file module, why useless src should be an error with state absent ?

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1

Hi,

I want a symlink to be present on some hosts and absent for others, so I write this task

- name: enable plugins for baremetal only
  file:
    path: "/etc/munin/plugins/{{ item }}"
    state: "{{ is_baremetal | ternary('link', 'absent') }}"
    src: "/usr/share/munin/plugins/{{ item }}"
  loop:
    - acpi
    - cpu
    - cpuspeed
    - diskstats
    - entropy
    - forks
    - fw_packets
    - interrupts
    - irqstats
    - load
    - proc_pri
    - swap
    - threads
    - vmstat
  notify: restart munin-node
  tags: [ 'config', 'munin-node' ]

It works, but it show this warning

  [WARNING]: The src option requires state to be 'link' or 'hard'. This will become an error in
  Ansible 2.10

Why turn this to an error ?

It will force me to write almost the same task twice (one with `state: link` and a second
with `state: absent`)

2

Wouldn't help to link conditionally? e.g.

- name: enable plugins for baremetal only
   file:
   when: is_baremetal|bool
     state: link
     path: "/etc/munin/plugins/{{ item }}"
     src: "/usr/share/munin/plugins/{{ item }}"
   loop:
     - acpi
     - cpu
       ...

3

Yes, but instead of my uniq task I need to write the same thing twice

- name: enable plugins for baremetal only
  file:
    state: link
    path: "/etc/munin/plugins/{{ item }}"
    src: "/usr/share/munin/plugins/{{ item }}"
  loop:
    - acpi
    - cpu
  when: is_baremetal|bool

- name: disable same plugins for others
  file:
    state: absent
    path: "/etc/munin/plugins/{{ item }}"
  loop:
    - acpi
    - cpu
  when: not is_baremetal

And to avoid inconsistency between these two task, a var or set_fact task need to be added (to
guarantee the same list in both task).

Much more complicated than a ternary in state prop of a uniq task…

It's just a remark, why forbid such a way to switch state link|absent ?

4

It's possible to omit src conditionally e.g.

- name: enable plugins for baremetal only
   file:
     path: "/etc/munin/plugins/{{ item }}"
     state: "{{ is_baremetal | ternary('link', 'absent') }}"
     src: "{{ is_baremetal | ternary('/usr/share/munin/plugins/' ~ item, omit) }}"
   loop:
     - acpi
     - cpu
       ...

(As a workaround, not very nice, ...). Your remark is valid. +1

5

Still nicer than duplicate all the task, thanks a lot !

(my "pb" is solved and I learnt something)