In the first loop assert is evaluating that 'item' itself is defined. In the second loop assert is evaluating whether a variable who's name is stored in 'item' is defined.
% cat foo.yml --- - hosts: localhost gather_facts: no become: no tasks: - name: without templating assert: that: "{{ item }} is defined" loop: - varA - varB % ansible-playbook -i localhost, foo.yml -e varB=string PLAY [localhost] ******************************************************************************************************* TASK [without templating] ********************************************************************************************** failed: [localhost] (item=varA) => { "ansible_loop_var": "item", "assertion": "varA is defined", "changed": false, "evaluated_to": false, "item": "varA", "msg": "Assertion failed" } ok: [localhost] => (item=varB) => { "ansible_loop_var": "item", "changed": false, "item": "varB", "msg": "All assertions passed" } PLAY RECAP ************************************************************************************************************* localhost : ok=0 changed=0 unreachable=0 failed=1 skipped=0 rescued=0 ignored=0 NOTE that on the command line I explicitly define varB but not varA. Walter -- Walter Rowe, Division Chief Infrastructure Services Division Mobile: 202.355.4123 On Mar 14, 2024, at 10:11 AM, Rob Wagner <rjwagner....@gmail.com> wrote: Hey Todd - apologies, I don't understand your comment. Hey Walter - yes, you are correct. To elaborate on the use case. FIrst task in my playbooks confirms the user provided all the expected/required variables. I iterate over the list of variables and make sure they are defined with assert. The list of required variables is provided as a list to "loop." Trouble I'm seeing is the items in the loop (i.e., the variable names) are not being interpolated by assert unless they are templated. But if we ignore the loop for a second, and just pass a variable to assert, it does get interpolated without templating: #> cat c.yml --- - hosts: localhost gather_facts: no tasks: - name: a defined variable assert: that: ansible_forks is defined - name: an undefined variable assert: that: varA is defined #> ansible-playbook c.yml [WARNING]: No inventory was parsed, only implicit localhost is available [WARNING]: provided hosts list is empty, only localhost is available. Note that the implicit localhost does not match 'all' PLAY [localhost] ********************************************************************** TASK [a defined variable] ************************************************************* ok: [localhost] => { "changed": false, "msg": "All assertions passed" } TASK [an undefined variable] ********************************************************** fatal: [localhost]: FAILED! => { "assertion": "varA is defined", "changed": false, "evaluated_to": false, "msg": "Assertion failed" } So, it seems that assert interpolates (non-templated) variables unless that variable is "item" Rob On Thu, Mar 14, 2024 at 7:48 AM 'Rowe, Walter P. (Fed)' via Ansible Project <ansible-project@googlegroups.com<mailto:ansible-project@googlegroups.com>> wrote: I sense that "with templating" does as expected? % ansible --version ansible [core 2.16.4] config file = None configured module search path = ['/Users/wrowe/.ansible/plugins/modules', '/usr/share/ansible/plugins/modules'] ansible python module location = /opt/homebrew/lib/python3.11/site-packages/ansible ansible collection location = /Users/wrowe/.ansible/collections:/usr/share/ansible/collections executable location = /opt/homebrew/bin/ansible python version = 3.11.8 (main, Feb 6 2024, 21:21:21) [Clang 15.0.0 (clang-1500.1.0.2.5)] (/opt/homebrew/opt/python@3.11/bin/python3.11) jinja version = 3.1.3 libyaml = True % ansible-playbook foo.yaml -i localhost, PLAY [localhost] ******************************************************************************************************* TASK [without templating] ********************************************************************************************** ok: [localhost] => (item=varA) => { "ansible_loop_var": "item", "changed": false, "item": "varA", "msg": "All assertions passed" } ok: [localhost] => (item=varB) => { "ansible_loop_var": "item", "changed": false, "item": "varB", "msg": "All assertions passed" } TASK [with templating] ************************************************************************************************* failed: [localhost] (item=varA) => { "ansible_loop_var": "item", "assertion": "varA is defined", "changed": false, "evaluated_to": false, "item": "varA", "msg": "Assertion failed" } failed: [localhost] (item=varB) => { "ansible_loop_var": "item", "assertion": "varB is defined", "changed": false, "evaluated_to": false, "item": "varB", "msg": "Assertion failed" } PLAY RECAP ************************************************************************************************************* localhost : ok=1 changed=0 unreachable=0 failed=1 skipped=0 rescued=0 ignored=0 Walter -- Walter Rowe, Division Chief Infrastructure Services Division Mobile: 202.355.4123 On Mar 13, 2024, at 4:55 PM, Todd Lewis <uto...@gmail.com<mailto:uto...@gmail.com>> wrote: Maybe it will facilitate understanding what's going on if we name things what they really are: --- - hosts: localhost gather_facts: no tasks: - name: Strings in a loop are indeed defined ignore_errors: true assert: that: item is defined loop: - RandomStringA - RandomStringB - ansible_forks - name: Strings in a loop are unlikely to be variable names ignore_errors: true assert: that: '{{ item }} is defined' loop: - UndefinedVariableNameA - UndefinedVariableNameB - ansible_forks On 3/13/24 2:27 PM, rjwagn...@gmail.com<mailto:rjwagn...@gmail.com> wrote: Hi all - I recently upgraded to Ansible core 2.15, and started hitting "Conditional is marked as unsafe, and cannot be evaluated." As discussed at https://docs.ansible.com/ansible/latest/porting_guides/porting_guide_9.html, I removed templating from when and assert. All seemed fine, but then I discovered loop variables don't appear to be interpolated in assert without templating. As an example, consider the following playbook that aims to confirm two variables, varA and varB, are defined (in the sample output, they are not defined): #> cat b.yml --- - hosts: localhost gather_facts: no tasks: - name: without templating assert: that: item is defined loop: - varA - varB - name: with templating assert: that: '{{ item }} is defined' loop: - varA - varB #> ansible-playbook b.yml [WARNING]: No inventory was parsed, only implicit localhost is available [WARNING]: provided hosts list is empty, only localhost is available. Note that the implicit localhost does not match 'all' PLAY [localhost] ********************************************************************** TASK [without templating] ************************************************************* ok: [localhost] => (item=varA) => { "ansible_loop_var": "item", "changed": false, "item": "varA", "msg": "All assertions passed" } ok: [localhost] => (item=varB) => { "ansible_loop_var": "item", "changed": false, "item": "varB", "msg": "All assertions passed" } TASK [with templating] **************************************************************** failed: [localhost] (item=varA) => { "ansible_loop_var": "item", "assertion": "varA is defined", "changed": false, "evaluated_to": false, "item": "varA", "msg": "Assertion failed" } failed: [localhost] (item=varB) => { "ansible_loop_var": "item", "assertion": "varB is defined", "changed": false, "evaluated_to": false, "item": "varB", "msg": "Assertion failed" } Why is templating required to interpolate the loop variable but not other (non loop) variables? Furthermore, is there a way to write this task without templating and get the expected behavior? Thanks Rob -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Ansible Project" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to ansible-project+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com<mailto:ansible-project+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com>. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/ansible-project/d23f849b-0342-47d8-b2f4-0f1634cdf866n%40googlegroups.com<https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/ansible-project/d23f849b-0342-47d8-b2f4-0f1634cdf866n%40googlegroups.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer>. -- Todd -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Ansible Project" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to ansible-project+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com<mailto:ansible-project+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com>. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/ansible-project/4ea45f07-c044-4b61-a244-e6f2d5980ed6%40gmail.com<https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/ansible-project/4ea45f07-c044-4b61-a244-e6f2d5980ed6%40gmail.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer>. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to a topic in the Google Groups "Ansible Project" group. To unsubscribe from this topic, visit https://groups.google.com/d/topic/ansible-project/fqqYt8AfU_o/unsubscribe. To unsubscribe from this group and all its topics, send an email to ansible-project+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com<mailto:ansible-project+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com>. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/ansible-project/A767305C-C137-4E0B-B1FD-DAAC2DDD32A6%40nist.gov<https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/ansible-project/A767305C-C137-4E0B-B1FD-DAAC2DDD32A6%40nist.gov?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer>. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Ansible Project" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to ansible-project+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com<mailto:ansible-project+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com>. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/ansible-project/CAMc-rNNuhejhhNGzOfoQOq8MOLT6bBCjvgakLN6us8OSVVLDcA%40mail.gmail.com<https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/ansible-project/CAMc-rNNuhejhhNGzOfoQOq8MOLT6bBCjvgakLN6us8OSVVLDcA%40mail.gmail.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer>. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Ansible Project" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to ansible-project+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/ansible-project/5C80AA32-15CA-4ADD-97EE-1AA6667C33E2%40nist.gov.