# Variables from executable inventory not working in playbook **URL:** \ **Category:** Ansible Project\ **Created:** [May 11, 2012, 7:02pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/variables-from-executable-inventory-not-working-in-playbook/11534 "2012-05-11T19:02:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Matt\_Coddington](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5e9695/32.png) [@Matt\_Coddington](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Matt_Coddington)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2012, 7:02pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/variables-from-executable-inventory-not-working-in-playbook/11534/1 "2012-05-11T19:02:17Z")
All, On the latest devel, I am using an executable inventory that returns this: % ./hosts testhost {    "webtype" : "webapp" } But when I run a playbook that includes a file with a task that includes $webtype like this, it doesn't seem to get replaced by the string "webapp"; - name: copy ssl.conf   action: copy src=$conf/web/templates/$stack/ssl.conf.$webtype dest=/foo/ssl.conf owner=root group=root mode=0644 The error I see is this: fatal: [testhost] =\> file or module does not exist: /ansible/conf/web/files/prod/httpd.conf.$webtype Note that it did replace $conf and $stack appropriately, but $conf is set from a vars\_files file, and $stack is set from a "vars:" entry directly in the playbook. I know this is supposed to work, right? Does anyone have suggestions for troubleshooting? thanks! matt ---
**Author:** ![Michael\_DeHaan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c4cdca/32.png) [@Michael\_DeHaan](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Michael_DeHaan)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2012, 7:03pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/variables-from-executable-inventory-not-working-in-playbook/11534/2 "2012-05-11T19:03:59Z")
Wrong return structure. Correct is: { whatever: “…” ansible\_facts: { webtype: “webapp” } } ---
**Author:** ![Matt\_Coddington](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5e9695/32.png) [@Matt\_Coddington](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Matt_Coddington)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2012, 7:17pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/variables-from-executable-inventory-not-working-in-playbook/11534/3 "2012-05-11T19:17:18Z")
Thanks Michael, I thought for sure that would fix it, but I'm still seeing the same error. ansible\_ssh\_port is definitely working, so i know this is getting parsed. Here is exact json returned now for one of my systems seeing that error: {    "ansible\_ssh\_port" : 222,    "ansible\_facts" : {       "apacheconf" : "/etc/httpd",       "webtype" : "webapp"    } } thanks, matt ---
**Author:** ![Michael\_DeHaan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c4cdca/32.png) [@Michael\_DeHaan](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Michael_DeHaan)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2012, 7:20pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/variables-from-executable-inventory-not-working-in-playbook/11534/4 "2012-05-11T19:20:53Z")
Did you call the module before you referenced the fact? Are you using the devel branch? ---
**Author:** ![Matt\_Coddington](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5e9695/32.png) [@Matt\_Coddington](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Matt_Coddington)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2012, 7:25pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/variables-from-executable-inventory-not-working-in-playbook/11534/5 "2012-05-11T19:25:45Z")
> Did you call the module before you referenced the fact? These variables aren't coming from a module, they're coming from an executable inventory. I was following the instructions at [http://ansible.github.com/api.html#external-inventory](http://ansible.github.com/api.html#external-inventory), which is why I hadn't known about the ansible\_facts key (I also noticed that you need to call the inventory with a "--list" argument instead of no argument as documented to return the inventory itself). From that documentation, I'm assuming I can set a bunch of variables for use within the playbook by calling my inventory script with the host as an argument. > Are you using the devel branch? Yup, I am using the latest devel. thanks, matt ---
**Author:** ![Michael\_DeHaan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c4cdca/32.png) [@Michael\_DeHaan](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Michael_DeHaan)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2012, 7:29pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/variables-from-executable-inventory-not-working-in-playbook/11534/6 "2012-05-11T19:29:21Z")
Yeah, those work differently. The --list thing is a regression that should be fixed. ---
**Author:** ![Jeroen\_Hoekx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Jeroen\_Hoekx](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Jeroen_Hoekx)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2012, 7:29pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/variables-from-executable-inventory-not-working-in-playbook/11534/7 "2012-05-11T19:29:42Z")
Hi Matt, ---
**Author:** ![Jeroen\_Hoekx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Jeroen\_Hoekx](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Jeroen_Hoekx)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2012, 7:31pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/variables-from-executable-inventory-not-working-in-playbook/11534/8 "2012-05-11T19:31:22Z")
This has been that way since I started using ansible and before any inventory rewrite... So the best option is to edit the docs, since anyone who's using ansible will be using --list and --host. Greetings, Jeroen ---
**Author:** ![Matt\_Coddington](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5e9695/32.png) [@Matt\_Coddington](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Matt_Coddington)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2012, 7:32pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/variables-from-executable-inventory-not-working-in-playbook/11534/9 "2012-05-11T19:32:18Z")
Sorry, I reread the doc and see those are only available to templates, not to playbooks. Bummer. I'll need to write a module to provide the facts to the playbooks. Modules are executed only on the remote host though, not on the ansible master? I have a bunch of variables that the master knows about in my environment that I'd like to be able to use in playbooks. @Jeroen, saw your update just now: adding --host doesn't seem to help, I suspect because I'm trying to use variables in playbooks that are only available to templates... matt ---
**Author:** ![Jeroen\_Hoekx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Jeroen\_Hoekx](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Jeroen_Hoekx)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2012, 8:09pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/variables-from-executable-inventory-not-working-in-playbook/11534/10 "2012-05-11T20:09:20Z")
It works for me. Complete example at [https://gist.github.com/2662146](https://gist.github.com/2662146) Jeroen ---
**Author:** ![Matt\_Coddington](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5e9695/32.png) [@Matt\_Coddington](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Matt_Coddington)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2012, 8:11pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/variables-from-executable-inventory-not-working-in-playbook/11534/11 "2012-05-11T20:11:46Z")
Thank you Jeroen! I will report back when I figure out what my problem is. matt ---
**Author:** ![Matt\_Coddington](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5e9695/32.png) [@Matt\_Coddington](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Matt_Coddington)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2012, 8:41pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/variables-from-executable-inventory-not-working-in-playbook/11534/12 "2012-05-11T20:41:46Z")
> Thank you Jeroen! I will report back when I figure out what my problem is. Figured it out. When using the executable inventory you DO need to pass the --host argument to your inventory script, but you should NOT return ansible\_facts, just return a flat list of variables as the docs describe. [http://ansible.github.com/api.html#script-conventions](http://ansible.github.com/api.html#script-conventions) could be fixed by replacing "When the external node script is called with no arguments" with "When the external node script is called with the argument '--list'", and replacing "When called with a single argument, the name of a host from above" with "When called with arguments '--host \'". matt ---
**Author:** ![Michael\_DeHaan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c4cdca/32.png) [@Michael\_DeHaan](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Michael_DeHaan)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2012, 9:11pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/variables-from-executable-inventory-not-working-in-playbook/11534/13 "2012-05-11T21:11:22Z")
Agreed -- Michael ---
**Author:** ![Michael\_DeHaan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c4cdca/32.png) [@Michael\_DeHaan](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Michael_DeHaan)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2012, 9:12pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/variables-from-executable-inventory-not-working-in-playbook/11534/14 "2012-05-11T21:12:33Z")
> Sorry, I reread the doc and see those are only available to templates, > not to playbooks I wrote the docs, I believe you misread, but show me. ---
**Author:** ![Matt\_Coddington](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5e9695/32.png) [@Matt\_Coddington](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Matt_Coddington)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2012, 9:24pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/variables-from-executable-inventory-not-working-in-playbook/11534/15 "2012-05-11T21:24:38Z")
at [http://ansible.github.com/api.html#script-conventions](http://ansible.github.com/api.html#script-conventions) it says "When called with a single argument, the name of a host from above, the script must return either an empty JSON hash/dictionary, or a list of key/value variables to make available to templates". So, you're correct it doesn't actually say \_only\_ available to templates. I just read it that way when I was having so much trouble getting the variables to work in playbooks. I've submitted a pull request for the changes that were discussed in this thread... [https://github.com/ansible/ansible.github.com/pull/107](https://github.com/ansible/ansible.github.com/pull/107) matt