Ansible: how to display the name of the currently running included_tasks playbook file?

Question

I wrote an Ansible role which does lots of things, it's called "common" and all Ansible hosts are using it.

The directory structure is as follows:

./common
│   ├── ./common/README.md
│   ├── ./common/defaults
│   │   └── ./common/defaults/main.yml
│   ├── ./common/handlers
│   │   └── ./common/handlers/main.yml
│   ├── ./common/meta
│   │   └── ./common/meta/main.yml
│   ├── ./common/tasks
│   │   ├── ./common/tasks/base_packages.yml
│   │   ├── ./common/tasks/iptables.yml
│   │   ├── ./common/tasks/locale.yml
│   │   ├── ./common/tasks/main.yml
│   │   ├── ./common/tasks/pip.yml
│   │   ├── ./common/tasks/pip_packages.yml
│   │   ├── ./common/tasks/python.yml
│   │   ├── ./common/tasks/python2_centos6.yml
│   │   ├── ./common/tasks/python3_centos6.yml
│   │   ├── ./common/tasks/repo.yml
│   │   ├── ./common/tasks/selinux.yml
│   │   ├── ./common/tasks/time.yml
│   │   ├── ./common/tasks/vim.yml
│   │   └── ./common/tasks/yum.yml
│   ├── ./common/templates
│   │   ├── ./common/templates/chrony.conf.j2
│   │   └── ./common/templates/ntp.conf.j2
│   ├── ./common/tests
│   │   ├── ./common/tests/inventory
│   │   └── ./common/tests/test.yml
│   └── ./common/vars
│       └── ./common/vars/main.yml

main.yml looks like so:

---
# tasks file for common
- name: python installation on centos 6 machines
  block:
  - import_tasks: python2_centos6.yml
  - import_tasks: python3_centos6.yml
  when: ansible_distribution_major_version == "6"
- import_tasks: python.yml
  when: ansible_distribution_major_version == "7"
- import_tasks: pip.yml
- import_tasks: pip_packages.yml
- import_tasks: repo.yml
- import_tasks: yum.yml
- import_tasks: selinux.yml
- import_tasks: base_packages.yml
- import_tasks: iptables.yml
  when: ansible_distribution_major_version == "7"
#- import_tasks: time.yml
- import_tasks: locale.yml
- import_tasks: vim.yml

The playbook that I'm currently running:

---

# local_slave_playbook_c6.yml
- hosts: localhost
  vars:
    ansible_user_shell: /bin/bash
  gather_facts: true
  roles:
    - common
    - consul-client
    - hosts
    #- node-exporter
    - cron
    - jenkins-slave

While I run the "common" role on a server, I want to know which imported_tasks file is currently running for debug matters. So for example, while Ansible "takes care" for the installation of base packages, I want to add "base_packages.yml" to the title of the task.

I looked through the list of Ansible special variables but couldn't find the variable that I need.

There is one special variable that looks right "{{ ansible_play_name }}" but that gives me "localhost".

Answer 1

If you want to "add base_packages.yml to the title of the task" you'll have to add it to the names of the tasks. For example

shell> cat base_packages.yml
---
- name: "base_packages: .... "

sed might help to automate it.

You can use Ansible to configure its code. For example, the playbook below adds missing names to the import_tasks in files listed in the variable format_files

 shell> cat configure.yml
- hosts: localhost

  vars:

    format_files:
      - roles/common/tasks/main.yml

  tasks:

    - copy:
        dest: "{{ item }}"
        content: "{{ content }}"
      loop: "{{ format_files }}"
      vars:
        lines: "{{ lookup('file', item).splitlines() }}"
        regex: '(.*)- import_tasks: (.*)$'
        replace: '\1- name: Import \2'
        content: |
          {% for line in lines %}
          {% if line is match(regex) %}
          {{ line | regex_replace(regex, replace) }}
          {{ line | regex_replace('- ', '  ')  }}
          {% else %}
          {{ line }}
          {% endif %}
          {% endfor %}

gives (abridged) running with -CD options

shell> ansible-playbook configure.yml -CD
  ...
TASK [copy] *********************************************************************************************************
--- before: roles/common/tasks/main.yml
+++ after: roles/common/tasks/main.yml
@@ -2,19 +2,32 @@
 # tasks file for common
 - name: python installation on centos 6 machines
   block:
-  - import_tasks: python2_centos6.yml
-  - import_tasks: python3_centos6.yml
+  - name: Import python2_centos6.yml
+    import_tasks: python2_centos6.yml
+  - name: Import python3_centos6.yml
+    import_tasks: python3_centos6.yml
   when: ansible_distribution_major_version == "6"
-- import_tasks: python.yml
+- name: Import python.yml
+  import_tasks: python.yml
   when: ansible_distribution_major_version == "7"
-- import_tasks: pip.yml
-- import_tasks: pip_packages.yml
-- import_tasks: repo.yml
-- import_tasks: yum.yml
-- import_tasks: selinux.yml
-- import_tasks: base_packages.yml
-- import_tasks: iptables.yml
+- name: Import pip.yml
+  import_tasks: pip.yml
+- name: Import pip_packages.yml
+  import_tasks: pip_packages.yml
+- name: Import repo.yml
+  import_tasks: repo.yml
+- name: Import yum.yml
+  import_tasks: yum.yml
+- name: Import selinux.yml
+  import_tasks: selinux.yml
+- name: Import base_packages.yml
+  import_tasks: base_packages.yml
+- name: Import iptables.yml
+  import_tasks: iptables.yml
   when: ansible_distribution_major_version == "7"
-#- import_tasks: time.yml
-- import_tasks: locale.yml
-- import_tasks: vim.yml
+#- name: Import time.yml
+#  import_tasks: time.yml
+- name: Import locale.yml
+  import_tasks: locale.yml
+- name: Import vim.yml
+  import_tasks: vim.yml

changed: [localhost] => (item=roles/common/tasks/main.yml)

The result will be the formatted file below

shell> cat roles/common/tasks/main.yml
---
# tasks file for common
- name: python installation on centos 6 machines
  block:
  - name: Import python2_centos6.yml
    import_tasks: python2_centos6.yml
  - name: Import python3_centos6.yml
    import_tasks: python3_centos6.yml
  when: ansible_distribution_major_version == "6"
- name: Import python.yml
  import_tasks: python.yml
  when: ansible_distribution_major_version == "7"
- name: Import pip.yml
  import_tasks: pip.yml
- name: Import pip_packages.yml
  import_tasks: pip_packages.yml
- name: Import repo.yml
  import_tasks: repo.yml
- name: Import yum.yml
  import_tasks: yum.yml
- name: Import selinux.yml
  import_tasks: selinux.yml
- name: Import base_packages.yml
  import_tasks: base_packages.yml
- name: Import iptables.yml
  import_tasks: iptables.yml
  when: ansible_distribution_major_version == "7"
#- name: Import time.yml
#  import_tasks: time.yml
- name: Import locale.yml
  import_tasks: locale.yml
- name: Import vim.yml
  import_tasks: vim.yml