Ubuntu 16.04 requires Python 2

[stevepiercy]

Ubuntu 16.04 requires Python 2 installed for this playbook to run.

On Digital Ocean, I did the following:

• create a droplet of Ubuntu 16.04.2 x32
• add a new user for sudo and SSH
• followed the docs to set up the playbook
• issued following command with response:

(ansible_work) Steves-iMac:ansible-playbook stevepiercy$ ansible XXX.stevepiercy.us -a "whoami"
XXX.stevepiercy.us | FAILED! => {
    "changed": false,
    "failed": true,
    "module_stderr": "Shared connection to ###.###.###.### closed.\r\n",
    "module_stdout": "/bin/sh: 1: /usr/bin/python: not found\r\n",
    "msg": "MODULE FAILURE",
    "rc": 0
}

A quick search led me to SO posts a-plenty, but I couldn't decide which looked the best for automation. Instead I just installed Python 2 via SSH with sudo apt-get install python-simplejson. Now the command works:

(ansible_work) Steves-iMac:ansible-playbook stevepiercy$ ansible XXX.stevepiercy.us -a "whoami"
XXX.stevepiercy.us | SUCCESS | rc=0 >>
spiercy

I hang my head in shame for not automating gooder.

I also saw an issue in the tracker that mentioned this, and it seems that it got overlooked in the subsequent PRs.
#16
#17
#43

[stevepiercy]

Thank you!

[mmorejon]

Once installed python-simplejson, ansible worked perfectly!
Thank you!

[tkimnguyen]

as per 9499e4b indeed

which python2.7

then

sudo apt-get install -y python

made my old plone.io branch work again :) thx @smcmahon (and @stevepiercy for filing the bug that I was looking for!)

[emmanuelstroem]

Because Ubuntu 16.04 and above come with python3,
you need to first set the python3 path in your hosts file like this:
ansible_python_interpreter=/usr/bin/python3
for the initial run of the playbook to install python-simplejson which installs python2 or just python.