group_vars not visible to playbook

[John Wang]

Hi,

It's seemed that variables defined in the group_vars are not visible to playbooks. Then where should I keep the those variables? 
Here is what I'm trying to do:

directory tree:

-----------------------

foo.yml

hosts

group_vars

..|--  all

..|__ g1 

roles

..|-- bar

..|_ baa

foo.yml:

---------------------

---

- hosts: "{{ var1 }}"

  remote_user: john

  roles:

    - bar

group_vars/all

---------------------

---

var1: my_cluster

var2: some_value

hosts

---------------------

[my_cluster]

n1.my.com

n2.my.com

The problem in the above configuration is, the variable "var1" in the foo.yml cannot be resolved to "my_cluster" defined in group_vars/all . I have to use the -e option of ansible-playbook explicitly.  Is this how ansible works ? And how to realize my above purpose ?

Thanks and Regards

John

[Serge van Ginderachter]

On 17 July 2014 06:09, John Wang <john.w...@gmail.com> wrote:

The problem in the above configuration is, the variable "var1" in the foo.yml cannot be resolved to "my_cluster" defined in group_vars/all . I have to use the -e option of ansible-playbook explicitly.  Is this how ansible works ? And how to realize my above purpose ?

You cant't define something that points to the inventory (hosts: in the play) with something that comes from the inventory (group_vars)​. That would create a black hole.

[John Wang]

I felt that. Then is there a way to define variable which can be used in the position of the mentioned "var1" in foo.yml ? Is the command line options (i.e., -e) is the only way ?

[Serge van Ginderachter]

On 17 July 2014 11:29, John Wang <john.w...@gmail.com> wrote:

I felt that. Then is there a way to define variable which can be used in the position of the mentioned "var1" in foo.yml ? Is the command line options (i.e., -e) is the only way ?

​I believe so yes. Not sure if there's a way to use a var from var: of vars_files: section, but maybe if set in a previous play.​

[Michael DeHaan]

If you want to pass in the host specifier, you'll need to use "-e".  Or maybe a lookup plugin reading an environment variable.  -e is a bit clear.

-e @filename.yml is also a valid syntax.

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[John Wang]

> If you want to pass in the host specifier, you'll need to use "-e".  Or maybe a lookup plugin reading an environment variable.  -e is a bit clear.
>
> -e @filename.yml is also a valid syntax.

Ok, I see. Thanks for mentioning the @filename.yml syntax also.