Stop service before copying config file?

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1

I have a service that overwrites config when it stops. Is it possible to tell ansible that if a config file changes it should stop the service first before copying the file?

2

Not sure what you mean. You are saying a service call to stop can change a configuration file that is not really related. This is what I think you mean. someservice can sometimes change /etc/sometimesrc

Capture the MD5 or something similar in one task before stopping the service (Linux, OS X and other may have an md5 command)- command: md5sum /etc/sometimesrc

register: original_md5
changed_when: false # Never report changed for this task

  • service: name=someservice state=stopped # Can cause file to be changed?

line in stdout should be exactly the same unless the MD5 sum changes

  • command: md5sum /etc/sometimesrc
    register: md5sum
    changed_when: new_md5.stdout != original_md5.stdout

Copy the file conditionally, only if the MD5 sum changed because of stopping the process

  • copy: src=mysometimesrc dest=/etc/sometimesrc
    when: md5sum.changed
3

Here’s a way to do it using the stat module that may contain some errors, as I wrote this a little quickly :slight_smile:

  • copy: src=foo dest=/path/one.new

  • stat: path=/path/one get_md5=yes
    register: one

  • stat: path=/path/one.new get_md5=yes
    register: two

  • shell: mv /path/one.new /path/one
    when: one.stat.md5 != two.stat.md5
    notify:

  • start blarg

4

start should be ‘restart’.

And if you wanted to run it now, stick a “- meta: flush_handlers” in there after the last shell task.