# Understanding var file placements and autoloads

**URL:** <https://forum.ansible.com/t/understanding-var-file-placements-and-autoloads/20066>\
**Category:** Ansible Project\
**Created:** [December 23, 2015, 3:56am UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/understanding-var-file-placements-and-autoloads/20066 "2015-12-23T03:56:13Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Colin\_Byrne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ecd19e/32.png) [@Colin\_Byrne](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Colin_Byrne)\
**Post date:** [December 23, 2015, 3:56am UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/understanding-var-file-placements-and-autoloads/20066/1 "2015-12-23T03:56:13Z")

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I have two questions regarding variable behavior, given my file structure

My file structure is like so:

`/roles /common /provision_ec2 /vars /main.yml /developer_list.yml /tasks /main.yml /group_vars /all /settings.yml /production`

First: Why does a task in /roles/provision\_ec2/main.yml not automatically load a dictionary (or any list I presume) from /roles/provision\_ec2/vars/developer\_list.yml? Obviously vars/main.yml is going to get extremely crowded over time, do I have to load any var file not named ‘main.yml’ manually?

Second: If I have added /group\_vars/all/settings.yml to the ansible-vault, and run a playbook which doesn’t call any variables from that file, I have realized I need to put in the vault password every time. It of course makes sense to me why this happens (because /all is loaded every time), but is still annoying. Is there a better way to structure my directories to avoid putting the password in every time? Or do I need to just keep it in another directory and manually load it when necessary?

Thanks a lot for the help.

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**Author:** ![Brian\_Coca](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6de8d8/32.png) [@Brian\_Coca](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Brian_Coca)\
**Post date:** [December 23, 2015, 3:34pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/understanding-var-file-placements-and-autoloads/20066/2 "2015-12-23T15:34:01Z")

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> First: Why does a task in /roles/provision\_ec2/main.yml not automatically  
> load a dictionary (or any list I presume) from  
> /roles/provision\_ec2/vars/developer\_list.yml? Obviously vars/main.yml is  
> going to get extremely crowded over time, do I have to load any var file not  
> named 'main.yml' manually?

it does, as long as oyoou import the role, if you are using an include  
directly to tasks/main.yml you bypass role semantics and it won't get  
loaded.

> Second: If I have added /group\_vars/all/settings.yml to the ansible-vault,  
> and run a playbook which doesn't call any variables from that file, I have  
> realized I need to put in the vault password every time. It of course makes  
> sense to me why this happens (because /all is loaded every time), but is  
> still annoying. Is there a better way to structure my directories to avoid  
> putting the password in every time? Or do I need to just keep it in another  
> directory and manually load it when necessary?

how would Ansible know that a variable inside that file is not used if  
it does not decrypt the file to see which variables it has?

If you don't want a vault used in every play, don't put it in  
inventory, reference it in vars\_files: in the plays that need it or  
set it in a group\_vars dir adjacent to the plays that need it.