# In a pickle...

**URL:** <https://forum.ansible.com/t/in-a-pickle/36970>\
**Category:** Ansible Project\
**Created:** [August 10, 2022, 4:50am UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/in-a-pickle/36970 "2022-08-10T04:50:29Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 8\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![chrisjx](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/ansible/user_avatar/forum.ansible.com/chrisjx/32/6922_2.png) [@chrisjx](https://forum.ansible.com/u/chrisjx)\
**Post date:** [August 10, 2022, 4:50am UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/in-a-pickle/36970/1 "2022-08-10T04:50:29Z")

</div>

**The error message:**  
ERROR! Unexpected Exception, this is probably a bug: cannot pickle ‘module’ object

I was accessing a new collection, icinga.icinga, and it complained so I decided to update… huge mistake. Now I can’t keep track of what I have and why this error is happening. I’m guessing I need to route out the 2.9 version but wanted some advice before i go… into the valley below. 😉

Thanks for any tips…  
Chris.

**The current state of things:**

# ansible --version

ansible 2.9.0  
config file = /Users/user/Documents/code/gitlab/devops/ansible/base/ansible.cfg  
configured module search path = [‘/Users/user/.ansible/plugins/modules’, ‘/usr/share/ansible/plugins/modules’]  
ansible python module location = /usr/local/lib/python3.9/site-packages/ansible  
executable location = /usr/local/bin/ansible  
python version = 3.9.13 (main, Aug 7 2022, 01:33:23) [Clang 13.1.6 (clang-1316.0.21.2.5)]

# python3 -m pip show ansible

Name: ansible  
Version: 6.2.0  
Summary: Radically simple IT automation  
Home-page: [https://ansible.com/](https://ansible.com/)  
Author: Ansible, Inc.  
Author-email: [info@ansible.com](mailto:info@ansible.com)  
License: GPLv3+  
Location: /Users/user/Library/Python/3.9/lib/python/site-packages  
Requires: ansible-core  
Required-by:

# ~/Documents/code/gitlab/devops/ansible/base | python3 -m pip show ansible-core

Name: ansible-core  
Version: 2.13.2  
Summary: Radically simple IT automation  
Home-page: [https://ansible.com/](https://ansible.com/)  
Author: Ansible, Inc.  
Author-email: [info@ansible.com](mailto:info@ansible.com)  
License: GPLv3+  
Location: /Users/user/Library/Python/3.9/lib/python/site-packages  
Requires: cryptography, jinja2, packaging, PyYAML, resolvelib  
Required-by: ansible

**The Details:**

I was running a simple ping just to test the accessibility of the hosts in my hosts file. The same happens on any hosts file…

# ansible -vvv all -m ping -i hosts/myhosts.yml

ansible 2.9.0  
config file = /Users/user/Documents/code/gitlab/devops/ansible/base/ansible.cfg  
configured module search path = [‘/Users/user/.ansible/plugins/modules’, ‘/usr/share/ansible/plugins/modules’]  
ansible python module location = /usr/local/lib/python3.9/site-packages/ansible  
executable location = /usr/local/bin/ansible  
python version = 3.9.13 (main, Aug 7 2022, 01:33:23) [Clang 13.1.6 (clang-1316.0.21.2.5)]  
Using /Users/user/Documents/code/gitlab/devops/ansible/base/ansible.cfg as config file  
host\_list declined parsing /Users/user/Documents/code/gitlab/devops/ansible/base/hosts/hosts\_deva.yml as it did not pass its verify\_file() method  
script declined parsing /Users/user/Documents/code/gitlab/devops/ansible/base/hosts/hosts\_deva.yml as it did not pass its verify\_file() method  
Parsed /Users/user/Documents/code/gitlab/devops/ansible/base/hosts/hosts\_deva.yml inventory source with yaml plugin  
META: ran handlers  
ERROR! Unexpected Exception, this is probably a bug: cannot pickle ‘module’ object  
the full traceback was:

Traceback (most recent call last):  
File “/usr/local/bin/ansible”, line 123, in   
exit\_code = cli.run()  
File “/usr/local/lib/python3.9/site-packages/ansible/cli/adhoc.py”, line 165, in run  
result = self.\_tqm.run(play)  
File “/usr/local/lib/python3.9/site-packages/ansible/executor/task\_queue\_manager.py”, line 240, in run  
play\_return = strategy.run(iterator, play\_context)  
File “/usr/local/lib/python3.9/site-packages/ansible/plugins/strategy/linear.py”, line 310, in run  
self.\_queue\_task(host, task, task\_vars, play\_context)  
File “/usr/local/lib/python3.9/site-packages/ansible/plugins/strategy/ **init**.py”, line 343, in \_queue\_task  
worker\_prc.start()  
File “/usr/local/lib/python3.9/site-packages/ansible/executor/process/worker.py”, line 96, in start  
return super(WorkerProcess, self).start()  
File “/usr/local/Cellar/python@3.9/3.9.13\_2/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/3.9/lib/python3.9/multiprocessing/process.py”, line 121, in start  
self.\_popen = self.\_Popen(self)  
File “/usr/local/Cellar/python@3.9/3.9.13\_2/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/3.9/lib/python3.9/multiprocessing/context.py”, line 224, in \_Popen  
return \_default\_context.get\_context().Process.\_Popen(process\_obj)  
File “/usr/local/Cellar/python@3.9/3.9.13\_2/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/3.9/lib/python3.9/multiprocessing/context.py”, line 284, in \_Popen  
return Popen(process\_obj)  
File “/usr/local/Cellar/python@3.9/3.9.13\_2/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/3.9/lib/python3.9/multiprocessing/popen\_spawn\_posix.py”, line 32, in **init**  
super(). **init** (process\_obj)  
File “/usr/local/Cellar/python@3.9/3.9.13\_2/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/3.9/lib/python3.9/multiprocessing/popen\_fork.py”, line 19, in **init**  
self.\_launch(process\_obj)  
File “/usr/local/Cellar/python@3.9/3.9.13\_2/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/3.9/lib/python3.9/multiprocessing/popen\_spawn\_posix.py”, line 47, in \_launch  
reduction.dump(process\_obj, fp)  
File “/usr/local/Cellar/python@3.9/3.9.13\_2/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/3.9/lib/python3.9/multiprocessing/reduction.py”, line 60, in dump  
ForkingPickler(file, protocol).dump(obj)  
TypeError: cannot pickle ‘module’ object

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Walter\_Rowe](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/ansible/user_avatar/forum.ansible.com/walter_rowe/32/4506_2.png) [@Walter\_Rowe](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Walter_Rowe)\
**Post date:** [August 10, 2022, 11:09am UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/in-a-pickle/36970/2 "2022-08-10T11:09:51Z")

</div>

Do you have any outdated pip modules?

% pip list -o

Perhaps one/some of them need updating?

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![sivel](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/ansible/user_avatar/forum.ansible.com/sivel/32/1198_2.png) [@sivel](https://forum.ansible.com/u/sivel)\
**Post date:** [August 10, 2022, 2:20pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/in-a-pickle/36970/3 "2022-08-10T14:20:00Z")

</div>

That bug was addressed in v2.9.1 as part of [https://github.com/ansible/ansible/pull/63591](https://github.com/ansible/ansible/pull/63591)

I wouldn’t suggest simply upgrading to 2.9.1. 2.9.1 was released over 2.5 years ago, and the 2.9 release is now end of life. You should consider upgrading to at least ansible-core 2.12 (ansible 5.0)

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![chrisjx](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/ansible/user_avatar/forum.ansible.com/chrisjx/32/6922_2.png) [@chrisjx](https://forum.ansible.com/u/chrisjx)\
**Post date:** [August 10, 2022, 4:01pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/in-a-pickle/36970/4 "2022-08-10T16:01:22Z")

</div>

Thank you.

What I have, and might have been lost in too much detail, is.

# ansible --version

ansible 2.9.0  
ansible python module location = /usr/local/lib/python3.9/site-packages/ansible

executable location = /usr/local/bin/ansible

# python3 -m pip show ansible-core

Name: ansible-core  
Version: 2.13.2  
Location: /Users/user/Library/Python/3.9/lib/python/site-packages

# python3 -m pip show ansible

Name: ansible  
Version: 6.2.0

Location: /Users/user/Library/Python/3.9/lib/python/site-packages

I thought 2.9 was gone, but it persists. How do I inform my generic call to “ansible” to reference 2.13 vs 2.9? I think I need to replace “/usr/local/bin/ansible”.

Again, thank you for the tips.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![sivel](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/ansible/user_avatar/forum.ansible.com/sivel/32/1198_2.png) [@sivel](https://forum.ansible.com/u/sivel)\
**Post date:** [August 10, 2022, 4:13pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/in-a-pickle/36970/5 "2022-08-10T16:13:13Z")

</div>

It looks like you need to follow the documentation from [https://packaging.python.org/en/latest/tutorials/installing-packages/#installing-to-the-user-site](https://packaging.python.org/en/latest/tutorials/installing-packages/#installing-to-the-user-site)

That URL is linked from our install guide:

> You may need to perform some additional configuration before you are able to run Ansible. See the Python documentation on installing to the user site for more information.

Effectively you need to run:

python3 -m site --user-base

Add `/bin` on the end, and insert that into your `PATH` environment variable. Generally it will be `$HOME/.local/bin`. That new bin path should be added before `/usr/local/bin`

To remove the old version, you likely just need to do a `python3 uninstall ansible`, just ensure the paths it informs you it will remove are within `/usr/local`

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![chrisjx](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/ansible/user_avatar/forum.ansible.com/chrisjx/32/6922_2.png) [@chrisjx](https://forum.ansible.com/u/chrisjx)\
**Post date:** [August 10, 2022, 5:03pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/in-a-pickle/36970/6 "2022-08-10T17:03:59Z")

</div>

Ack. Worse than I thought… Here’s what I see when executing some of the commands from the page you referenced (thank you).

On MacOS - Monterey

# python -m site --user-base

/Users/user/Library/Python/2.7 \<\<==== ACK!

# python3 --version

Python 3.9.13

# python --version

Python 2.7.18

# python3 -m pip --version

pip 22.2.2 from /usr/local/lib/python3.9/site-packages/pip (python 3.9)

# echo $PATH (broken out to make it easier to see - I don’t recall ever managing this PATH variable)

/usr/local/sbin:  
/usr/local/bin/python3.9/bin:  
/usr/local/bin:  
/usr/bin:  
/bin:  
/usr/sbin:  
/sbin:  
/usr/local/go/bin:  
/opt/X11/bin:  
/Library/Frameworks/Mono.framework/Versions/Current/Commands

When I follow the path to python in /usr/local/bin/, I see the following:  
python3 → ../Cellar/python@3.9/3.9.13\_2/bin/python3  
python3.7 → ../../../Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/3.7/bin/python3.7  
python3.9 → ../Cellar/python@3.9/3.9.13\_2/bin/python3.9

And here:

# ls -la /Users/user/Library/Python/

total 0  
drwx------ 6 user staff 192 Jun 29 16:45 .  
drwx------@ 104 user staff 3328 Mar 11 09:25 ..  
drwx------ 4 user staff 128 May 23 2019 2.7  
drwx------ 4 user staff 128 Dec 2 2020 3.7  
drwx------ 4 user staff 128 Aug 4 2021 3.8  
drwx------ 4 user staff 128 Aug 9 2021 3.9

I think I used brew when I installed 3.9.

Also, to confirm, `python3 uninstall ansible` will ask before uninstalling?

Thank you,

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![chrisjx](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/ansible/user_avatar/forum.ansible.com/chrisjx/32/6922_2.png) [@chrisjx](https://forum.ansible.com/u/chrisjx)\
**Post date:** [August 10, 2022, 11:08pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/in-a-pickle/36970/7 "2022-08-10T23:08:38Z")

</div>

The Fix - It came down to “actually” removing (deleting) the 2.9.0 version which was a hard file references as: **/usr/local/bin/ansible**

I then added a sym-link as follows:

/usr/local/bin/ansible → …/Cellar/ansible/6.2.0/bin/ansible

All seems back to normal.

If an application was installed with a command, it should uninstall with the same command. Perhaps there’s a purge I missed. Seems uninstall leaves some bits of flotsam…

Thanks for your help…

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Nico\_Kadel-Garcia](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/ansible/user_avatar/forum.ansible.com/nico_kadel-garcia/32/9998_2.png) [@Nico\_Kadel-Garcia](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Nico_Kadel-Garcia)\
**Post date:** [August 10, 2022, 11:22pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/in-a-pickle/36970/8 "2022-08-10T23:22:56Z")

</div>

> The Fix - It came down to "actually" removing (deleting) the 2.9.0 version which was a hard file references as: /usr/local/bin/ansible
> 
> I then added a sym-link as follows:
> 
> /usr/local/bin/ansible -\> ../Cellar/ansible/6.2.0/bin/ansible
> 
> All seems back to normal.
> 
> If an application was installed with a command, it should uninstall with the same command. Perhaps there's a purge I missed. Seems uninstall leaves some bits of flotsam...
> 
> Thanks for your help...

What command created this hardlink?