# ansible\_python\_interpreter, variable scope, and bootstrapping **URL:** \ **Category:** Ansible Project\ **Created:** [August 5, 2013, 10:04pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/ansible-python-interpreter-variable-scope-and-bootstrapping/13257 "2013-08-05T22:04:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Andrew\_Todd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/cc9497/32.png) [@Andrew\_Todd](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Andrew_Todd)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2013, 10:04pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/ansible-python-interpreter-variable-scope-and-bootstrapping/13257/1 "2013-08-05T22:04:54Z")
I find myself in a fairly unfortunate situation where I’m trying to prove Ansible’s versatility in adverse situations and coming up a bit short. Hopefully you can help. I work with Solaris systems where I don’t have root access and don’t really have any kind of package manager available, so I have to improvise. I have a bootstrap playbook that connects to my remote Solaris box, downloads the Python 2.7 source code, and builds it in a prefix in my home directory using the shell module and gather\_facts: false. OK, now I want to set ansible\_python\_interpreter to point to the new Python install, so that the rest of my plays will work predictably. And I want to know what that prefix directory is throughout the rest of my plays as well. Of course, other people might run this Ansible play as well, so I can’t hardcode my username. And I might want to use the same scripts on other systems, say, OS X. What all this comes down to is that I need to dynamically set ansible\_python\_interpreter at some point in my site playbook and have it trickle down to all of the playbooks I’m including, the roles that they’re using, etc. But when I set variables in site, they don’t seem to be available in the sub-playbooks I include there. Where’s the best place to do this? Would I be better off making a separate “bootstrap” playbook and using a shell script to invoke the bootstrap playbook, then the real playbook sequentially? Would I be able to set these variables on the command-line then and have them work? Thanks. ---
**Author:** ![James\_Cammarata1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d26b3c/32.png) [@James\_Cammarata1](https://forum.ansible.com/u/James_Cammarata1)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2013, 12:23am UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/ansible-python-interpreter-variable-scope-and-bootstrapping/13257/2 "2013-08-06T00:23:48Z")
The ansible\_python\_interpreter variable needs to be set in your inventory. This page in the manual will give you the details on how it should be setup: [http://www.ansibleworks.com/docs/patterns.html#list-of-reserved-inventory-parameters](http://www.ansibleworks.com/docs/patterns.html#list-of-reserved-inventory-parameters) ---
**Author:** ![Andrew\_Todd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/cc9497/32.png) [@Andrew\_Todd](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Andrew_Todd)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2013, 1:30pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/ansible-python-interpreter-variable-scope-and-bootstrapping/13257/3 "2013-08-06T13:30:05Z")
I've set it in group\_vars before and had it work. However, the problem is that I don't know until runtime what the full path is going to be, since the interpreter is stored in the home directory of the user executing Ansible. I \_might\_ be able to effect some changes in our systems so that that's the case. ---
**Author:** ![Michael\_DeHaan2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/da6949/32.png) [@Michael\_DeHaan2](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Michael_DeHaan2)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2013, 2:07pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/ansible-python-interpreter-variable-scope-and-bootstrapping/13257/4 "2013-08-06T14:07:28Z")
Here’s a neat idea. You could consider setting gather\_facts: False in the playbook, and write a facts module in a language other than python (bash is fine, just return key=value pairs and Ansible doesn’t even need JSON), that you explicitly call as the first step of your playbook, that returns an ansible\_python\_interpreter fact. - hosts: all gather\_facts: False tasks: - action: site\_facts # now run the regular facts module since we are good to go - action: setup - # regular tasks go here ---
**Author:** ![Andrew\_Todd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/cc9497/32.png) [@Andrew\_Todd](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Andrew_Todd)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2013, 3:42pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/ansible-python-interpreter-variable-scope-and-bootstrapping/13257/5 "2013-08-06T15:42:07Z")
Thanks, that might just work. Just to save myself a little experimentation, to set facts using a k/v style response, do I need to set a single key called ansible\_facts and then... stuff beneath it? Or does every key become a fact? Regardless, I can make it work. You've gotten me over two conceptual barriers, namely, first, that I could run ANY module other than "raw" or "shell" without a sane Python environment, and second, that I could set facts from that. Yesterday I was attempting to use "register" with a shell execution, which wasn't going so well.