# Problems notifying handlers in another role

**URL:** <https://forum.ansible.com/t/problems-notifying-handlers-in-another-role/29227>\
**Category:** Ansible Project\
**Created:** [December 8, 2018, 3:52pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/problems-notifying-handlers-in-another-role/29227 "2018-12-08T15:52:04Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Andy\_Smith](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/898d66/32.png) [@Andy\_Smith](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Andy_Smith)\
**Post date:** [December 8, 2018, 3:52pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/problems-notifying-handlers-in-another-role/29227/1 "2018-12-08T15:52:04Z")

</div>

Hello,

Say I have a playbook a bit like this:

- hosts: some\_group  
&nbsp;&nbsp;roles:  
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- {  
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;role: app,  
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;}

- hosts: all  
&nbsp;&nbsp;roles:  
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- {  
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;role: configure,  
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;}

That second role "configure" does something that will require the  
apache2 service on hosts in some\_group to be reloaded. However there  
will be multiple other roles that depend on the things that the  
"configure" role does, and it won't always be apache2 that needs to  
be reloaded. It may be some other software that needs to be  
reloaded.

Therefore, I don't think it's correct to put a handler in  
roles/configure/handlers/main.yml, because I don't know ahead of  
time every possible thing that should be reloaded.

The "app" role does know what needs to be reloaded, so it seems like  
the handler should be in roles/app/handlers/main.yml and notified  
from the task in roles/configure/tasks/….

Also, as I do not know the exact services that will require  
reloading, it seems like I should in fact use "listen:" on the  
handler. The idea being that multiple different roles will register  
listeners on that event and then they can all fire to reload what  
needs reloading.

I put a handler in roles/app/handlers/main.yml like:

- name: Graceful reload apache2  
&nbsp;&nbsp;listen: App config has changed  
&nbsp;&nbsp;command: /usr/sbin/apache2ctl graceful

When the corresponding notify fires, I get the error that no such  
handler exists.

If I put the above handler in the same role as where it is notified  
from, i.e. in roles/configure/handlers/main.yml, or add it to the  
playbook like:

- hosts: all  
&nbsp;&nbsp;roles:  
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- {  
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;role: configure,  
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;}  
&nbsp;&nbsp;handlers:  
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- name Graceful reload apache2  
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;listen: App config has changed  
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;command: /usr/sbin/apache2ctl graceful

Then it works.

That's not going to work for me though, because I need other roles  
to manage software that will also want to be reloaded when "App  
config has changed".

I thought that handlers were a global namespace, and the "app" role  
comes first so why is its handler not being made available to the  
tasks in the "configure" role?

Is there a better pattern for what I am trying to do?

Version 2.7.4.

Thanks,  
Andy

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![S\_C\_Rigler](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/eb9ed0/32.png) [@S\_C\_Rigler](https://forum.ansible.com/u/S_C_Rigler)\
**Post date:** [December 8, 2018, 4:01pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/problems-notifying-handlers-in-another-role/29227/2 "2018-12-08T16:01:14Z")

</div>

I don’t know if this is the best way, but I have a role consisting of just handlers that is included as a metal dependency by other roles. This helps me get around having multiple handlers that do the same thing and also allows me to enforce the order that they are run (eg, I have a reboot handler that would be really counterproductive if it ran before other handlers, so it is listed last).

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Andy\_Smith](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/898d66/32.png) [@Andy\_Smith](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Andy_Smith)\
**Post date:** [December 8, 2018, 5:20pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/problems-notifying-handlers-in-another-role/29227/3 "2018-12-08T17:20:07Z")

</div>

Hi,

Okay, thanks, that does help a little because in the playbook what I  
can do is:

- hosts: some\_group  
&nbsp;&nbsp;roles:  
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- {  
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;role: app,  
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;}

- hosts: all  
&nbsp;&nbsp;roles:  
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- {  
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;role: configure,  
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;}  
&nbsp;&nbsp;handlers:  
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- include: roles/app/handlers/main.yml

meaning that the handlers that have to listen for "App config has  
changed" can live in the logical place in their own roles, but I do  
have to remember to include each of their files.

It still is confusing to me why the handlers in  
roles/app/handlers/main.yml are not visible to the tasks in the  
other roles unless explicitly included this way.

Thanks,  
Andy