# Using custom module\_utils-path for shared code **URL:** \ **Category:** Get Help\ **Tags:** module, callback\ **Created:** [September 20, 2023, 10:27am UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/using-custom-module-utils-path-for-shared-code/952 "2023-09-20T10:27:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![handflucht](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/ansible/user_avatar/forum.ansible.com/handflucht/32/722_2.png) [@handflucht](https://forum.ansible.com/u/handflucht)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2023, 10:27am UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/using-custom-module-utils-path-for-shared-code/952/1 "2023-09-20T10:27:10Z")
Hi all, I wrote two callback-plugins which use an identical log-method, so I would like to share this code. Doing so, I moved that code to an external file which I would like to import. Currently, I always get an error, that this external file can not be found. Any help would be apricated. My structure does look like this ```auto workspace |- playbooks |- ansible.cfg |- my.yml |- playbooks.yml |- collections |- plugins |- action |- callback |- general |- log_errors.py |- log_hosts.py |- filter |- lookup |- roles |- my |- roles |- ... ``` For using this structure, the ansible.cfg in the playbooks-dir has be modified: ```auto roles_path = ../roles collections_paths = ../collections action_plugins = ../plugins/action callback_plugins = ../plugins/callback lookup_plugins = ../plugins/lookup filter_plugins = ../plugins/filter ``` **The above works fine, also the custom callback-plugins work if I don’t share the code.** For using the shared code I did the following changes. Added the file containing the shared code into a new directory: ```auto workspace |- module_utils |- logging.py ``` Updated the path in the ansible.cfg: ```auto module_utils = ../module_utils ``` In my callback-plugins I added the following line: `from ansible.module_utils.logging import write_log` If I execute a playbook, I get the following warning: > [WARNING]: Skipping plugin (\/plugins/callback/general/log\_errors.py) as it seems to be > invalid: No module named ‘ansible.module\_utils.logging’ **If however, I copy the file from my customer folder module\_utils to /usr/local/lib/python3.8/dist-packages/ansible/module\_utils/logging.py it works.** Any Ideas what I am doing wrong? Update: Also renaming my custom module\_utils-folder to something else (while updating path in ansible-cfg and import) did not do the trick. ---
**Author:** ![sean\_sullivan](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/ansible/user_avatar/forum.ansible.com/sean_sullivan/32/274_2.png) [@sean\_sullivan](https://forum.ansible.com/u/sean_sullivan)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2023, 1:56pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/using-custom-module-utils-path-for-shared-code/952/2 "2023-09-20T13:56:18Z")
Have you tried from …module\_utils.controller\_api import ControllerAPIModule no slashes Here is where I pulled the reference > you can also import module utils from other collections from ansible\_collections.awx.awx.plugins.module\_utils.awxkit import ControllerAWXKitModule > ---
**Author:** ![handflucht](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/ansible/user_avatar/forum.ansible.com/handflucht/32/722_2.png) [@handflucht](https://forum.ansible.com/u/handflucht)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2023, 2:43pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/using-custom-module-utils-path-for-shared-code/952/3 "2023-09-20T14:43:19Z")
Interesting syntax, never seen before. Didn’t know that it could be valid. If just tried ```auto from ..module_utils.logging import write_log ``` and it returns ```auto [WARNING]: Skipping plugin (/plugins/callback/general/log_errors.py) as it seems to be invalid: No module named 'ansible.plugins.module_utils' ``` Maybe it works in the linked example because it is inside of a collection which somehow handles the scope differently. I will have a closer link to the repo and see if I can find something similar. Additionally I also checked with dump to check if the value is set, and this seems also to be fine (also did changes to the ansible.cfg and the path gets updated accordingly): ```auto $ ansible-config dump | grep util DEFAULT_MODULE_UTILS_PATH(//playbooks/ansible.cfg) = ['//module_utils'] ``` ---
**Author:** ![felixfontein](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/ansible/user_avatar/forum.ansible.com/felixfontein/32/7530_2.png) [@felixfontein](https://forum.ansible.com/u/felixfontein)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2023, 5:00pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/using-custom-module-utils-path-for-shared-code/952/4 "2023-09-20T17:00:05Z")
A similar question was recently asked in [https://groups.google.com/g/ansible-project/c/rBFuX3MCapk](https://groups.google.com/g/ansible-project/c/rBFuX3MCapk) - the answer is basically no. It would work if you put your plugin into a collection, though. ---
**Author:** ![utoddl](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/ansible/user_avatar/forum.ansible.com/utoddl/32/249_2.png) [@utoddl](https://forum.ansible.com/u/utoddl)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2023, 7:12pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/using-custom-module-utils-path-for-shared-code/952/5 "2023-09-20T19:12:39Z")
Heh, that was me. (@felixfontein I still owe you some docs about shared code. I have not forgotten!) In my case, I wrote a custom test - `sch_distinct` - and a custom filter - `sch_uniqcomb` - and I needed to use some code from the test in the filter. I eventually settled on this structure in a “local” (to my project) collection: ```txt collections/ansible_collections/mw/tablinx/plugins ├── filter │ └── tablinx.py └── test └── tablinx.py ``` (And, yes, I gave all the files the same name. If we were all named Bob no-one would ever forget a name.) So the filter uses the following import to pull in the test code’s `distinct` function: ```python from ansible_collections.mw.tablinx.plugins.test.tablinx import distinct ``` The nice extra is that out in user land, it’s all nicely scoped to the `mw.tablinx` namespace. I’m starting to think about moving the bulk of my project-local bits into this local collection so everything gets scoped. ```yaml schedules_all_uc: "{{ schedules_all | mw.tablinx.sch_uniqcomb }}" whackamole: "{{ foo is mw.tablinx.sch_distinct }}" # The sch_distinct test uses distinct() on the back end. ``` ---
**Author:** ![handflucht](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/ansible/user_avatar/forum.ansible.com/handflucht/32/722_2.png) [@handflucht](https://forum.ansible.com/u/handflucht)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2023, 6:55am UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/using-custom-module-utils-path-for-shared-code/952/6 "2023-09-21T06:55:43Z")
Thanks a lot for your help! So why do I then can modify the module\_utils-path at all? Would it work for actual modules but not for plugins (even without being part of a collection?) ---
**Author:** ![felixfontein](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/ansible/user_avatar/forum.ansible.com/felixfontein/32/7530_2.png) [@felixfontein](https://forum.ansible.com/u/felixfontein)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2023, 10:38am UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/using-custom-module-utils-path-for-shared-code/952/7 "2023-09-21T10:38:18Z")
Local module\_utils can only be used in local modules. ---
**Author:** ![utoddl](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/ansible/user_avatar/forum.ansible.com/utoddl/32/249_2.png) [@utoddl](https://forum.ansible.com/u/utoddl)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2023, 9:29pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/using-custom-module-utils-path-for-shared-code/952/8 "2023-09-21T21:29:19Z")
Wha…!? After all that, moments ago I found [7.7. Keep plugin entry files to a minimal size.](https://redhat-cop.github.io/automation-good-practices/#_keep_plugin_entry_files_to_a_minimal_size) in which it mentions > Move reusable functions and classes, such as those for data validation or manipulation, to a [module\_utils/](https://docs.ansible.com/ansible/latest/dev_guide/developing_module_utilities.html) (for Ansible modules) or plugin\_utils/ (for all other plugin types) file and import them into plugins. This is the first time I’ve heard about `plugin_utils/`. I’m happy with the local collection solution, but I’ve really got to investigate this `plugin_utils/` shared code functionality. _sigh_ It never ends! ---
**Author:** ![felixfontein](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/ansible/user_avatar/forum.ansible.com/felixfontein/32/7530_2.png) [@felixfontein](https://forum.ansible.com/u/felixfontein)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2023, 5:22am UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/using-custom-module-utils-path-for-shared-code/952/9 "2023-09-22T05:22:31Z")
`plugin_utils` is an “officially reserved name” in collection `plugins/` directories, but it has no native support from ansible-core’s side. The “officially reserved name” basically means that everyone agrees on that `plugins/plugin_utils/` in collections is used for that, but you could also use `plugins/random_other_name/` instead (ansible-core doesn’t care how the folder is called, as long as it doesn’t collide with the special ones it supports for modules, module\_utils, and supported plugin types). So `plugin_utils/` won’t work outside collections. And if you already use a local collection, you can also use `plugins/module_utils/`. (The main reason `plugin_utils/` is recommended for plugin-specific code that isn’t used by modules is that you cannot import from `ansible.xxx` besides `ansible.module_utils.xxx` in Python code in `plugins/module_utils/`. So the idea is to put all code that needs to import other things from `ansible` in `plugins/plugin_utils/`, since that directory has no such restrictions.) The official place where plugin\_utils is specified is in the requirements document for collections included in Ansible: [Ansible community package collections requirements — Ansible Documentation](https://docs.ansible.com/ansible/devel/community/collection_contributors/collection_requirements.html#modules-plugins) ---
**Author:** ![system](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/ansible/original/1X/1882d9a01da5d8996a862359b0913cc568a39b84.svg) [@system](https://forum.ansible.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2023, 5:22am UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/using-custom-module-utils-path-for-shared-code/952/10 "2023-10-22T05:22:47Z")
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