output of list_vms does not have stdout

Archives Ansible Project
1

So I have the following tasks

name: get running guests
  virt:
    command: "list_vms"
  register: vms
  when: test_kvm |default(False)

- name: List running guests
  debug:
    msg: "{{ vms }}"
  when: test_kvm |default(False)

I would expect when you register a variable, you should see stdout
associated with this variable. Instead,

ok: [vmhost] => {
    "msg": {
        "changed": false,
        "failed": false,
        "list_vms": [
            "testcentos"
        ]
    }
}

Is there a bit of inconsistency going on here or am I just confused?

2

It's not a general rule that stdout is included in the data returned by a
module. It depends on the developers. In this particular case the returned
data is as designed. Quoting from the doc:

    RETURN VALUES:

    # for list_vms command
    list_vms:
        description: The list of vms defined on the remote system
        type: list
        returned: success
        sample: [
            "build.example.org",
            "dev.example.org"
        ]

HTH,

  -vlado