Hi,
I was looking for a way to run the distro-dependent package manager w/o too many "when"s and I found this (on https://ansible-tips-and-tricks.readthedocs.io/en/latest/os-dependent-tasks/installing_packages/#installing-packages):
- name: install basic package
action: >
{{ ansible_pkg_mgr }} name=vim state=present update_cache=yes
However I cannot find this "action" module mentioned anywhere in the whole Ansible documentation and I also don't understand, why the ">" is needed at that point. Is this an obsolete feature or a very new one, which is not documented yet? What exactly can one do with it?
Cheers
frank
Hi,
I was looking for a way to run the distro-dependent package manager w/o too many "when"s and I found this (on https://ansible-tips-and-tricks.readthedocs.io/en/latest/os-dependent-tasks/installing_packages/#installing-packages):
- name: install basic package
action: >
{{ ansible_pkg_mgr }} name=vim state=present update_cache=yes
However I cannot find this "action" module mentioned anywhere in the whole Ansible documentation
https://docs.ansible.com/ansible/latest/playbooks_intro.html#tasks-list
https://docs.ansible.com/ansible/latest/playbooks_intro.html#action-shorthand
In short, it's an old syntax not encourage used anymore.
and I also don't understand, why the ">" is needed at that point.
It's an yaml indicator character, ">" indicate that the lines can be broken to multiple lines.
Is this an obsolete feature or a very new one, which is not documented yet? What exactly can one do with it?
I think you need to use action if the module name is a variable as in you example.
I think these two examples would fail.
- name: install basic package
{{ ansible_pkg_mgr }}: name=vim state=present update_cache=yes
and
- name: install basic package
{{ ansible_pkg_mgr }}:
name: vim
state: present
update_cache: yes
Thanks a lot
Hi,
I was looking for a way to run the distro-dependent package manager
w/o too many "when"s and I found this (on
https://ansible-tips-and-tricks.readthedocs.io/en/latest/os-dependent-tasks/installing_packages/#installing-packages):
- name: install basic package
action: >
{{ ansible_pkg_mgr }} name=vim state=present update_cache=yes
However I cannot find this "action" module mentioned anywhere in the
whole Ansible documentation
https://docs.ansible.com/ansible/latest/playbooks_intro.html#tasks-list
https://docs.ansible.com/ansible/latest/playbooks_intro.html#action-shorthand
Shame on me. I overlooked it in the very basic intro page... :-}
In short, it's an old syntax not encourage used anymore.
and I also don't understand, why the ">" is needed at that point.
It's an yaml indicator character, ">" indicate that the lines can be
broken to multiple lines.
Yes, that I know that, but I just don't understand, why
- name: install basic package
action: {{ ansible_pkg_mgr }} name=vim state=present update_cache=yes
or
- name: install basic package
action: "{{ ansible_pkg_mgr }}" name=vim state=present update_cache=yes
Wouldn't work (both fail with YAML syntax error)
Is this an obsolete feature or a very new one, which is not
documented yet? What exactly can one do with it?
I think you need to use action if the module name is a variable as in
you example.
I think these two examples would fail.
- name: install basic package
{{ ansible_pkg_mgr }}: name=vim state=present update_cache=yes
and
- name: install basic package
{{ ansible_pkg_mgr }}:
name: vim
state: present
update_cache: yes
Indeed they fail, and there doesn't seem to be a useable replacement in the current syntax. 
frank
and I also don't understand, why the ">" is needed at that point.
It's an yaml indicator character, ">" indicate that the lines can be
broken to multiple lines.
Yes, that I know that, but I just don't understand, why
It looks nicer and that don't need the quotes perhaps?
- name: install basic package
action: {{ ansible_pkg_mgr }} name=vim state=present update_cache=yes
or
- name: install basic package
action: "{{ ansible_pkg_mgr }}" name=vim state=present update_cache=yes
Wouldn't work (both fail with YAML syntax error)
{ it's not allox after the colon and in yaml, if it start with a quote it must end with the same qoute, so this should work.
- name: install basic package
action: "{{ ansible_pkg_mgr }} name=vim state=present pdate_cache=yes"
Is this an obsolete feature or a very new one, which is not
documented yet? What exactly can one do with it?
I think you need to use action if the module name is a variable as in
you example.
I think these two examples would fail.
- name: install basic package
{{ ansible_pkg_mgr }}: name=vim state=present update_cache=yes
and
- name: install basic package
{{ ansible_pkg_mgr }}:
name: vim
state: present
update_cache: yes
Indeed they fail, and there doesn't seem to be a useable replacement in the current syntax.
If you don't need the cache update a module exist, it's called packages.