Ansible 2.3 devel - ansible-playbook command failing with error for ansible command

Hi,

I just upgraded to ansible 2.3 , taking the code from git. Now I am not able to run the same command which was working earlier with ansible 2.2.

Please find below the error -

stock]$ ansible-playbook -i inventory.hosts tasks/main.yml
Usage: ansible [options]

Options:
-a MODULE_ARGS, --args=MODULE_ARGS
module arguments
–ask-vault-pass ask for vault password
-B SECONDS, --background=SECONDS
run asynchronously, failing after X seconds
(default=N/A)
-C, --check don’t make any changes; instead, try to predict some
of the changes that may occur
-D, --diff when changing (small) files and templates, show the
differences in those files; works great with --check
-e EXTRA_VARS, --extra-vars=EXTRA_VARS
set additional variables as key=value or YAML/JSON
-f FORKS, --forks=FORKS
specify number of parallel processes to use
(default=5)
-h, --help show this help message and exit
-i INVENTORY, --inventory-file=INVENTORY
specify inventory host path
(default=/etc/ansible/hosts) or comma separated host
list.
-l SUBSET, --limit=SUBSET
further limit selected hosts to an additional pattern
–list-hosts outputs a list of matching hosts; does not execute
anything else
-m MODULE_NAME, --module-name=MODULE_NAME
module name to execute (default=command)
-M MODULE_PATH, --module-path=MODULE_PATH
specify path(s) to module library (default=None)
–new-vault-password-file=NEW_VAULT_PASSWORD_FILE
new vault password file for rekey
-o, --one-line condense output
–output=OUTPUT_FILE output file name for encrypt or decrypt; use - for
stdout
-P POLL_INTERVAL, --poll=POLL_INTERVAL
set the poll interval if using -B (default=15)
–syntax-check perform a syntax check on the playbook, but do not
execute it
-t TREE, --tree=TREE log output to this directory
–vault-password-file=VAULT_PASSWORD_FILE
vault password file
-v, --verbose verbose mode (-vvv for more, -vvvv to enable
connection debugging)
–version show program’s version number and exit

Connection Options:
control as whom and how to connect to hosts

-k, --ask-pass ask for connection password
–private-key=PRIVATE_KEY_FILE, --key-file=PRIVATE_KEY_FILE
use this file to authenticate the connection
-u REMOTE_USER, --user=REMOTE_USER
connect as this user (default=None)
-c CONNECTION, --connection=CONNECTION
connection type to use (default=smart)
-T TIMEOUT, --timeout=TIMEOUT
override the connection timeout in seconds
(default=10)
–ssh-common-args=SSH_COMMON_ARGS
specify common arguments to pass to sftp/scp/ssh (e.g.
ProxyCommand)
–sftp-extra-args=SFTP_EXTRA_ARGS
specify extra arguments to pass to sftp only (e.g. -f,
-l)
–scp-extra-args=SCP_EXTRA_ARGS
specify extra arguments to pass to scp only (e.g. -l)
–ssh-extra-args=SSH_EXTRA_ARGS
specify extra arguments to pass to ssh only (e.g. -R)

Privilege Escalation Options:
control how and which user you become as on target hosts

-s, --sudo run operations with sudo (nopasswd) (deprecated, use
become)
-U SUDO_USER, --sudo-user=SUDO_USER
desired sudo user (default=root) (deprecated, use
become)
-S, --su run operations with su (deprecated, use become)
-R SU_USER, --su-user=SU_USER
run operations with su as this user (default=root)
(deprecated, use become)
-b, --become run operations with become (does not imply password
prompting)
–become-method=BECOME_METHOD
privilege escalation method to use (default=sudo),
valid choices: [ sudo | su | pbrun | pfexec | doas |
dzdo | ksu | runas ]
–become-user=BECOME_USER
run operations as this user (default=root)
–ask-sudo-pass ask for sudo password (deprecated, use become)
–ask-su-pass ask for su password (deprecated, use become)
-K, --ask-become-pass
ask for privilege escalation password
ERROR! Missing target hosts

Please resolve asap.

Regards,
Dwarika

You may want to look at this ticket. https://github.com/ansible/ansible/issues/21850. The user had the same issue as you, but it was caused by him mixing up his repo with his clone of Ansible’s repo. Here is another issue that might cause it, http://serverfault.com/questions/800565/ansible-error-missing-target-hosts. I just downloaded the latest development version and was unable to reproduce the problem. Hope one of those links helps. Best of luck.

  • Jordan White

Just one more thought. Based off of another message I saw (don’t remember which one), if you upgraded from 2.2 to 2.3 using a pull, changes in the directory structure and the .gitignore file may cause some issues. I’ve personally upgraded from 2.2.X to 2.3 using pull and didn’t have issues, but it might be worth deleting your copy and re-cloning.