unregister a variable ?

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1

Hi all,

is it possible to “clear” or “unregister” a variable ?

I have this situation:

deploy.yml

  • include “deploy-apache.yml”
  • include “deploy-tomcat.yml”

deploy-apache and deploy-tomcat both have a dependency to a “deliver-artifact” role, and both run on the same server(s).
The {{installdir}} is either opt/web/install/apache or /opt/web/install/tomcat (read from included *.yml files)

The following task is implemented in this “shared” “deliver-artifact” role:

…

for each run, backup the old installdir and install into an empty directory

  • name: stat installdir
    stat: path={{installdir}}
    register: installdir_stat

  • name: get the current time for a timestamp
    command: date +%Y%m%d-%H%M%S
    register: time

  • name: backup installdir
    command: mv {{installdir}} {{installdir}}_{{time.stdout}}
    when: installdir_stat.stat.exists
    …

It seems that the “installdir_stat.stat.exists” is true from the “deploy-apache.yml” run - where {{installdir}} was /opt/web/install/apache

For “deploy-tomcat.yml” run the task now tries to mv a directory that doesnt exists - but the variable installdir_stat.stat.exists is true !

=> Can I clear the register ? Or what´s the solution here?

Thanx, Torsten

2

Hi Torsten,

Since there is no when conditional on the stat task, it should be re-run and overwrite the registered variable, so I’m a bit unclear why this would be showing the behavior you’re seeing. Is this the complete list of tasks, and/or there any other tasks that also use that registered variable name?

3

No there are no other modules using that variable. But The question still is: Can i clear The variable somehow?

For now i removed The stat task and when condition -and added a simple Shell if statement instead to the mv operation.

Torsten

4

Yes, you should be able to use set_fact to initialize it to some other value and test that in your when: statement.