# Why no dry run ability?

**URL:** <https://forum.ansible.com/t/why-no-dry-run-ability/12310>\
**Category:** Ansible Project\
**Created:** [February 8, 2013, 1:42am UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/why-no-dry-run-ability/12310 "2013-02-08T01:42:13Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Chris\_Hoffman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/85f322/32.png) [@Chris\_Hoffman](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Chris_Hoffman)\
**Post date:** [February 8, 2013, 1:42am UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/why-no-dry-run-ability/12310/1 "2013-02-08T01:42:13Z")

</div>

Here is a recent post on some of the reason why and it looks like some progress is being made, but on an opt in basis by module.  
[https://groups.google.com/forum/?fromgroups=#!Vhld\_PWS9-k/GisDUQTZNMgJ](https://groups.google.com/forum/?fromgroups=#!Vhld_PWS9-k/GisDUQTZNMgJ)

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**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:** [February 8, 2013, 1:53am UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/why-no-dry-run-ability/12310/2 "2013-02-08T01:53:14Z")

</div>

More specifically, it allows us to implement the framework immediately  
without making every module aware immediately.

And for some it is less important.

The most interesting things are package deltas and config file deltas.

Note that all modules are already aware of whether they make any  
changes or not, and are generally idempotent, so this is not a large  
stretch by any imagination.