# Help getting Ansible running **URL:** \ **Category:** Ansible Project\ **Created:** [August 24, 2013, 11:41pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/help-getting-ansible-running/13359 "2013-08-24T23:41:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Lee\_Cuevas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/b2d939/32.png) [@Lee\_Cuevas](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Lee_Cuevas)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2013, 11:41pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/help-getting-ansible-running/13359/1 "2013-08-24T23:41:05Z")
I am new to Ansible and cannot seem to get it to work on Ubunto. I am trying a simple command: ansible all -m ping I get back: Cannot write to path /home/lee/.ansible/cp Traceback (most recent call last): File “/usr/lib/pymodules/python2.7/ansible/runner/ **init**.py”, line 70, in \_executor\_hook return\_data = multiprocessing\_runner.\_executor(host, new\_stdin) File “/usr/lib/pymodules/python2.7/ansible/runner/ **init**.py”, line 364, in \_executor exec\_rc = self.\_executor\_internal(host, new\_stdin) File “/usr/lib/pymodules/python2.7/ansible/runner/ **init**.py”, line 443, in \_executor\_internal return self.\_executor\_internal\_inner(host, self.module\_name, self.module\_args, inject, port, complex\_args=complex\_args) File “/usr/lib/pymodules/python2.7/ansible/runner/ **init**.py”, line 579, in \_executor\_internal\_inner conn = self.connector.connect(actual\_host, actual\_port, actual\_user, actual\_pass, actual\_transport, actual\_private\_key\_file) File “/usr/lib/pymodules/python2.7/ansible/runner/connection.py”, line 36, in connect conn = utils.plugins.connection\_loader.get(transport, self.runner, host, port, user=user, password=password, private\_key\_file=private\_key\_file) File “/usr/lib/pymodules/python2.7/ansible/utils/plugins.py”, line 170, in get return getattr(self.\_module\_cache[path], self.class\_name)(\*args, \*\*kwargs) File “/usr/lib/pymodules/python2.7/ansible/runner/connection\_plugins/ssh.py”, line 44, in **init** self.cp\_dir = utils.prepare\_writeable\_dir(‘$HOME/.ansible/cp’,mode=0700) File “/usr/lib/pymodules/python2.7/ansible/utils/ **init**.py”, line 205, in prepare\_writeable\_dir exit(“Cannot write to path %s” % tree) File “/usr/lib/pymodules/python2.7/ansible/utils/ **init**.py”, line 122, in exit sys.exit(rc) SystemExit: 1 Cannot write to path /home/lee/.ansible/cp Traceback (most recent call last): File “/usr/lib/pymodules/python2.7/ansible/runner/ **init**.py”, line 70, in \_executor\_hook return\_data = multiprocessing\_runner.\_executor(host, new\_stdin) File “/usr/lib/pymodules/python2.7/ansible/runner/ **init**.py”, line 364, in \_executor exec\_rc = self.\_executor\_internal(host, new\_stdin) File “/usr/lib/pymodules/python2.7/ansible/runner/ **init**.py”, line 443, in \_executor\_internal return self.\_executor\_internal\_inner(host, self.module\_name, self.module\_args, inject, port, complex\_args=complex\_args) File “/usr/lib/pymodules/python2.7/ansible/runner/ **init**.py”, line 579, in \_executor\_internal\_inner conn = self.connector.connect(actual\_host, actual\_port, actual\_user, actual\_pass, actual\_transport, actual\_private\_key\_file) File “/usr/lib/pymodules/python2.7/ansible/runner/connection.py”, line 36, in connect conn = utils.plugins.connection\_loader.get(transport, self.runner, host, port, user=user, password=password, private\_key\_file=private\_key\_file) File “/usr/lib/pymodules/python2.7/ansible/utils/plugins.py”, line 170, in get return getattr(self.\_module\_cache[path], self.class\_name)(\*args, \*\*kwargs) File “/usr/lib/pymodules/python2.7/ansible/runner/connection\_plugins/ssh.py”, line 44, in **init** self.cp\_dir = utils.prepare\_writeable\_dir(‘$HOME/.ansible/cp’,mode=0700) File “/usr/lib/pymodules/python2.7/ansible/utils/ **init**.py”, line 205, in prepare\_writeable\_dir exit(“Cannot write to path %s” % tree) File “/usr/lib/pymodules/python2.7/ansible/utils/ **init**.py”, line 122, in exit sys.exit(rc) SystemExit: 1 Any help appreciated Lee ---
**Author:** ![James\_Cammarata1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d26b3c/32.png) [@James\_Cammarata1](https://forum.ansible.com/u/James_Cammarata1)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2013, 4:00am UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/help-getting-ansible-running/13359/2 "2013-08-25T04:00:01Z")
If you re-run the command does it work? Another user opened an issue on github for a similar stack dump. ---
**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:** [August 25, 2013, 2:53pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/help-getting-ansible-running/13359/3 "2013-08-25T14:53:09Z")
Looks like this should be raising errors.AnsibleError too instead of SystemExit to avoid the traceback. We’ll get this fixed ASAP. ---
**Author:** ![James\_Cammarata1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d26b3c/32.png) [@James\_Cammarata1](https://forum.ansible.com/u/James_Cammarata1)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2013, 4:54pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/help-getting-ansible-running/13359/4 "2013-08-25T16:54:43Z")
Also, could you share some details about your system? Does /home/lee exist? If so, does /home/lee/.ansible and what are the permissions? What is the ownership/permissions on /home and /home/lee? Are home directories being mounted via NFS, or some other remote file share? Are you running the ansible/ansible-playbook commands via sudo? ---
**Author:** ![Lee\_Cuevas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/b2d939/32.png) [@Lee\_Cuevas](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Lee_Cuevas)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2013, 5:17pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/help-getting-ansible-running/13359/5 "2013-08-25T17:17:37Z")
Home/lee does exist. drwxr-xr-x 30 lee lee 4096 Aug 24 16:53 lee .ansible drwxr-xr-x 4 root root 4096 Aug 24 17:27 .ansible Run using sudo: lee@lee-UB01:~$ sudo ansible all -m ping [sudo] password for lee: previous known host file not found 127.0.0.1 | FAILED =\> could not create temporary directory: SSH exited with return code 255 previous known host file not found [ubuntu.cuevas.com](http://ubuntu.cuevas.com) | FAILED =\> could not create temporary directory: SSH exited with return code 255 Home directories are on a local drive. Thanks for helping ---
**Author:** ![Vincent\_Van\_der\_Kuss](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/7c8e57/32.png) [@Vincent\_Van\_der\_Kuss](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Vincent_Van_der_Kuss)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2013, 5:58pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/help-getting-ansible-running/13359/6 "2013-08-25T17:58:12Z")
Are you trying to connect to localhost? Vincent ---
**Author:** ![Lee\_Cuevas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/b2d939/32.png) [@Lee\_Cuevas](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Lee_Cuevas)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2013, 6:15pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/help-getting-ansible-running/13359/7 "2013-08-25T18:15:47Z")
Yes ---
**Author:** ![Vincent\_Van\_der\_Kuss](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/7c8e57/32.png) [@Vincent\_Van\_der\_Kuss](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Vincent_Van_der_Kuss)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2013, 6:17pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/help-getting-ansible-running/13359/8 "2013-08-25T18:17:29Z")
Can you try running with “- c local” ---
**Author:** ![Lee\_Cuevas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/b2d939/32.png) [@Lee\_Cuevas](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Lee_Cuevas)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2013, 6:20pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/help-getting-ansible-running/13359/9 "2013-08-25T18:20:16Z")
root@lee-UB01:/home/lee# ansible all -m ping -c local 127.0.0.1 | success \>\> { “changed”: false, “ping”: “pong” } [ubuntu.cuevas.com](http://ubuntu.cuevas.com) | success \>\> { “changed”: false, “ping”: “pong” } I’m not sure I understand why this worked. ---
**Author:** ![kahlil.hodgson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b9bd4f/32.png) [@kahlil.hodgson](https://forum.ansible.com/u/kahlil.hodgson)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2013, 9:01pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/help-getting-ansible-running/13359/10 "2013-08-25T21:01:46Z")
can you try ssh lee@localhost ssh may be prompting to add localhost to known\_hosts file ---
**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:** [August 25, 2013, 9:06pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/help-getting-ansible-running/13359/11 "2013-08-25T21:06:32Z")
Hey guys, all the community debugging is great but let’s just track this on the github and let James and myself handle it for now. We know it’s not because of known\_host prompting, and we already know it’s exclusive to the SSH transport. ---
**Author:** ![Lee\_Cuevas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/b2d939/32.png) [@Lee\_Cuevas](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Lee_Cuevas)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2013, 10:27pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/help-getting-ansible-running/13359/12 "2013-08-25T22:27:45Z")
Michael, How do I get this over to Github? ---
**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:** [August 25, 2013, 11:49pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/help-getting-ansible-running/13359/13 "2013-08-25T23:49:58Z")
Forgot this wasn’t you. You can comment on and follow this one: [https://github.com/ansible/ansible/issues/3943](https://github.com/ansible/ansible/issues/3943) Current data seems to support us just needing to ignore the “already exists” error so James should have a fix pushed soon and we can spin a 1.2.4. (Note: 1.3 is also due Friday after next) –Michael