost  -m copy  -a 'src=/tmp/test1 dest=/tmp/test5' -C --diff -v                                                                                                                  yayun@zyyMAC
[WARNING]: You are running the development version of Ansible. You should only run Ansible from "devel" if you are modifying the Ansible engine, or trying out features under development. This is a rapidly
changing source of code and can become unstable at any point.
No config file found; using defaults
[WARNING]: No inventory was parsed, only implicit localhost is available
localhost | CHANGED => {
    "changed": true,
    "dest": "/tmp/test5/",
    "src": "/tmp/test1"
}

Code of Conduct

• I agree to follow the Ansible Code of Conduct

[ansibot]

Files identified in the description:

• lib/ansible/modules/copy.py
• lib/ansible/modules/file.py
• lib/ansible/modules/stat.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

[zyayun]

I don't want to synchronize module, Because his differences are hard to understand and see, right

I think many people have also raised this issue, the community has not solved the problem, this is a serious problem in production

[sivel]

Duplicate of #74947