# Misc features for 0.8 -- A summary of recently merged pull requests **URL:** \ **Category:** Ansible Project\ **Created:** [September 19, 2012, 1:46am UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/misc-features-for-0-8-a-summary-of-recently-merged-pull-requests/11908 "2012-09-19T01:46:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 3\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Michael\_DeHaan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c4cdca/32.png) [@Michael\_DeHaan](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Michael_DeHaan)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2012, 1:46am UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/misc-features-for-0-8-a-summary-of-recently-merged-pull-requests/11908/1 "2012-09-19T01:46:58Z")
Various shiny things from lots of people, you know who you are! Thanks! Here is what I have written in the changelog (docs are all pending) and with a little bit of extra explanation for a few of them.   Please help test! It's a bit of a laundry list, so apologies if it's not immediately evident if something has a particular utility. This is not all of what's new in 0.8 so far, see the CHANGELOG.md file on the github project for details, I've shared some on that already. \* added force=yes|no (default no) option for file module, which allows transition between files to directories and so on If you ever needed to delete a file and replace it with a directory, you can now do that. Ditto for directories and symlinks. This will be in the docs. \* where 'stdout' is provided a new 'stdout\_lines' variable (type == list) is now generated and usable with with\_items You can do things like: action: command blarg register: somevar action: glorp $item with\_items: ${somevar.stdout\_lines} This will be in the docs. \* In templates, now $FILE($path) now allows access of contents of file in a path, very good for use with SSH keys If you want to include the contents of a file directly in a single line in your template, this allows you to do that. It will be most usable immediately with the authorized key module, and we should update our docs to show usage of this. It is much cleaner to say key=$FILE(/wherever/keys/id\_rsa.pub) than including the whole key inline in the action line. I don't see this getting much use outside of SSH keys, but I could be wrong! Note: $path can be replaced by a hard coded name or something with variables in it, it does not matter \* In templates, similarly $PIPE($command) will run a local command and return the results of executing this command This is a bit niche, but if you need to run a local command, even with variables in the arguments to that command, and include the results of that as if it were a variable, you can do that. Remember this command executes \*locally\*. I owe everyone some plumbing to make this play nice with "with\_items" when the command returns multiple lines, I need it to be an array. Right now, it's just a string value, so this is still coming. \* additional facts for SunOS virtualization Stuff about Solaris containers. \* when local\_action is used the transport is automatically overridden to the local type No reason to run SSH on your ansible-control machine if you want to use local action anymore. \* copy module is now atomic when used across volumes No danger of getting half of a file when your temp dir is on one partition and you are writing a large file on another. \* ansible-pull example now sets up logrotate for the ansible-pull cron job log Logrotate is just good sense here, as the ansible-pull log could grow over time. \* url\_get module now returns 'dest' with the location of the file saved This makes it easy to use url\_get with keywords like 'register'. Before it wouldn't tell you want file got saved. \* fix for yum module when using local RPMs vs downloading If you are using the yum module to install an RPM file already on your machine's disk (as opposed to network installs) it no longer is confused about whether the package is installed or not. --Michael ---
**Author:** ![Michael\_DeHaan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c4cdca/32.png) [@Michael\_DeHaan](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Michael_DeHaan)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2012, 2:31pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/misc-features-for-0-8-a-summary-of-recently-merged-pull-requests/11908/2 "2012-09-19T14:31:12Z")
FYI -- I've reverted patches for FILE() and PIPE() as they were causing some problems with the template function -- we'll resurrect these later! ---
**Author:** ![Brice\_Burgess](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/d2c977/32.png) [@Brice\_Burgess](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Brice_Burgess)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2012, 8:16pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/misc-features-for-0-8-a-summary-of-recently-merged-pull-requests/11908/3 "2012-09-20T20:16:05Z")
Great job Michael! I gladly await this 0.8 release. The FILE() and PIPE() in templates will be a great power-user feature _eventually_, but I see the new stdout\_lines variable just useful. ~ Brice