Inconsistent boolean handling of False

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1

I have been struggling with booloean handling and read through https://github.com/ansible/ansible/issues/8629 not sure if its fixed or I am just not getting the jist. If I run something like …

`

vars:
foo: True
bar: False
foobar: ‘{{ foo and bar }}’

tasks:

  • debug: msg=“If foo is True”
    when: foo

  • debug: msg=“If bar is False”
    when: not bar

  • debug: msg=“foobar is True”
    when: foobar

  • debug: msg=“foobar is false”
    when: not foobar

  • debug: msg=“foobar|bool is false”
    when: not foobar|bool

  • debug:
    var=foobar

`

If I run the above I get

`
PLAY [localhost] **************************************************************

TASK: [debug msg=“If foo is True”] ********************************************
ok: [localhost] => {
“msg”: “If foo is True”
}

TASK: [debug msg=“If bar is False”] *******************************************
ok: [localhost] => {
“msg”: “If bar is False”
}

TASK: [debug msg=“foobar is True”] ********************************************
skipping: [localhost]

TASK: [debug msg=“foobar is false”] *******************************************
skipping: [localhost]

TASK: [debug msg=“foobar|bool is false”] **************************************
ok: [localhost] => {
“msg”: “foobar|bool is false”
}

TASK: [debug var=foobar] ******************************************************
ok: [localhost] => {
“var”: {
“foobar”: “False”
}
}

PLAY RECAP ********************************************************************
localhost : ok=5 changed=0 unreachable=0 failed=0

`

Is this just expected behaviour due to mix of yaml and jinja2 it just seems messy having to work out when to use |bool ?

Cheers
Si

`

`

2

This bug should be fixed. Which version are you using? But even when
it's fixed, the string "false" is a true value.

I do admit that "|bool" everywhere is kind of annoying, but it's the
safest way to always make sure your context is correct.

3

Running ansible 1.9.1. Maybe the booloean section in https://docs.ansible.com/playbooks_conditionals.html#the-when-statement nees to reflect this and spent some time to figure this out?

Cheers,
Si.