# "copy" fails when overwriting existing file

**URL:** <https://forum.ansible.com/t/copy-fails-when-overwriting-existing-file/12741>\
**Category:** Ansible Project\
**Tags:** ansible-project\
**Created:** [April 30, 2013, 12:36pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/copy-fails-when-overwriting-existing-file/12741 "2013-04-30T12:36:58Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Michael\_DeHaan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c4cdca/32.png) [@Michael\_DeHaan](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Michael_DeHaan)\
**Post date:** [April 30, 2013, 12:36pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/copy-fails-when-overwriting-existing-file/12741/1 "2013-04-30T12:36:58Z")

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Hi Kevin, it sounds like you have a mixed install where you have updated and have something in ./library which is not the latest, or it’s picking up something in the system installed path.

Can you try from a clean checkout?

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Michael\_DeHaan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c4cdca/32.png) [@Michael\_DeHaan](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Michael_DeHaan)\
**Post date:** [May 1, 2013, 11:28am UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/copy-fails-when-overwriting-existing-file/12741/2 "2013-05-01T11:28:11Z")

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You would need to remove the loose (top level files, not directories) in /usr/share/ansible most likely.