How to make `with_fileglob` conditional - ansible

Question

I am testing with this:
#test.yml
- hosts: localhost
tasks:
- set_fact:
host_name: "project-specific"
- stat:
path: /home/user/work/infrastructure/{{ host_name }}
register: file_exists
- debug:
var: file_exists
- name: Dont create a file
template:
src: "{{item}}"
dest: /home/user/work/infrastructure/project-specific-2/
mode: 0755
with_fileglob: /home/user/work/infrastructure/{{ host_name }}/*
when: file_exists
I want to copy all the files in project-specific to project-specific-2 (as a demonstration), but only if the project-specific directory actually exists. The project-specific directory does not exist, so it should do skip this step.
This is the output:
user#laptop:~/work/infrastructure/ansible$ ansible-playbook test.yml
PLAY [localhost] *************************************************************************************************************************************
TASK [Gathering Facts] *******************************************************************************************************************************
ok: [localhost]
TASK [set_fact] **************************************************************************************************************************************
ok: [localhost]
TASK [stat] ******************************************************************************************************************************************
ok: [localhost]
TASK [debug] *****************************************************************************************************************************************
ok: [localhost] => {
"file_exists": {
"changed": false,
"failed": false,
"stat": {
"exists": false
}
}
}
TASK [Dont create a file] ****************************************************************************************************************************
[WARNING]: Unable to find '/home/user/work/infrastructure/project-specific' in expected paths (use -vvvvv to see paths)
PLAY RECAP *******************************************************************************************************************************************
localhost : ok=4 changed=0 unreachable=0 failed=0 skipped=1 rescued=0 ignored=0
https://github.com/ansible/ansible/issues/13296
states that with_ clauses get executed before when. How do I make it so that it skips this step if the path does not exist? Or is it fine to leave it to 'execute' with a warning as no files get copied anyway?

Answer 1

I think you are stuck with this one. As noted in the documentation the when statement is evaluated separately for each item in the loop.
When combining Conditionals with a loop, the when: statement is processed separately for each item.
So what you're seeing is expected behavior.
The end result in your case is that the task is actually skipped when the directory can't be found, no action is performed. It just does this while printing a warning.

Answer 2

Bit late but the question is still relevant. My solution to this problem is to put with_fileglob tasks in a separate file and put the conditional on an include_tasks statement. E.g.
- name: Do fileglob operation
include_tasks: fileglob.yml
when:
- dir_info.stat.exists
- dir_info.stat.isdir