ansible.builtin.file diff could not be disabled

[F-PMOR]

Summary

I'm trying to desactivate diff in ansible.builtin.file task like below while using the diff_mode (ansible-playbook playbook.yml --diff) :

- name: "Create Folder ../artifacts/{{ inventory_hostname }}/ if not exist"
  ansible.builtin.file:
    path: "../artifacts/{{ inventory_hostname }}"
    mode: 0755
    state: directory
  delegate_to: localhost
  diff: false

The option "diff: false" seams not beeing implemented in file module.

The output is :

TASK [orange.vpn : Create Folder ../artifacts/NEXUS-93180-1/ if not exist] **************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************
--- before
+++ after
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
 {
-    "mode": "0777",
+    "mode": "0755",
     "path": "../artifacts/NEXUS-93180-1"
 }

It should be :

TASK [orange.vpn : Create Folder ../artifacts/NEXUS-93180-1/ if not exist] **************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************
changed: [NEXUS-93180-1 -> localhost]

Issue Type

Feature Idea

Component Name

ansible.builtin.file

Additional Information

Code of Conduct

• I agree to follow the Ansible Code of Conduct

[ansibot]

Files identified in the description:

• lib/ansible/modules/file.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]

From the docs in the file module:

    diff_mode:
        details: permissions and ownership will be shown but file contents on absent/touch will not.
        support: partial

The file module always returns those differences and does not respect diff mode setting, hence the 'partial' support.

[bcoca]

but implementing the feature should not be too hard

diff --git a/lib/ansible/modules/file.py b/lib/ansible/modules/file.py
index 72b510c3ca..6c55ff70c8 100644
--- a/lib/ansible/modules/file.py
+++ b/lib/ansible/modules/file.py
@@ -980,6 +980,9 @@ def main():
     elif state == 'absent':
         result = ensure_absent(path)

+    if not module.diff_mode:
+        result.pop('diff')
+
     module.exit_json(**result)

[nodiscc]

I'd also like to see this implemented/fixed (is the patch above sufficient?), as the file module can be extremely verbose and clutter logs with state: absent on directories containing many files/subdirectories.

The only alternative currently available to prevent this, is to set no_log: True for the task, but it may hide useful information.