Copy: ability to let the action fail if remote file is modified?

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1

Hi all,

I'm concerned that I'll deploy configuration files with the copy action, and
later on manually edit the files on the server[0] and forget about copying
the changes to the source file in mercurial. Next time I run my ansible
playbook those changes will silently be overwritten.

I know about the backup option. While it saves me from data loss, it is silent,
and wont fail the playbook execution.

So, what I'd like is a way to have the copy action fail when the remote file
(dst) exists but differ from the local file (src). Is that possible?

[0] Old habits die hard.

2

Set force=no and the copy module will not replace existing files.

3

also using --check --diff shows you the differences in a dry run for copy, very useful to see if there are any unexpected changes.