Ansible - Start at specific role - ansible

Question

I have a playbook that only calls roles. This is what it looks like: (there are about 20 roles in it)
---
- hosts: prod1234
roles:
- role1
- role2
- role3
Sometimes, a role fails, and I don't want to start over as each role is huge and I would just like to start at that point or the next one.
With tasks, I know there's a flag for --start-at-task="task-name". Is there something similar I can do with roles?
My current solution is to comment out all the lines I don't need and run it again..
Thanks ahead!~~

Answer 1

Quick n dirty solution. The following roleimport.yml playbook
# Note you will have to implement error management (e.g. you give a role that does not exist).
- name: quickNdirty roles start demo
hosts: localhost
gather_facts: false
vars:
full_role_list:
- myfirstrole
- mysecondrole
- thirdone
- next
- last
# We calculate a start index for the above list. By default it will be 0.
# Unless we pass `start_role` var in extra_vars: the index will be set
# to that element
start_index: "{{ full_role_list.index(start_role|default('myfirstrole')) }}"
# We slice the list from start_index to end
current_role_list: "{{ full_role_list[start_index|int:] }}"
tasks:
# Real task commented out for this example
# - name: Import selected roles in order
# import_role:
# name: "{{ item }}"
# loop: "{{ current_role_list }}"
- name: Debug roles that would be used in above commented task
debug:
msg: "I would import role {{ item }}"
loop: "{{ current_role_list }}"
gives:
$ ansible-playbook roleimport.yml
PLAY [quickNdirty roles start demo] *******************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************
TASK [Debug roles that would be used in above commented task] *****************************************************************************************************************************************************************
ok: [localhost] => (item=myfirstrole) => {
"msg": "I would import role myfirstrole"
}
ok: [localhost] => (item=mysecondrole) => {
"msg": "I would import role mysecondrole"
}
ok: [localhost] => (item=thirdone) => {
"msg": "I would import role thirdone"
}
ok: [localhost] => (item=next) => {
"msg": "I would import role next"
}
ok: [localhost] => (item=last) => {
"msg": "I would import role last"
}
PLAY RECAP ********************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************
localhost : ok=1 changed=0 unreachable=0 failed=0 skipped=0 rescued=0 ignored=0
$ ansible-playbook roleimport.yml -e start_role=thirdone
PLAY [quickNdirty roles start demo] *******************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************
TASK [Debug roles that would be used in above commented task] *****************************************************************************************************************************************************************
ok: [localhost] => (item=thirdone) => {
"msg": "I would import role thirdone"
}
ok: [localhost] => (item=next) => {
"msg": "I would import role next"
}
ok: [localhost] => (item=last) => {
"msg": "I would import role last"
}
PLAY RECAP ********************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************
localhost : ok=1 changed=0 unreachable=0 failed=0 skipped=0 rescued=0 ignored=0
$ ansible-playbook roleimport.yml -e start_role=last
PLAY [quickNdirty roles start demo] *******************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************
TASK [Debug roles that would be used in above commented task] *****************************************************************************************************************************************************************
ok: [localhost] => (item=last) => {
"msg": "I would import role last"
}
PLAY RECAP ********************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************
localhost : ok=1 changed=0 unreachable=0 failed=0 skipped=0 rescued=0 ignored=0
# Implement error management yourself if you need it.
$ ansible-playbook roleimport.yml -e start_role=thisIsAnError
PLAY [quickNdirty roles start demo] *******************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************
TASK [Debug roles that would be used in above commented task] *****************************************************************************************************************************************************************
fatal: [localhost]: FAILED! => {"msg": "An unhandled exception occurred while templating '{{ full_role_list[start_index|int:] }}'. Error was a <class 'ansible.errors.AnsibleError'>, original message: An unhandled exception occurred while templating '{{ full_role_list.index(start_role|default('myfirstrole')) }}'. Error was a <class 'ValueError'>, original message: 'thisIsAnError' is not in list"}
PLAY RECAP ********************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************
localhost : ok=0 changed=0 unreachable=0 failed=1 skipped=0 rescued=0 ignored=0