Found bug in "apt_rpm" module, fixed it. Not sure how to help.

[Peter Rupp]

Hello, this is my first post to the ansible community.

I'm a newby to Ansible, but a very experienced python developer.

Anyway, after installing the latest Ansible 2.2.2.0, I tried out a simple module call to verify if a RPM package existed on some RHEL 6/7 systems.    Anyway, the module failed, with the error:

        "cannot find /usr/bin/apt-get and/or /usr/bin/rpm"

My first curiosity was to figure out what python module they used to execute "rpm" or "apt-get", and see what path it used (if any) and how to correct.    Somebody else had a similar problem, and the answers coming back were focusing on the user's PATH or SUDO configuration, but there was never a resolution. 

(That post is here -->  https://groups.google.com/forum/#!searchin/ansible-project/executable$20not$20found%7Csort:relevance/ansible-project/zl6l6i0bBMc/vFCNiEYq3-IJ 

Anyway, I , decided to take a look at "apt_rpm.py" directly, and lo and behold, I think I found the problem.   In the very beginning of the "main()" function, the author tries determine if either "apt-get" or "rpm" are available...and if so continue on, or FAIL if not.  Makes sense?  However,  way the if conditional was written is kind of confusing, and I believe it exits with a FAIL if only the 'apt-get' is missing, which I encounter on a RHEL system.   To make a long story short, I rewrote the if conditional to be a little clearer, and IT WORKS!. 

Here's what I did:

Replace:

   
    153     if not os.path.exists(APT_PATH) or not os.path.exists(RPM_PATH):
    154         module.fail_json(msg="cannot find /usr/bin/apt-get and/or /usr/bin/rpm")

With...
    153     if (os.path.exists(APT_PATH) or os.path.exists(RPM_PATH)):
    154         pass
    155     else:
    156         module.fail_json(msg="cannot find /usr/bin/apt-get and/or /usr/bin/rpm")  

I believe this bug has existed from v1.5, and kind of surprised it hasn't been found.

Let me know how I can either:

1.   Who or how should I get this to an existing Ansible developer to look at?

2.   Please direct me to how I can become an ansible developer and start writing high-quality code to help you'alls out.  :-)

Thank You

Peter

 

[Brian Coca]

Hi,

​To start contributing you can just create a pull request against our github repo : https://github.com/ansible/ansible​

I recommend reading through developer information docs http://docs.ansible.com/ansible/dev_guide/index.html

​As for why it fails, it might be because the author assumes you need both tools to handle the transformations (I'm not sure I have not checked the module's code).​

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Brian Coca