What is a proper way to use module_utils in action plugins

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1

I am sharing some code between module and its action plugin in a module_utils module.

module_utils is placed adjacent to its playbook:

.
├── module_utils/
│   └── shared_util.py
├── library/
│   └── module.py
├── action_plugins/
│   └── module.py
└── playbook.yml

library/module.py can successfully import in runtime from ansible.module_utils.shared_util

However action_plugins/module.py does not see the package ansible.module_utils.shared_util.

So far in action plugin I just import module_utils.shared_util and start ansible-playbook with PYTHONPATH set to the directory where playbook.yml is stored.

This approach looks hacky and I hope there is more streamlined way to import module util.

2

Better create a collection, there it works flawlessly.

I think we had other discussions about it here, you might be able to find them with the search functionality.

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3

good idea! it appears that ansible-dev-tools project automate quite a lot for local ansible development.

I was able to install a collection in an editable mode that shares collection’s filesystem between a playbook and its original location. So changes in the collection are immediately visible in the playbook.