Simplify error and rescue output

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1

Hi,

I have a task for configuring, testing and restarting apache. It works as expected, but the output is rather verbose. I’ve included sample output for a malformed configuration.

For the error I would like to do something like outputting only the stderr field.

The restore and delete backup tasks seem to output the whole task result. I would like to either output nothing at all, or perhaps only the file name or something, though I’m not sure exactly what the output is.

Using ansible core 2.19.4.

- name: Configure apache
  block:
    - name: Copy files
      ansible.builtin.copy:
        src: apache/{{ item }}
        dest: "/usr/local/etc/apache24/Includes/{{ item }}"
        backup: true
      with_items:
        - 'macro-redirect-https.conf'
      register: updated

    - name: "Test config"
      ansible.builtin.shell: 'apachectl -t'
      when: updated is changed
      notify:
        - Restart apache
  rescue:
    - name: Restore backup
      ansible.builtin.copy:
        remote_src: true
        src: "{{ item['backup_file'] }}"
        dest: "{{ item['dest'] }}"
      with_items: "{{ updated.results }}"
      when: updated is changed
  always:
    - name: Delete backup
      ansible.builtin.file:
        path: "{{ item['backup_file'] }}"
        state: absent
      with_items: "{{ updated.results }}"
      when: updated is changed

Problematic output:

TASK [freebsd : Test config] *************************************************************************************************************
[ERROR]: Task failed: Module failed: non-zero return code
Origin: /home/e/ansible_quickstart/roles/freebsd/tasks/apache.yaml:27:7

25       register: updated
26
27     - name: "Test config"
         ^ column 7

fatal: [web01]: FAILED! => {
    "changed": true,
    "cmd": "apachectl -t",
    "delta": "0:00:00.044928",
    "end": "2026-03-23 13:03:58.560124",
    "msg": "non-zero return code",
    "rc": 1,
    "start": "2026-03-23 13:03:58.515196",
    "stderr": "AH00526: Syntax error on line 2 of macro 'redirecthttps' (defined on line 1 of \"/usr/local/etc/apache24/Includes/macro-redirect-https.conf\") used on line 4 of \"/usr/local/etc/apache24/vhost.conf\":\nInvalid command 'RedirectMatch2', perhaps misspelled or defined by a module not included in the server configuration",
    "stderr_lines": [
        "AH00526: Syntax error on line 2 of macro 'redirecthttps' (defined on line 1 of \"/usr/local/etc/apache24/Includes/macro-redirect-https.conf\") used on line 4 of \"/usr/local/etc/apache24/vhost.conf\":",
        "Invalid command 'RedirectMatch2', perhaps misspelled or defined by a module not included in the server configuration"
    ],
    "stdout": "",
    "stdout_lines": []
}

TASK [freebsd : Restore backup] **********************************************************************************************************
changed: [web01] => (item={'diff': [{'before_header': '/usr/local/etc/apache24/Includes/macro-redirect-https.conf', 'before': '<Macro RedirectHTTPS $hostname>\n    RedirectMatch permanent ^/((?!\\.well-known/acme-challenge/).*)$ https://$hostname/\n</Macro>\n<Macro RedirectHTTPS2 $hostname>\n    RedirectMatch2 permanent ^/((?!\\.well-known/acme-challenge/).*)$ https://$hostname/\n</Macro>\n', 'after_header': '/home/e/ansible_quickstart/roles/freebsd/files/apache/macro-redirect-https.conf', 'after': '<Macro RedirectHTTPS $hostname>\n    RedirectMatch permanent ^/((?!\\.well-known/acme-challenge/).*)$ https://$hostname/\n    RedirectMatch2 permanent ^/((?!\\.well-known/acme-challenge/).*)$ https://$hostname/\n</Macro>\n'}], 'dest': '/usr/local/etc/apache24/Includes/macro-redirect-https.conf', 'src': '/home/e/.ansible/tmp/ansible-tmp-1774267431.6175117-1991-16980776241965/.source.conf', 'md5sum': '1e390764aa09d46e448c23ef01634fed', 'checksum': 'ea2418ad9d069e6fccea1e6e67e12ded165b94eb', 'changed': True, 'backup_file': '/usr/local/etc/apache24/Includes/macro-redirect-https.conf.81850.2026-03-23@13:03:58~', 'uid': 0, 'gid': 0, 'owner': 'root', 'group': 'wheel', 'mode': '0644', 'state': 'file', 'size': 216, 'invocation': {'module_args': {'backup': True, 'dest': '/usr/local/etc/apache24/Includes/macro-redirect-https.conf', 'src': '/home/e/.ansible/tmp/ansible-tmp-1774267431.6175117-1991-16980776241965/.source.conf', '_original_basename': 'macro-redirect-https.conf', 'follow': False, 'checksum': 'ea2418ad9d069e6fccea1e6e67e12ded165b94eb', 'force': True, 'remote_src': False, 'unsafe_writes': False, 'content': None, 'validate': None, 'directory_mode': None, 'local_follow': None, 'mode': None, 'owner': None, 'group': None, 'seuser': None, 'serole': None, 'selevel': None, 'setype': None, 'attributes': None}}, 'failed': False, 'item': 'macro-redirect-https.conf', 'ansible_loop_var': 'item'})

TASK [freebsd : Delete backup] ***********************************************************************************************************
--- before
+++ after
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
 {
     "path": "/usr/local/etc/apache24/Includes/macro-redirect-https.conf.81850.2026-03-23@13:03:58~",
-    "state": "file"
+    "state": "absent"
 }

changed: [web01] => (item={'diff': [{'before_header': '/usr/local/etc/apache24/Includes/macro-redirect-https.conf', 'before': '<Macro RedirectHTTPS $hostname>\n    RedirectMatch permanent ^/((?!\\.well-known/acme-challenge/).*)$ https://$hostname/\n</Macro>\n<Macro RedirectHTTPS2 $hostname>\n    RedirectMatch2 permanent ^/((?!\\.well-known/acme-challenge/).*)$ https://$hostname/\n</Macro>\n', 'after_header': '/home/e/ansible_quickstart/roles/freebsd/files/apache/macro-redirect-https.conf', 'after': '<Macro RedirectHTTPS $hostname>\n    RedirectMatch permanent ^/((?!\\.well-known/acme-challenge/).*)$ https://$hostname/\n    RedirectMatch2 permanent ^/((?!\\.well-known/acme-challenge/).*)$ https://$hostname/\n</Macro>\n'}], 'dest': '/usr/local/etc/apache24/Includes/macro-redirect-https.conf', 'src': '/home/e/.ansible/tmp/ansible-tmp-1774267431.6175117-1991-16980776241965/.source.conf', 'md5sum': '1e390764aa09d46e448c23ef01634fed', 'checksum': 'ea2418ad9d069e6fccea1e6e67e12ded165b94eb', 'changed': True, 'backup_file': '/usr/local/etc/apache24/Includes/macro-redirect-https.conf.81850.2026-03-23@13:03:58~', 'uid': 0, 'gid': 0, 'owner': 'root', 'group': 'wheel', 'mode': '0644', 'state': 'file', 'size': 216, 'invocation': {'module_args': {'backup': True, 'dest': '/usr/local/etc/apache24/Includes/macro-redirect-https.conf', 'src': '/home/e/.ansible/tmp/ansible-tmp-1774267431.6175117-1991-16980776241965/.source.conf', '_original_basename': 'macro-redirect-https.conf', 'follow': False, 'checksum': 'ea2418ad9d069e6fccea1e6e67e12ded165b94eb', 'force': True, 'remote_src': False, 'unsafe_writes': False, 'content': None, 'validate': None, 'directory_mode': None, 'local_follow': None, 'mode': None, 'owner': None, 'group': None, 'seuser': None, 'serole': None, 'selevel': None, 'setype': None, 'attributes': None}}, 'failed': False, 'item': 'macro-redirect-https.conf', 'ansible_loop_var': 'item'})
2

You can reduce the block to a single copy task by using the validate option.

3

Thanks, but that is not sufficient in this instance, as I’m only providing partial configuration, which won’t validate without first having loaded the rest of Apache’s configuration.