Using composite "when:" in Ansible 1.2.2

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1

Hi,

is it possible to use a composite “when” expression in Ansible 1.2.2?

I’ve been trying to make a conditional task based on 2 conditions, one is a variable defined in the inventory file just for one machine, and the other one is the result of a shell module (check if the return value is not an empty string)

when: $IS_MASTER and pid_list.stdout != ‘’

But I’m getting this result:

TASK: [-----------] **********************
fatal: [xxx.xx.xx.103] => Conditional expression must evaluate to True or False: {% if True and pid_list.stdout != ‘’ %} True {% else %} False {% endif %}
fatal: [xxx.xx.xx.104] => Conditional expression must evaluate to True or False: {% if False and pid_list.stdout != ‘’ %} True {% else %} False {% endif %}

If I use only one expression, it works fine: when: $pid_list.stdout != ‘’
I cannot afford in this moment to migrate to a newer version of Ansible.

Thanks in advance.

Jean Paul Manjarres Correal.

2

Yeah, so 1.2.2 is two versions back.

1.3 and 1.4 have both released.

In 1.3 and 1.4, you would write this statement as "when: ‘IS_MASTER and pid_list.stdout != “”’

as you would not need the dollar signs.

I’d strongly recommend upgrading to 1.4 so you get the 4+ months of bugfixes and other improvements.

3

Thanks Michael!,

Thank you for your quick response and your advice.

In 1.2.2 I had to write like this:
when: IS_MASTER == ‘True’ and pid_list.stdout != ‘’

for some reason the variable wasn’t working as a boolean.

Anyways, I’ll advice my boss to upgrade to Ansible 1.4.

Thank you again, Ansible is really an excelent tool.

Jean Paul Manjarres C.