with_items and default filter with empty list not working in ansible 1.8.1

Archives Ansible Project
1

Hello guys,

I’ve recently updated ansible to v1.8.1 and I’m having some issues with some playbooks that worked on older ansible versions.

For example I’ve a reusable role that manages the installation of packages with the following task:

  • name: Install additional packages
    apt: name={{ item }} update_cache=yes
    with_items: additional_packages|default()

Where the variable additional_packages is usually not defined, but can be set on a per host or per group base.
On older versions this worked as expected:

  • if additional_packages is not defined, default to an empty list and skip the task
  • if additional_packages is defined, install the packages in the list

Now in v1.8.1 I get the following error:

TASK: [pkgs | Install additional packages] *********************************
fatal: [hal9000] => with_items expects a list or a set

FATAL: all hosts have already failed – aborting

Was this an intended change or is it a bug?

Best regards,
EP

2

we have a known issue with templating in lookup plugins (with_<lookup
plugin), for now try using explicit templating with_items:
"{{additional_packages|default()}}"