Diff output for script / shell / command tasks

[sabik]

Summary

It would be useful for script / shell / command (and similar) tasks to be able to specify a diff for output in diff mode.

Currently, in order to In order to get diff output out of a script, shell or command task, I need to:

• pass in ansible_diff_mode to indicate whether diff output should be produced (optional)
• (produce the diff output in the script/shell/command - this is expected)
• register the result of the task
• use a separate task to print out the result

The requested feature would allow removal of the last two steps; instead, it would be a keyword like changed_diff: result.stdout or changed_diff: "{{ result.stdout }}"

This would be analogous to the existing failed_when and changed_when keywords

Issue Type

Feature Idea

Component Name

ansible

Additional Information

Example use:

- name: Example 1
  command: /usr/local/bin/example1
  register: result
  changed_when: true
  changed_diff: result.stdout

- name: Example 2
  command: /usr/local/bin/example2
  register: result
  vars:
    decoded_result: "{{ result.stdout | from_json }}"
  changed_when: decoded_result.changes | length > 0"
  changed_diff: decoded_result.changes | join(', ')"
  failed_when: decoded_result.error

Code of Conduct

• I agree to follow the Ansible Code of Conduct

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[sabik]

Originally proposed in the discussion on the adjacent but distinct #24215

[jborean93]

Hi!

Thanks very much for your submission to Ansible. It means a lot to us that you've taken time to contribute.

Unfortunately, we're not sure if we want this feature in the program, and I don't want this to seem confrontational.
Our reasons for this are:

• This particular API is not something we are interesting in adding at this point in time
• Register projections potentially offer up the ability to do this [POC] Add projection feature for registering vars - Option 2 #72553
• You can try this out in fallible today - https://pypi.org/project/fallible/

However, we're absolutely always up for discussion.
Because this project is very active, we're unlikely to see comments made on closed tickets and we lock them after some time.
If you or anyone else has any further questions, please let us know by using any of the communication methods listed in the page below:

• https://docs.ansible.com/ansible/latest/community/communication.html

In the future, sometimes starting a discussion on the development list prior to implementing a feature can make getting things included a little easier, but it's not always necessary.

Thank you once again for this and your interest in Ansible!