When I use the fetch module (with or without using become, which is contra-indicated but I have no choice), and for whatever reason the file cannot be copied, the local machine still creates a zero-length file. Is there a way to disable this behavior?
Thanks.
–EbH
Eric,
Can you provide your task? Any error messages?
I made a mistake – it’s not “for whatever reason the file cannot be copied” … but it happens (at least) when I can’t open the remote file (permission denied).
[ehymowitz test]$ ls -al cougar
total 8,192
drwx------. 2 ehymowitz ehymowitz 4,096 Oct 3 13:15 .
drwx------. 3 ehymowitz ehymowitz 4,096 Oct 3 13:13 …
[ehymowitz test]$ cat fetch.yaml
gather_facts: no
tasks:
fetch:
src: /etc/sysconfig/iptables
dest: “/home/ehymowitz/ansible/test/cougar/{{inventory_hostname}}.iptables”
flat: yes
[ehymowitz test]$ ansible-playbook fetch.yaml
PLAY [cougar] ******
TASK [fetch] *******
[WARNING]: sftp transfer mechanism failed on [cougar]. Use ANSIBLE_DEBUG=1 to
see detailed information
[WARNING]: scp transfer mechanism failed on [cougar]. Use ANSIBLE_DEBUG=1 to
see detailed information
[WARNING]: piped transfer mechanism failed on [cougar]. Use ANSIBLE_DEBUG=1 to
see detailed information
fatal: [cougar]: FAILED! => {“msg”:
"failed to transfer file to /etc/sysconfig/iptables /home/ehymowitz/ansible/test/cougar/cougar.iptables:\n\ndd:
opening `/etc/sysconfig/iptables’: Permission denied\n"}
to retry, use: --limit @/home/ehymowitz/ansible/test/fetch.retry
PLAY RECAP *******
cougar : ok=0 changed=0 unreachable=0 failed=1
[ehymowitz test]$ ls -al cougar
total 8,192
drwx------. 2 ehymowitz ehymowitz 4,096 Oct 3 13:15 .
drwx------. 3 ehymowitz ehymowitz 4,096 Oct 3 13:13 …
-rw-------. 1 ehymowitz ehymowitz 0 Oct 3 13:15 cougar.iptables
–EbH
I think not using become is what is killing you. iptables is definitely only readable by root. Try turning “become” back on.
My problem isn’t “the file didn’t copy”. I know why the file didn’t copy.
The question is, why did a zero-length destination file appear when the file didn’t copy? If the file didn’t copy, then my destination should not exist.
–EbH
Not necessarily. Depends on the order of execution within the module. It might “touch” the destination before attempting the copy and may not delete it if the copy fails. Not sure. You’d have to look at the source code of the fetch module. 