# synchronize module and localhost **URL:** \ **Category:** Ansible Project\ **Created:** [August 14, 2016, 3:39pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/synchronize-module-and-localhost/22285 "2016-08-14T15:39:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Josh\_Smift1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/bcef8e/32.png) [@Josh\_Smift1](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Josh_Smift1)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2016, 3:39pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/synchronize-module-and-localhost/22285/1 "2016-08-14T15:39:54Z")
I want to use the synchronize module to rsync a directory from one place on the control host to another place on the control host. My playbook looks like this:   - hosts: all     become: True     gather\_facts: False     tasks:     - local\_action: copy src=/tmp/foo.txt dest=/tmp/wip/{{inventory\_hostname}}.txt     - local\_action: synchronize src=/tmp/wip/ dest=/tmp/real Based on [http://docs.ansible.com/ansible/synchronize\_module.html](http://docs.ansible.com/ansible/synchronize_module.html), which says   # Synchronization of two paths both on the control machine   local\_action: synchronize src=some/relative/path dest=/some/absolute/path The first task creates a bunch of files in /tmp/wip, with the hostnames of my hosts in the filename. I expected the second task to use the synchronize module to copy /tmp/wip to /tmp/real on the control machine, but instead it copies it to each of the hosts. (run\_once: True on the second task causes it to only copy to one of the hosts, which limits the damage when testing. :^) I've tried a couple of things, none of which work. Most surprisingly, changing the second task to   - synchronize: src=/tmp/wip/ dest=/tmp/real does exactly the same thing, and some further experimentation suggests that delegate\_to / local\_action are only ever affecting the src host, and never the dest host. How do you use the synchronize module to copy files from one play to another on localhost? Is there a way to change the dest host to localhost?                                       -Josh (jbs@care.com) (apologies for the automatic corporate disclaimer that follows) This email is intended for the person(s) to whom it is addressed and may contain information that is PRIVILEGED or CONFIDENTIAL. Any unauthorized use, distribution, copying, or disclosure by any person other than the addressee(s) is strictly prohibited. If you have received this email in error, please notify the sender immediately by return email and delete the message and any attachments from your system. ---
**Author:** ![Josh\_Smift1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/bcef8e/32.png) [@Josh\_Smift1](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Josh_Smift1)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2016, 8:32pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/synchronize-module-and-localhost/22285/2 "2016-08-14T20:32:47Z")
> How do you use the synchronize module to copy files from one play to > another on localhost? Is there a way to change the dest host to localhost? "from one \*directory\* to another on localhost", I meant.                                       -Josh (jbs@care.com) (apologies for the automatic corporate disclaimer that follows) This email is intended for the person(s) to whom it is addressed and may contain information that is PRIVILEGED or CONFIDENTIAL. Any unauthorized use, distribution, copying, or disclosure by any person other than the addressee(s) is strictly prohibited. If you have received this email in error, please notify the sender immediately by return email and delete the message and any attachments from your system. ---
**Author:** ![Josh\_Smift1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/bcef8e/32.png) [@Josh\_Smift1](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Josh_Smift1)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2016, 7:46pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/synchronize-module-and-localhost/22285/3 "2016-08-16T19:46:02Z")
> How do you use the synchronize module to copy files from one play to > another on localhost? Is there a way to change the dest host to localhost? On further reflection, I sort of think there isn't. In any invocation of the module, you're going to have a source host and a destination host, and you can use delegate\_to to change one of them, but there's no obvious way to tell it \*which\* one of them (so it's always the source host). It'd be nice if you could just tell the module what to use as the source host and the destination host; the current behavior where it defaults to the control host and the remote host is probably good for many use cases, but there are also cases where you want to do entirely different things. Should I make a feature request ticket for that?                                       -Josh (jbs@care.com) (apologies for the automatic corporate disclaimer that follows) This email is intended for the person(s) to whom it is addressed and may contain information that is PRIVILEGED or CONFIDENTIAL. Any unauthorized use, distribution, copying, or disclosure by any person other than the addressee(s) is strictly prohibited. If you have received this email in error, please notify the sender immediately by return email and delete the message and any attachments from your system. ---
**Author:** ![Toshio\_Kuratomi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/41988e/32.png) [@Toshio\_Kuratomi](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Toshio_Kuratomi)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2016, 2:17pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/synchronize-module-and-localhost/22285/4 "2016-08-18T14:17:56Z")
synchronize already does things very differently than any other ansible module. I’m afraid this would be too much. To do what you want, you’ll need to put a second play into your playbook like this: - hosts: all become: True gather\_facts: False tasks: - local\_action: copy src=/tmp/foo.txt dest=/tmp/wip/{{inventory\_hostname}}.txt - hosts: localhost become: True gather\_facts: False tasks: - local\_action: synchronize src=/tmp/wip/ dest=/tmp/real -Toshio ---
**Author:** ![Josh\_Smift1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/bcef8e/32.png) [@Josh\_Smift1](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Josh_Smift1)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2016, 3:58pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/synchronize-module-and-localhost/22285/5 "2016-08-19T15:58:17Z")
> How do you use the synchronize module to copy files from one play to > another on localhost? Is there a way to change the dest host to localhost? > synchronize already does things very differently than any other > ansible module. I'm afraid this would be too much. To do what you > want, you'll need to put a second play into your playbook like this: Yeah, our problem is that we're doing this in the middle of a role, so all we have is delegate\_to. Maybe the next time someone rewrites the synchronize module, it could take optional parameters to override the default source and dest hosts, or something like that. :^) (Meanwhile, we can just use the command module, and take rsync out of the list of things that the command module emits warnings about.)                                       -Josh (jbs@care.com) (apologies for the automatic corporate disclaimer that follows) This email is intended for the person(s) to whom it is addressed and may contain information that is PRIVILEGED or CONFIDENTIAL. Any unauthorized use, distribution, copying, or disclosure by any person other than the addressee(s) is strictly prohibited. If you have received this email in error, please notify the sender immediately by return email and delete the message and any attachments from your system.