how to debug 'ERROR! failed to combine variables, expected dicts but got a 'dict' and a 'AnsibleUnicode''

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J Hawkesworth

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Mar 10, 2016, 10:44:45 AM3/10/16

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Hi,

I've been refactoring an inventory file and moving some things out into group and host vars.

When I try and use debug just to check that the inventory file is ok like this:

ansible locahost -i bust_inventory -m debug

I'm getting

ERROR! failed to combine variables, expected dicts but got a 'dict' and a 'AnsibleUnicode'

I tried running with -vvvvv and ANSIBLE_DEBUG=1 but this must be causing a failure pretty early on as the only debug output I get is:

20111 1457624523.29459: starting run

Does any one have any suggestions on how I can debug whats wrong with my inventory / group / host vars ?

Jon

J Hawkesworth

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Mar 10, 2016, 10:52:43 AM3/10/16

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... and to answer my own question...

remember when moving inventory vars, which may be expressed as key=value pairs into your host_vars or group_vars, that host_vars and group_vars expect proper yaml syntax i.e. key: value