cc @jpmens @noseka1
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If the file doesn't exist or is empty, line 205 fails the conditional test because lines 171-172 insert a newline character.

171-172:

    if not ini_lines:
        ini_lines.append('\n')

205:

                        if not re.match(r'^[ \t]*([#;].*)?$', ini_lines[i - 1]):

I think this module would benefit from a redesign using the Python iniparse module rather than implementing its parsing from scratch.

needs_contributor

Also running into this. Basically, the functionality described here doesn't seem to actually be implemented.

If this worked it would be hugely useful for dealing with (the very common) properties files which are essentially ini files without sections.

I'm trying to solve this. Comments are welcome!

Hi, there is a proposed fix in #32576 does this fix the issue for you?

Please add review comments on the Pull Request

Hi, the ini_file module already allows managing ini files without sections. You have to leave the "section" parameter empty like this:

- name: set test configuration
  ini_file:
    path: /etc/conf
    section:
    option: myoption
    value: no
    mode: 0644
    backup: yes

Setting the "section" parameter to "null" won't work as documented. However, I think that using "null" to denote that there are no sections in the ini file is not a good idea, anyway. What are we going to do with an ini file that would include a regular section named "null"?
In summary, ini_file allows to manage section-less ini files and to do that the user has to leave the "section" parameter empty. I would suggest to update the documentation to remove the section=null approach, as that's not implemented and I don't think we would want to implement it.

Hi,

Thanks for poiting this out. You're right, the ini_file is buggy. When the file doesn't exist or exists but is empty, ini_file module won't add the new option. Only when the file already contains some options, then it worked for me:

$ ansible-playbook --version
ansible-playbook 2.2.1.0

$ echo someoption=value > /tmp/test.ini

$ ansible localhost -c local -m ini_file -a "dest='/tmp/test.ini' section='' option='aaa' value='bbbb' state='present'"

$ cat /tmp/test.ini
someoption=value
aaa = bbbb

So, yeah, this is a bug. Ansible should be able to add the option to a non-existing or empty file as well.

Configparser was used in this module until Ansible < 2.0. In 2.0 we replaced the implementation based on Configparser with our own. The reason was as you mentioned that Configparser would remove comments. See also my post from that time: http://alesnosek.com/blog/2015/08/03/improving-ansibles-ini-file-module/

I'm not sure if storing ini comments in the playbook is a good idea. When a new version of the ini file with updated comments is released, it would get out of sync with the ini comments hard-coded in the playbooks.

This is still an issue in Ansible 2.5.3.

I am also having the issue with Ansible 2.5.2.

Still an open issue in Ansible 2.6.1. I've just hit it.

I hope I'm not stepping on anyone's toes but I was able to checkout the PR and address the reviewers comments. #44324 . Hopefully this can be merged soon. :)

Hi,
Fix in #44324 has been merged into devel for release in Ansible 2.8
Backport for stable-2.7 created #47741

idk if you have already fix this issue with ini_file module (that i'm supposing to yes when it doesn't throw any error) but this still exists on the lookup plugin ini, f.e.:

``

• debug:
  msg: "{{ lookup('ini', 'GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT section file=/etc/default/grub') }}"

fatal: [localhost]: FAILED! => {"msg": "An unhandled exception occurred while running the lookup plugin 'ini'. Error was a <class 'configparser.MissingSectionHeaderError'>, original message: File contains no section headers.\nfile: '<???>', line: 1\n'GRUB_DEFAULT=saved\n'"}
``

idk if you have already fix this issue with ini_file module (that i'm supposing to yes when it doesn't throw any error) but this still exists on the lookup plugin ini, f.e.:

you should open a separate bug for the ini lookup

Did the 'add an option to an empty file' bug mentioned in the thread get fixed with #44324 ? (If so, we can probably close this bug; if not, clarify with a reproducer.)

Thank you very much for your interest in Ansible. Ansible has migrated much of the content into separate repositories to allow for more rapid, independent development. We are closing this issue/PR because this content has been moved to one or more collection repositories.

• lib/ansible/modules/files/ini_file.py -> https://galaxy.ansible.com/community/general

For further information, please see:
https://github.com/ansible/ansibullbot/blob/master/docs/collection_migration.md