Please explain the meaning of '{{ }}' in ansible.cfg doc and the output generated by ansible-config init

[ecchong]

Summary

Some default value in ansible.cfg doc and output generated by

ansible-config init --disabled --format ini -t base

contains value like this, for example

roles_path={{ ANSIBLE_HOME ~ "/roles:/usr/share/ansible/roles:/etc/ansible/roles" }}

It does not seems to be valid syntax. The documentation does not explain clearly how to interpret it.

Issue Type

Documentation Report

Component Name

lib/ansible/config/base.yml

Ansible Version

$ ansible --version
ansible [core 2.15.9]
  config file = /private/tmp/my_test/ansible.cfg
  configured module search path = ['/Users/echong/.ansible/plugins/modules', '/usr/share/ansible/plugins/modules']
  ansible python module location = /Users/echong/venv-ansible/lib/python3.9/site-packages/ansible
  ansible collection location = /Users/echong/.ansible/collections:/usr/share/ansible/collections
  executable location = /Users/echong/venv-ansible/bin/ansible
  python version = 3.9.6 (default, Jul 14 2021, 21:53:15) [Clang 12.0.5 (clang-1205.0.22.11)] (/Users/echong/venv-ansible/bin/python3)
  jinja version = 3.1.3
  libyaml = True

Configuration

# if using a version older than ansible-core 2.12 you should omit the '-t all'
$ ansible-config dump --only-changed -t all
CONFIG_FILE() = /private/tmp/my_test/ansible.cfg
DEFAULT_ROLES_PATH(/private/tmp/my_test/ansible.cfg) = ['/private/tmp/my_test/{{ ANSIBLE_HOME ~ "/roles', '/usr/share/ansible/rol>

OS / Environment

MacOS 14
RHEL 8/9

Additional Information

Please explain how to interpret '{{ }}' in doc

Code of Conduct

• I agree to follow the Ansible Code of Conduct

[ansibot]

Files identified in the description:

• lib/ansible/config/base.yml

If these files are incorrect, please update the component name section of the description or use the component bot command.

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[jborean93]

The syntax represents that the value uses another config option in the default. It uses the Jinja2 templating syntax so the value {{ ANSIBLE_HOME ~ "/roles:/usr/share/ansible/roles:/etc/ansible/roles" }} means that the default include the value of ANSIBLE_HOME becoming ~/.ansible/roles:/usr/share/ansible/roles:/etc/ansible/roles.

I've transferred this issue to the ansible-documentation repo as that is where the doc pages are and where changes would have to be made to clarify this syntax in the docs.

[bcoca]

But you shouldn't see this, the output should be templated to avoid confusion, while these templates do work 'internally', they won't work in most cases if defined by the user.

[ecchong]

Both the doc and ansible-config init output have this syntax inside. I think there should be an explanation that they can't be used directly in the ansible.cfg file.

[bcoca]

yes, but its not that simple as things like {{CWD}} are usable anywhere the type is a path. Still it should not show up as it shows above in the init ... im not sure about docs since they won't have the specific values for 'everyone's system'.