# initialising playbook var with other variable's value: variable undefined

**URL:** <https://forum.ansible.com/t/initialising-playbook-var-with-other-variables-value-variable-undefined/24631>\
**Category:** Ansible Project\
**Created:** [June 2, 2017, 12:04pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/initialising-playbook-var-with-other-variables-value-variable-undefined/24631 "2017-06-02T12:04:16Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Gin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/94ad74/32.png) [@Gin](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Gin)\
**Post date:** [June 2, 2017, 12:04pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/initialising-playbook-var-with-other-variables-value-variable-undefined/24631/1 "2017-06-02T12:04:16Z")

</div>

Hi,

I want to test a playbook that creates a local CoreOS cluster running on KVM: [https://github.com/misho-kr/coreos-cluster-kvm](https://github.com/misho-kr/coreos-cluster-kvm)

Invoking create.yaml playbook

`ansible-playbook create.yml -i hosts`

The playbook defines variable _vm\_image\_name\_compressed_ and supposedly passes it down to role _disk\_partition_.  
Variable _{{ saved\_vm\_image\_name.stdout }}_ returns a string - tested.

`vars: vm_image_name_compressed: "{{ saved_vm_image_name.stdout }}" roles: -role: disk_partition`

The playbook run yields the following error message:

`The error was: 'vm_image_name_compressed' is undefined The error appears to have been in './roles/disk_partition/tasks/upload.yml': line 12, column 3`

Variables initialized with constant values, e.g. _dummy\_var_: “_dummy\_val_” work as expected - variable _dummy\_var_ is visible from within the _disk\_partition role_.

Could someone explain why the variable is not initialized with other variable’s value?

I am using Ansible 2.3.1.

Thanks,  
Gin