apt module fails to do apt-upgrade with cache_valid_time set and update_cache=yes

[pfaffman]

Summary

Running an apt upgrade fails because the apt cache is out of date:

    - name: do an apt upgrade
      apt:
        name: "*"
        state: latest
        update_cache: yes
        force_apt_get: True
        cache_valid_time: 600
      become: yes
      register: apt_action
      retries: 100

When I do an apt update by hand and then re-run the playbook it works. I suppose it could be that the 10 minute valid time is at issue; I don't think it's the case that I've been so unlucky as to have had this problem multiple times over multiple days. But I suppose that's possible.

Issue Type

Bug Report

Component Name

apt

Ansible Version

[DEPRECATION WARNING]: Ansible will require Python 3.8 or newer on the controller starting with Ansible 2.12. Current version: 3.7.3 (default, Jan 22 2021, 20:04:44) [GCC 8.3.0]. This
 feature will be removed from ansible-core in version 2.12. Deprecation warnings can be disabled by setting deprecation_warnings=False in ansible.cfg.
ansible [core 2.11.6] 
  config file = None
  configured module search path = ['/root/.ansible/plugins/modules', '/usr/share/ansible/plugins/modules']
  ansible python module location = /usr/local/lib/python3.7/dist-packages/ansible
  ansible collection location = /root/.ansible/collections:/usr/share/ansible/collections
  executable location = /usr/local/bin/ansible
  python version = 3.7.3 (default, Jan 22 2021, 20:04:44) [GCC 8.3.0]
  jinja version = 3.0.2
  libyaml = True

Configuration

s[DEPRECATION WARNING]: Ansible will require Python 3.8 or newer on the controller starting with Ansible 2.12. Current version: 3.7.3 (default, Jan 22 2021, 20:04:44) [GCC 8.3.0]. This
 feature will be removed from ansible-core in version 2.12. Deprecation warnings can be disabled by setting deprecation_warnings=False in ansible.cfg.

OS / Environment

Debian GNU/Linux 10 \n \l

Steps to Reproduce

        - name: do an apt upgrade
          apt:
            name: "*"
            state: latest
            update_cache: yes
            force_apt_get: True
            cache_valid_time: 600
          become: yes
          register: apt_action
          retries: 100
          until: apt_action is success or ('Failed to lock apt for exclusive operation' not in apt_action.msg and '/var/lib/dpkg/lock' not in apt_action.msg)
          when: ansible_distribution == 'Ubuntu' or ansible_distribution == 'Ubuntu'

Expected Results

I expected a successful apt upgrade

Actual Results

fatal: [167.71.88.47]: FAILED! => {"attempts": 1, "changed": false, "msg": "'/usr/bin/apt-get upgrade --with-new-pkgs ' failed: E: Failed to fetch http://mirrors.digitalocean.com/ubuntu/pool/universe/o/open-vm-tools/open-vm-tools_11.3.0-2ubuntu0~ubuntu20.04.1_amd64.deb  404  Not Found [IP: 104.21.29.13 80]
E: Unable to fetch some archives, maybe run apt-get update or try with --fix-missing?
", "rc": 100, "stdout": "Reading package lists...
Building dependency tree...
Reading state information...
Calculating upgrade...
The following packages will be upgraded:
  open-vm-tools
1 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
Need to get 648 kB of archives.
After this operation, 950 kB of additional disk space will be used.
Err:1 http://mirrors.digitalocean.com/ubuntu focal-updates/universe amd64 open-vm-tools amd64 2:11.3.0-2ubuntu0~ubuntu20.04.1
  404  Not Found [IP: 104.21.29.13 80]
", "stdout_lines": ["Reading package lists...", "Building dependency tree...", "Reading state information...", "Calculating upgrade...", "The following packages will be upgraded:", "  open-vm-tools", "1 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.", "Need to get 648 kB of archives.", "After this operation, 950 kB of additional disk space will be used.", "Err:1 http://mirrors.digitalocean.com/ubuntu focal-updates/universe amd64 open-vm-tools amd64 2:11.3.0-2ubuntu0~ubuntu20.04.1", "  404  Not Found [IP: 104.21.29.13 80]"]}

Code of Conduct

• I agree to follow the Ansible Code of Conduct

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Files identified in the description:

• lib/ansible/modules/apt.py

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[jameslivulpi]

I ran some tests on my digital ocean droplet and don't think this is a bug:

Basically since you have cache_valid_time: 600 it won't update the cache for the 600 seconds (10 mins) like you mentioned. The code checks the mtime on:

APT_LISTS_PATH = "/var/lib/apt/lists"
APT_UPDATE_SUCCESS_STAMP_PATH = "/var/lib/apt/periodic/update-success-stamp"

so if the mtime on these is less than 600 seconds from running the play (datetime.datetime.now()) then the cache doesn't get updated thus hitting the error, so to me this looks expected. I also waited till after 600 seconds and ran your play and it executed as it should (i.e., updated cache and runs the update).

Hope this helps