printing readable error message while in playbook debug mode

[Tim Black]

I get this error when I run my playbook (with debug strategy enabled):

TASK [Add authorized keys for developer user] **********************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************
task path: /home/pi/Source/ansible/playbooks/post-preseeded-debian-install.yml:27
fatal: [tblack-win10]: FAILED! => {
    "msg": "The task includes an option with an undefined variable. The error was: 'item' is undefined\n\nThe error appears to have been in '/home/pi/Source/ansible/playbooks/post-preseeded-debian-install.yml': line 27, column 7, but may\nbe elsewhere in the file depending on the exact syntax problem.\n\nThe offending line appears to be:\n\n  tasks:\n    - name: \"Add authorized keys for {{ preseeded_username }} user\"\n      ^ here\nWe could be wrong, but this one looks like it might be an issue with\nmissing quotes.  Always quote template expression brackets when they\nstart a value. For instance:\n\n    with_items:\n      - {{ foo }}\n\nShould be written as:\n\n    with_items:\n      - \"{{ foo }}\"\n\nexception type: <class 'ansible.errors.AnsibleUndefinedVariable'>\nexception: 'item' is undefined"
}

It breaks into debug prompt, but when I print the error message there, it won't do it pythonically, or even readable:

(debug) p result['msg']
u'The task includes an option with an undefined variable. The error was: \'item\' is undefined\n\nThe error appears to have been in \'/home/pi/Source/ansible/playbooks/post-preseeded-debian-install.yml\': line 27, column 7, but may\nbe elsewhere in the file depending on the exact syntax problem.\n\nThe offending line appears to be:\n\n  tasks:\n    - name: "Add authorized keys for {{ preseeded_username }} user"\n      ^ here\nWe could be wrong, but this one looks like it might be an issue with\nmissing quotes.  Always quote template expression brackets when they\nstart a value. For instance:\n\n    with_items:\n      - {{ foo }}\n\nShould be written as:\n\n    with_items:\n      - "{{ foo }}"\n\nexception type: <class \'ansible.errors.AnsibleUndefinedVariable\'>\nexception: \'item\' is undefined'

However, I can copy/paste the entire unicode string def, paste and print in a separate python interactive session variable, and it looks correct:

/home/tblack > python
Python 2.7.13 (default, Nov 24 2017, 17:33:09)
[GCC 6.3.0 20170516] on linux2
Type "help", "copyright", "credits" or "license" for more information.
>>> m=u'The task includes an option with an undefined variable. The error was: \'item\' is undefined\n\nThe error appears to have been in \'/home/pi/Source/ansible/playbooks/post-preseeded-debian-install.yml\': line 27, column 7, but may\nbe elsewhere in the file depending on the exact syntax problem.\n\nThe offending line appears to be:\n\n  tasks:\n    - name: "Add authorized keys for {{ preseeded_username }} user"\n      ^ here\nWe could be wrong, but this one looks like it might be an issue with\nmissing quotes.  Always quote template expression brackets when they\nstart a value. For instance:\n\n    with_items:\n      - {{ foo }}\n\nShould be written as:\n\n    with_items:\n      - "{{ foo }}"\n\nexception type: <class \'ansible.errors.AnsibleUndefinedVariable\'>\nexception: \'item\' is undefined'
>>> type(m)
<type 'unicode'>
>>> print m
The task includes an option with an undefined variable. The error was: 'item' is undefined


The error appears to have been in '/home/pi/Source/ansible/playbooks/post-preseeded-debian-install.yml': line 27, column 7, but may
be elsewhere in the file depending on the exact syntax problem.


The offending line appears to be:


  tasks:
    - name: "Add authorized keys for {{ preseeded_username }} user"
      ^ here
We could be wrong, but this one looks like it might be an issue with
missing quotes.  Always quote template expression brackets when they
start a value. For instance:


    with_items:
      - {{ foo }}


Should be written as:


    with_items:
      - "{{ foo }}"


exception type: <class 'ansible.errors.AnsibleUndefinedVariable'>
exception: 'item' is undefined

How do I do same in the ansible debug prompt? Any other ideas on how to print this output in a READABLE fashion? Thanks.

[Kai Stian Olstad]

On Thursday, 8 February 2018 21.18.03 CET Tim Black wrote:
> The error appears to have been in
> '/home/pi/Source/ansible/playbooks/post-preseeded-debian-install.yml': line
> 27, column 7, but may
> be elsewhere in the file depending on the exact syntax problem.

So this is a strong indication that you have some errors in your code, so you need to show us the code in the file to figure it out.


--
Kai Stian Olstad

[Tim Black]

My issue isn't about whats wrong with my code, its a question about why ansible debugger wont print the newlines in a python string.

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