Problem with type conversion

[damaca]

ISSUE TYPE

• Bug Report

COMPONENT NAME

Type conversion

ANSIBLE VERSION

Tried with the versions below:
ansible 2.1.0.0
config file =
configured module search path = Default w/o overrides
ansible 2.1.1.0
config file =
configured module search path = Default w/o overrides

OS / ENVIRONMENT

N/A

SUMMARY

I found this when I tried to override a variable. This variable have a "int" value and I tried to override with other "int" from a config yml file. I have an {% if variable == 27017 %} block which is evaluated as false because of the variable type.

STEPS TO REPRODUCE

I created a simple role to reproduce de problem. The role have a template named test_template.j2 with the following content:

{% if port is string %}
{{port}} is string
{% else %}
{{port}} is not string
{% endif %}{% if port is string %}
{{port}} is string
{% else %}
{{port}} is not string
{% endif %}

Just a var inside the defaults/main.yml file:

port: 27017

The main.yml from tasks, which create a file good when is evaluated to true and wrong when is false :

---
# tasks file for test
- name: Check the type
  template: src=test_template.j2 dest=./{% if port == 27017 %}good{% else %}wrong{% endif %}{{iterate}}

A config.yml file with the value to override:

provision:
  port: 27017

And a test.yml file:

- name: TEST
  hosts: localhost
  vars_files:
    - config.yml
  roles:
    - role: test
      port: 27017
      iterate: 1
    - role: test
      port: "27017"
      iterate: 2
    - role: test
      port: "{{ provision.port }}"
      iterate: 3
    - role: test
      port: "{{ provision.port | int }}"
      iterate: 4

EXPECTED RESULTS

The expected result will be al least two "good" files in the case 1 and 4, maybe in the iterate 3 too and a wrong file in the case of iterate 2.

ACTUAL RESULTS

We found just one "good" file good1 with the "27017 is not a string" content and three "wrong" files with the content "27017 is a string"

○ → ap test_pl.yml
 [WARNING]: Host file not found: /usr/local/etc/ansible/hosts

 [WARNING]: provided hosts list is empty, only localhost is available


PLAY [TEST] ********************************************************************

TASK [setup] *******************************************************************
ok: [localhost]

TASK [test : Check the type] ***************************************************
ok: [localhost]

TASK [test : Check the type] ***************************************************
ok: [localhost]

TASK [test : Check the type] ***************************************************
ok: [localhost]

TASK [test : Check the type] ***************************************************
ok: [localhost]

PLAY RECAP *********************************************************************
localhost                  : ok=5    changed=0    unreachable=0    failed=0

[alikins]

(Mentioning #17992 here to keep track of related issues)

[dagwieers]

There is a light at the end of the tunnel. We made a change to Jinja2 so we don't see all variable types changed into strings. See: pallets/jinja#708

[damaca]

Not included yet in 2.7, ¿right?

[mkrizek]

@damaca It is. Please see https://docs.ansible.com/ansible/latest/reference_appendices/config.html#default-jinja2-native

If you have further questions please stop by IRC or the mailing list:

• IRC: #ansible on irc.freenode.net
• mailing list: https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/ansible-project