# Ansible 2.7 Porting Guide

This section discusses the behavioral changes between Ansible 2.6 and Ansible 2.7.

It is intended to assist in updating your playbooks, plugins and other parts of your Ansible infrastructure so they will work with this version of Ansible.

We suggest you read this page along with Ansible Changelog for 2.7 to understand what updates you may need to make.

This document is part of a collection on porting. The complete list of porting guides can be found at porting guides.

Topics

- Ansible 2.7 Porting Guide
  - Command Line
  - Python Compatibility
  - Playbook
    - Role Precedence Fix during Role Loading
    - include_role and import_role variable exposure
    - include_tasks/import_tasks inline variables
    - vars_prompt with unknown algorithms
  - Deprecated
    - Expedited Deprecation: Use of `__file__` in `AnsibleModule`
    - Using a loop on a package module via squash_actions
  - Modules
    - Modules removed
    - Deprecation notices
    - Noteworthy module changes
  - Plugins
  - Porting custom scripts
  - Networking

## Command Line

If you specify `--tags` or `--skip-tags` multiple times on the command line, Ansible will merge the specified tags together. In previous versions of Ansible, you could set `merge_multiple_cli_tags` to `False` if you wanted to keep only the last-specified `--tags`. This config option existed for backwards compatibility. The overwriting behavior was deprecated in 2.3 and the default behavior was changed in 2.4. Ansible-2.7 removes the config option; multiple `--tags` are now always merged.

If you have a shell script that depends on setting `merge_multiple_cli_tags` to `False`, please upgrade your script so it only adds the `--tags` you actually want before upgrading to Ansible-2.7.

## Python Compatibility

Ansible has dropped compatibility with Python-2.6 on the controller (The host where /usr/bin/ansible or /usr/bin/ansible-playbook is run). Modules shipped with Ansible can still be used to manage hosts which only have Python-2.6. You just need to have a host with Python-2.7 or Python-3.5 or greater to manage those hosts from.

One thing that this does affect is the ability to use /usr/bin/ansible-pull to manage a host which has Python-2.6. `ansible-pull` runs on the host being managed but it is a controller script, not a module so it will need an updated Python. Actively developed Linux distros which ship with Python-2.6 have some means to install newer Python versions (For instance, you can install Python-2.7 via an SCL on RHEL-6) but you may need to also install Python bindings for many common modules to work (For RHEL-6, for instance, selinux bindings and yum would have to be installed for the updated Python install).

The decision to drop Python-2.6 support on the controller was made because many dependent libraries are becoming unavailable there. In particular, python-cryptography is no longer available for Python-2.6 and the last release of pycrypto (the alternative to python-cryptography) has known security bugs which will never be fixed.

## Playbook

### Role Precedence Fix during Role Loading

Ansible 2.7 makes a small change to variable precedence when loading roles, resolving a bug, ensuring that role loading matches variable precedence expectations.

Before Ansible 2.7, when loading a role, the variables defined in the role’s `vars/main.yml` and `defaults/main.yml` were not available when parsing the role’s `tasks/main.yml` file. This prevented the role from utilizing these variables when being parsed. The problem manifested when `import_tasks` or `import_role` was used with a variable defined in the role’s vars or defaults.

In Ansible 2.7, role `vars` and `defaults` are now parsed before `tasks/main.yml`. This can cause a change in behavior if the same variable is defined at the play level and the role level with different values, and leveraged in `import_tasks` or `import_role` to define the role or file to import.

### include_role and import_role variable exposure

In Ansible 2.7 a new module argument named `public` was added to the `include_role` module that dictates whether or not the role’s `defaults` and `vars` will be exposed outside of the role, allowing those variables to be used by later tasks. This value defaults to `public: False`, matching current behavior.

`import_role` does not support the `public` argument, and will unconditionally expose the role’s `defaults` and `vars` to the rest of the playbook. This functionality brings `import_role` into closer alignment with roles listed within the `roles` header in a play.

There is an important difference in the way that `include_role` (dynamic) will expose the role’s variables, as opposed to `import_role` (static). `import_role` is a pre-processor, and the `defaults` and `vars` are evaluated at playbook parsing, making the variables available to tasks and roles listed at any point in the play. `include_role` is a conditional task, and the `defaults` and `vars` are evaluated at execution time, making the variables available to tasks and roles listed after the `include_role` task.

### include_tasks/import_tasks inline variables

As of Ansible 2.7, include_tasks and import_tasks can no longer accept inline variables. Instead of using inline variables, tasks should supply variables under the `vars` keyword.

OLD In Ansible 2.6 (and earlier) the following was valid syntax for specifying variables:

    - include_tasks: include_me.yml variable=value

NEW In Ansible 2.7 the task should be changed to use the `vars` keyword:

    - include_tasks: include_me.yml
      vars:
        variable: value

### vars_prompt with unknown algorithms

vars_prompt now throws an error if the hash algorithm specified in encrypt is not supported by the controller. This increases the safety of vars_prompt as it previously returned None if the algorithm was unknown. Some modules, notably the user module, treated a password of None as a request not to set a password. If your playbook starts erroring because of this, change the hashing algorithm being used with this filter.

## Deprecated

### Expedited Deprecation: Use of `__file__` in `AnsibleModule`

Note

The use of the `__file__` variable is deprecated in Ansible 2.7 and will be eliminated in Ansible 2.8. This is much quicker than our usual 4-release deprecation cycle.

We are deprecating the use of the `__file__` variable to refer to the file containing the currently-running code. This common Python technique for finding a filesystem path does not always work (even in vanilla Python). Sometimes a Python module can be imported from a virtual location (like inside of a zip file). When this happens, the `__file__` variable will reference a virtual location pointing to inside of the zip file. This can cause problems if, for instance, the code was trying to use `__file__` to find the directory containing the python module to write some temporary information.

Before the introduction of AnsiBallZ in Ansible 2.1, using `__file__` worked in `AnsibleModule` sometimes, but any module that used it would fail when pipelining was turned on (because the module would be piped into the python interpreter’s standard input, so `__file__` wouldn’t contain a file path). AnsiBallZ unintentionally made using `__file__` work, by always creating a temporary file for `AnsibleModule` to reside in.

Ansible 2.8 will no longer create a temporary file for `AnsibleModule`; instead it will read the file out of a zip file. This change should speed up module execution, but it does mean that starting with Ansible 2.8, referencing `__file__` will always fail in `AnsibleModule`.

If you are the author of a third-party module which uses `__file__` with `AnsibleModule`, please update your module(s) now, while the use of `__file__` is deprecated but still available. The most common use of `__file__` is to find a directory to write a temporary file. In Ansible 2.5 and above, you can use the `tmpdir` attribute on an `AnsibleModule` instance instead, as shown in this code from the apt module:

    -    tempdir = os.path.dirname(__file__)
    -    package = os.path.join(tempdir, to_native(deb.rsplit('/', 1)[1]))
    +    package = os.path.join(module.tmpdir, to_native(deb.rsplit('/', 1)[1]))

### Using a loop on a package module via squash_actions

The use of `squash_actions` to invoke a package module, such as “yum”, to only invoke the module once is deprecated, and will be removed in Ansible 2.11.

Instead of relying on implicit squashing, tasks should instead supply the list directly to the `name`, `pkg` or `package` parameter of the module. This functionality has been supported in most modules since Ansible 2.3.

OLD In Ansible 2.6 (and earlier) the following task would invoke the “yum” module only 1 time to install multiple packages

    - name: Install packages
      yum:
        name: "{{ item }}"
        state: present
      with_items: "{{ packages }}"

NEW In Ansible 2.7 it should be changed to look like this:

    - name: Install packages
      yum:
        name: "{{ packages }}"
        state: present

## Modules

Major changes in popular modules are detailed here

- The DEFAULT_SYSLOG_FACILITY configuration option tells Ansible modules to use a specific syslog facility when logging information on all managed machines. Due to a bug with older Ansible versions, this setting did not affect machines using journald with the systemd Python bindings installed. On those machines, Ansible log messages were sent to `/var/log/messages`, even if you set DEFAULT_SYSLOG_FACILITY. Ansible 2.7 fixes this bug, routing all Ansible log messages according to the value set for DEFAULT_SYSLOG_FACILITY. If you have DEFAULT_SYSLOG_FACILITY configured, the location of remote logs on systems which use journald may change.

### Modules removed

The following modules no longer exist:

### Deprecation notices

The following modules will be removed in Ansible 2.11. Please update your playbooks accordingly.

- `na_cdot_aggregate` use na_ontap_aggregate instead.
- `na_cdot_license` use na_ontap_license instead.
- `na_cdot_lun` use na_ontap_lun instead.
- `na_cdot_qtree` use na_ontap_qtree instead.
- `na_cdot_svm` use na_ontap_svm instead.
- `na_cdot_user` use na_ontap_user instead.
- `na_cdot_user_role` use na_ontap_user_role instead.
- `na_cdot_volume` use na_ontap_volume instead.
- `sf_account_manager` use na_elementsw_account instead.
- `sf_check_connections` use na_elementsw_check_connections instead.
- `sf_snapshot_schedule_manager` use na_elementsw_snapshot_schedule instead.
- `sf_volume_access_group_manager` use na_elementsw_access_group instead.
- `sf_volume_manager` use na_elementsw_volume instead.

### Noteworthy module changes

- Check mode is now supported in the `command` and `shell` modules. However, only when `creates` or `removes` is specified. If either of these are specified, the module will check for existence of the file and report the correct changed status, if they are not included the module will skip like it had done previously.

- The `win_chocolatey` module originally required the `proxy_username` and `proxy_password` to escape any double quotes in the value. This is no longer required and the escaping may cause further issues.

- The `win_uri` module has removed the deprecated option `use_basic_parsing`, since Ansible 2.5 this option did nothing

- The `win_scheduled_task` module has removed the following deprecated options:

  - `executable`, use `path` in an actions entry instead
  - `argument`, use `arguments` in an actions entry instead
  - `store_password`, set `logon_type: password` instead
  - `days_of_week`, use `monthlydow` in a triggers entry instead
  - `frequency`, use `type`, in a triggers entry instead
  - `time`, use `start_boundary` in a triggers entry instead

- The `interface_name` module option for `na_ontap_net_vlan` has been removed and should be removed from your playbooks

- The `win_disk_image` module has deprecated the return value `mount_path`, use `mount_paths[0]` instead. This will be removed in Ansible 2.11.

- `include_role` and `include_tasks` can now be used directly from `ansible` (adhoc) and `ansible-console`:

      #> ansible -m include_role -a 'name=myrole' all

## Plugins

- The hash_password filter now throws an error if the hash algorithm specified is not supported by the controller. This increases the safety of the filter as it previously returned None if the algorithm was unknown. Some modules, notably the user module, treated a password of None as a request not to set a password. If your playbook starts erroring because of this, change the hashing algorithm being used with this filter.

## Porting custom scripts

No notable changes.

## Networking

No notable changes.