# Getting top level directory when using roles **URL:** \ **Category:** Ansible Project\ **Created:** [September 24, 2013, 9:40pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/getting-top-level-directory-when-using-roles/13542 "2013-09-24T21:40:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Rowlands](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/22d042/32.png) [@Jonathan\_Rowlands](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Jonathan_Rowlands)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2013, 9:40pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/getting-top-level-directory-when-using-roles/13542/1 "2013-09-24T21:40:08Z")
So I have a playbook that installs [gitlab](https://github.com/jgrowl/ansible-playbook-gitlab). The playbook includes a role that optionally installs ssl certificates. The ssl certificates are obviously something I want to be customizable. Is there a better way to get the path than breaking out of the role using …/ ? [I am doing this:](https://github.com/jgrowl/ansible-playbook-gitlab/blob/5-4-stable/.private.template/vars/private.yml): > ```auto > > ssl_certs_src_glob: ../../../.private/files/null/ssl/certs/* > ssl_keys_src_glob: ../../../.private/files/null/ssl/keys/* > > ``` It works, I was just wondering if there was a cleaner way. ---
**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:** [September 25, 2013, 12:45am UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/getting-top-level-directory-when-using-roles/13542/2 "2013-09-25T00:45:11Z")
Built-in variables like “inventory\_dir” can give you the location of the inventory file. [http://www.ansibleworks.com/docs/playbooks2.html#id7](http://www.ansibleworks.com/docs/playbooks2.html#id7) There is no current directory to signify the playbook base directory, however (patches would be welcome!) For now, I would likely avoid repeating yourself by defining something like: ssl\_dir: …/…/.private ssl\_certs\_src\_glob: “{{ ssl\_dir }}/files/null/ssl/certs/\*” That way you don’t have to repeat the “…/” everywhere. ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Rowlands](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/22d042/32.png) [@Jonathan\_Rowlands](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Jonathan_Rowlands)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2013, 1:13am UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/getting-top-level-directory-when-using-roles/13542/3 "2013-09-25T01:13:11Z")
Cool, thanks for the info Michael. I’ll try to find some time to see about adding a base directory, though can’t promise a pull request. Maybe it is just good enough as is anyway. Thanks again! ---
**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:** [September 25, 2013, 1:27am UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/getting-top-level-directory-when-using-roles/13542/4 "2013-09-25T01:27:40Z")
If you want to file a feature request ticket in github, someone might come along and make it happen too 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Rowlands](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/22d042/32.png) [@Jonathan\_Rowlands](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Jonathan_Rowlands)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2013, 4:10pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/getting-top-level-directory-when-using-roles/13542/5 "2013-09-25T16:10:46Z")
[Good idea](https://github.com/ansible/ansible/issues/4246). ---
**Author:** ![Jurgen\_Haas2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f0a364/32.png) [@Jurgen\_Haas2](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Jurgen_Haas2)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2013, 10:43am UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/getting-top-level-directory-when-using-roles/13542/6 "2013-09-26T10:43:38Z")
I’ve tried that variable but it seems to not provide what’s expected - I’m on the latest dev-release of Ansible from github. When using this in a roles/ROLENAME/defaults/main.yml: password: “{{ lookup(‘password’, ‘./’ + inventory\_dir + ‘/files/’ + inventory\_hostname + ‘/password length=16’ ) }}” Then I’m getting a file named roles/ROLENAME/PATH\_TO\_INVENTORY/files/HOSTNAME/password My structure is: root - inventories - company1 - company2 - company3 - scripts - script1 - script2 - script3 - playbooks - pb1.yml - pb2.yml - pb3.yml - roles - role1 - role2 - role3 I’m calling ansible-playbook from within the directory root/scripts like this: ansible-playbook -i …/inventories/company1/hosts …/playbooks/pb1 I was expecting the file to be called root/inventories/company1/files/HOSTNAME/password but it isn’t. Not: in the lookup I tried with and without the leading ‘./’ and both result in the same file name in the end. ---
**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:** [September 26, 2013, 12:28pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/getting-top-level-directory-when-using-roles/13542/7 "2013-09-26T12:28:42Z")
“'ve tried that variable but it seems to not provide what’s expected” It’s an absolute path, don’t prefix it with a relative one. ---
**Author:** ![Jurgen\_Haas2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f0a364/32.png) [@Jurgen\_Haas2](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Jurgen_Haas2)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2013, 3:34pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/getting-top-level-directory-when-using-roles/13542/8 "2013-09-26T15:34:03Z")
What do you mean by this being an absolute path? What I’m getting is “inventories/company1” but no glue where this is in the full directory tree. ---
**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:** [September 26, 2013, 10:31pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/getting-top-level-directory-when-using-roles/13542/9 "2013-09-26T22:31:45Z")
ok so /root is an absolute path you would never say “.//root” to use that path. Just like you wouldn’t say ‘./’ + inventory\_dir Because inventory\_dir is an absolute path. ---
**Author:** ![Jurgen\_Haas2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f0a364/32.png) [@Jurgen\_Haas2](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Jurgen_Haas2)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2013, 6:03am UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/getting-top-level-directory-when-using-roles/13542/10 "2013-09-27T06:03:21Z")
Yes, I agree that /root is an absolute path. But what I get for onventory\_dir is “inventories/customer1” and I would expect to get “/root/inventories/customer1” because then I would exactly know where to go. But with only “inventories/customer1” I don’t. ---
**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:** [September 27, 2013, 2:31pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/getting-top-level-directory-when-using-roles/13542/11 "2013-09-27T14:31:47Z")
If you do not see the inventory directory as an absolute path on 1.3.X please file a bug. ---
**Author:** ![Jurgen\_Haas2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f0a364/32.png) [@Jurgen\_Haas2](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Jurgen_Haas2)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2013, 9:26am UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/getting-top-level-directory-when-using-roles/13542/12 "2013-09-29T09:26:09Z")
Bug report filed under [https://github.com/ansible/ansible/issues/4291](https://github.com/ansible/ansible/issues/4291) ---
**Author:** ![Jurgen\_Haas2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f0a364/32.png) [@Jurgen\_Haas2](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Jurgen_Haas2)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2013, 6:37am UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/getting-top-level-directory-when-using-roles/13542/13 "2013-10-14T06:37:08Z")
@Michael DeHaan, I have just commented on the closed issue 4291 and wonder if you could please have another look there. ---
**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:** [October 14, 2013, 12:30pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/getting-top-level-directory-when-using-roles/13542/14 "2013-10-14T12:30:47Z")
I’ve replied, thanks. ---
**Author:** ![Jurgen\_Haas2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f0a364/32.png) [@Jurgen\_Haas2](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Jurgen_Haas2)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2013, 5:57pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/getting-top-level-directory-when-using-roles/13542/15 "2013-10-15T17:57:11Z")
Not sure if you’re getting notifications while the issue is already closed, but I have responded there yesterday and provided all the details to reproduce the problem. ---
**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:** [October 15, 2013, 11:33pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/getting-top-level-directory-when-using-roles/13542/16 "2013-10-15T23:33:03Z")
Notifications on closed tickets are typically not read or responded to. If you believe something is still a problem, please open a ticket with a link to a gist or github repo that reproduces the problem. It is so easy to clobber formatting of content in the github comment box. ---
**Author:** ![Jurgen\_Haas2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f0a364/32.png) [@Jurgen\_Haas2](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Jurgen_Haas2)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2013, 6:50am UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/getting-top-level-directory-when-using-roles/13542/17 "2013-10-16T06:50:12Z")
Understood. All available as [https://github.com/ansible/ansible/issues/4535](https://github.com/ansible/ansible/issues/4535) including the link to the gist and a screenshot.