compound conditional at when clause using stat module not working.

[Adam R.]

Hello,

I am using the stat module to check if a file exist, if not, copy from src to destination. I also want to setup a flag in order to overwrite destination, to achieve this, i am using a conditional like the one on the when clause:

- stat: path=/path/to/file
  register: nameoffile
- copy: src=/home/user/source.tar.gz dest=/destination/path/file owner=root group=root
  when: flag_to_overwrite == true or (nameoffile.stat.isreg is undefined and nameoffile.stat.isreg == false)

In vars/main.yml:
flag_to_overwrite: true

If the destination does exist and flag_to_overwrite is set to true,  when i run the playbook, ansible-playbook doesn't show any error, but the file is not overwritten. 

If i use only the variable flag_to_overwrite, the value it's been evaluated and works ok (true copies the file, false does not do anything).

  when: flag_to_overwrite == true

I have used:

when: flag_to_overwrite or (nameoffile.stat.isreg is undefined and nameoffile.stat.isreg == false)

when: (flag_to_overwrite == true) or (nameoffile.stat.isreg is undefined and nameoffile.stat.isreg == false)

but the compound conditional does not work.

Any hint?

Thanks in advance!

Ansible 1.7

[James Cammarata]

Hi Adam, the logic you have there is the problem. "(nameoffile.stat.isreg is undefined and nameoffile.stat.isreg == false)" will never evaluate to true, as "isreg" cannot be both undefined and false. I think you want to change the and to an or, as follows (also simplified a little):

when: flag_to_overwrite or nameoffile.stat.isreg is undefined or not nameoffile.stat.isreg

Hope that helps!

James Cammarata

Director, Ansible Core Engineering

github: jimi-c

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[Nino Pineda]

Hello James,

nameoffile.stat.isreg is undefined and nameoffile.stat.isreg == false,  evaluates to true when the file does not exists. I just deleted the target file, ran the playbook and this one copies the src to target. If the destination exists does not do anything.

I tried with the statement that you suggested:

           flag_to_overwrite or nameoffile.stat.isreg is undefined or not nameoffile.stat.isreg

but also does not matter what value flag_to_overwrite has, if the destination exists, the src it isn't copied.

The contents of vars/main.yml is:
---
flag_to_overwrite: true



How to use variables defined outside the when clause of the stat module?


I tested again placing inside of when clause:

flag_to_overwrite == true

but the file is only copied if destination does not exist.


If the destination does not exist placing flag_to_overwrite to false the playbook does not change anything (leaving only ----- when: flag_to_overwrite in the stat module invocation), changing flag_to_overwrite to true does copy the src to dest only one time. (i.e. if destination exists it is not overwritten even if flag_to_overwrite is set to true).


Thanks for your suggestions.



Adam

[James Cammarata]

Is the checksum of the file different when it exists? If not, the file will not be replaced.

James Cammarata

Director, Ansible Core Engineering

github: jimi-c

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/ansible-project/35582265-2ded-4d4e-b4ae-7e1bebb8dbd5%40googlegroups.com.

[Adam R.]

Hello James,

No, the checksum of the file is the same when it exists.

i tried using:

 - stat: path=/path/to/file get_checksum=no get_md5=no 

without success.

Thanks for your help! 

Any other tip is welcome.

Adam