int type is not maintained

[halberom]

ISSUE TYPE

• Bug Report

COMPONENT NAME

set_fact

ANSIBLE VERSION

ansible-playbook 2.4.0.0
  config file = 
  configured module search path = [u'/Users/lynchg/.ansible/plugins/modules', u'/usr/share/ansible/plugins/modules']
  ansible python module location = /Users/lynchg/.virtualenvs/a2x/lib/python2.7/site-packages/ansible
  executable location = /Users/lynchg/.virtualenvs/a2x/bin/ansible-playbook
  python version = 2.7.13 (default, Dec 18 2016, 07:03:34) [GCC 4.2.1 Compatible Apple LLVM 7.0.2 (clang-700.1.81)]

CONFIGURATION

NA

OS / ENVIRONMENT

NA

SUMMARY

Trying to set a fact to an int fails, instead a string is created.

STEPS TO REPRODUCE

See gist - https://gist.github.com/halberom/859118d6da28493e17ad806e6b44e24c

Create following playbook

---
- hosts: localhost
  gather_facts: True
  connection: local
  tasks:
    - debug:
        var: ansible_memtotal_mb

    - shell: echo 12345
      register: mem

    - debug:
        var: mem

    - set_fact:
        ansible_memtotal_mb: "{{ mem.stdout|int }}"

    - debug:
        var: ansible_memtotal_mb

EXPECTED RESULTS

The final debug should show

TASK [debug] *******************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************
ok: [localhost] => {
    "ansible_memtotal_mb": 12345
}

ACTUAL RESULTS

The final debug shows the value as a string

TASK [debug] *******************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************
ok: [localhost] => {
    "ansible_memtotal_mb": "12345"
}

[halberom]

Apparently a workaround is to do

- set_fact:
  args: >
    {{ ('{"ansible_memtotal_mb": ' ~ mem.stdout ~ '}')|from_json }}

But that option is being deprecated

[halberom]

closing as dup of many other tickets

[halberom]

See pallets/jinja#708 for ideal solution.