# Get community.general.make task idempotent **URL:** \ **Category:** Get Help\ **Created:** [February 11, 2025, 10:29pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/get-community-general-make-task-idempotent/40196 "2025-02-11T22:29:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Lonerider2010](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/ansible/user_avatar/forum.ansible.com/lonerider2010/32/7558_2.png) [@Lonerider2010](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Lonerider2010)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2025, 10:29pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/get-community-general-make-task-idempotent/40196/1 "2025-02-11T22:29:29Z")
Currently I try to install the GIMP plugin BIMP via Ansible. So the tasks I want to execute are: - git clone the repository [https://github.com/alessandrofrancesconi/gimp-plugin-bimp.git](https://github.com/alessandrofrancesconi/gimp-plugin-bimp.git) - change to the `gimp-plugin-bimp` directory - make - make install. Now I found the `community.general.make` module. And yes, I could install the plugin with the help of this module. Unfortunately, every time I start the playbook again, it executes the make and make install tasks again. My understanding for getting the tasks idempotent is to use either `creates` or a `when` clause. But both are not allowed with the `community.general.make` module. So how can I achieve the idempotency? Here a snipet from my playbook: ```auto - name: Clone the BIMP repository ansible.builtin.git: repo: https://github.com/alessandrofrancesconi/gimp-plugin-bimp.git dest: /opt/gimp-plugin-bimp clone: yes update: yes - name: Build the BIMP target community.general.make: chdir: /opt/gimp-plugin-bimp - name: Run BIMP 'install' target community.general.make: chdir: /opt/gimp-plugin-bimp target: install ``` ---
**Author:** ![chris](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/ansible/user_avatar/forum.ansible.com/chris/32/293_2.png) [@chris](https://forum.ansible.com/u/chris)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2025, 10:41pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/get-community-general-make-task-idempotent/40196/2 "2025-02-11T22:41:34Z")
You could just run the tasks when the `git clone` changes anything? ```auto - name: Clone the BIMP repository ansible.builtin.git: repo: https://github.com/alessandrofrancesconi/gimp-plugin-bimp.git dest: /opt/gimp-plugin-bimp clone: true update: true register: bimp_git_clone - name: Build and install BIMP when git clone results change block: - name: Build the BIMP target community.general.make: chdir: /opt/gimp-plugin-bimp - name: Run BIMP 'install' target community.general.make: chdir: /opt/gimp-plugin-bimp target: install when: bimp_git_clone.changed | bool ``` If you also specified a [version](https://docs.ansible.com/ansible/latest/collections/ansible/builtin/git_module.html#parameter-version) for the `git clone` then it would be more idempotent? ---
**Author:** ![Lonerider2010](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/ansible/user_avatar/forum.ansible.com/lonerider2010/32/7558_2.png) [@Lonerider2010](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Lonerider2010)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2025, 10:50pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/get-community-general-make-task-idempotent/40196/3 "2025-02-11T22:50:06Z")
The `git clone` copies the repo for the first run. For the next runs, Ansible says `ok`. The `make` command generates a file that I could specify with ```auto creates: /opt/gimp-plugin-bimp/bin/bimp ``` but `creates` is not available in the `community.general.make` module. ---
**Author:** ![chris](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/ansible/user_avatar/forum.ansible.com/chris/32/293_2.png) [@chris](https://forum.ansible.com/u/chris)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2025, 11:08pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/get-community-general-make-task-idempotent/40196/4 "2025-02-11T23:08:07Z")
You could do something like this — only run `make` and `make install` if the `git clone` changes anything or if the `/opt/gimp-plugin-bimp/bin/bimp` files doesn’t exist? ```yaml - name: Clone the BIMP repository ansible.builtin.git: repo: https://github.com/alessandrofrancesconi/gimp-plugin-bimp.git dest: /opt/gimp-plugin-bimp clone: true update: true register: bimp_git_clone - name: Stat /opt/gimp-plugin-bimp/bin/bimp ansible.builtin.stat: path: /opt/gimp-plugin-bimp/bin/bimp register: bimp_bin_bimp - name: Build and install BIMP when git clone results change or bin/bimp doesn't exist block: - name: Build the BIMP target community.general.make: chdir: /opt/gimp-plugin-bimp - name: Run BIMP 'install' target community.general.make: chdir: /opt/gimp-plugin-bimp target: install when: ( bimp_git_clone.changed | bool ) or ( not bimp_bin_bimp.stat.exists | bool ) ``` ---
**Author:** ![Lonerider2010](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/ansible/user_avatar/forum.ansible.com/lonerider2010/32/7558_2.png) [@Lonerider2010](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Lonerider2010)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2025, 11:16pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/get-community-general-make-task-idempotent/40196/5 "2025-02-11T23:16:05Z")
@chris: Thanks for this hint. Unfortunately that does not work. Ansible throws the following exception: ```auto fatal: [xxxxxxx]: FAILED! => {} MSG: The conditional check '( bimp_git_clone.changed | bool ) or ( not bimp_bin_bimp.exists | bool )' failed. The error was: error while evaluating conditional (( bimp_git_clone.changed | bool ) or ( not bimp_bin_bimp.exists | bool )): 'dict object' has no attribute 'exists'. 'dict object' has no attribute 'exists' The error appears to be in '/media/web/projects/common/ansible/runner/project/set_RaspiHOME_example.yml': line 39, column 11, but may be elsewhere in the file depending on the exact syntax problem. The offending line appears to be: - name: Build the BIMP target ^ here ``` Still I think it would be helpful to allow `creates` in the module. ---
**Author:** ![chris](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/ansible/user_avatar/forum.ansible.com/chris/32/293_2.png) [@chris](https://forum.ansible.com/u/chris)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2025, 11:19pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/get-community-general-make-task-idempotent/40196/6 "2025-02-11T23:19:27Z")
Sorry I made a typo, `bimp_bin_bimp.exists` should have been `bimp_bin_bimp.stat.exists`, I have corrected it above. > [@Lonerider2010](#): > > Still I think it would be helpful to allow `creates` in the module. Open an issue for this in [the repo](https://github.com/ansible-collections/community.general/issues) if there isn’t one already? ---
**Author:** ![Lonerider2010](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/ansible/user_avatar/forum.ansible.com/lonerider2010/32/7558_2.png) [@Lonerider2010](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Lonerider2010)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2025, 11:24pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/get-community-general-make-task-idempotent/40196/7 "2025-02-11T23:24:01Z")
@chris: Thanks very much, now it works fine. Before opening an issue, I wanted to make sure that I understand the matter correctly. ---
**Author:** ![Lonerider2010](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/ansible/user_avatar/forum.ansible.com/lonerider2010/32/7558_2.png) [@Lonerider2010](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Lonerider2010)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2025, 11:38pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/get-community-general-make-task-idempotent/40196/8 "2025-02-11T23:38:55Z")
Now I created a feature request: [Add creates and when to community.general.make #9732](https://github.com/ansible-collections/community.general/issues/9732) ---
**Author:** ![system](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/ansible/original/1X/1882d9a01da5d8996a862359b0913cc568a39b84.svg) [@system](https://forum.ansible.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2025, 11:39pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/get-community-general-make-task-idempotent/40196/9 "2025-03-13T23:39:08Z")
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