Issue in ansible playbook command? - shell

Question

I am trying to execute a command on docker on other machine from my machine. When I execute this command:
- name: Add header
command: docker exec cli bash -l -c "echo '{"payload":{"header":{"channel_header":{"channel_id":"gll", "type":2}},"data":{"config_update":'$(cat jaguar_update.json)'}}}' | jq . > jaguar_update_in_envelope.json"
through ansible playbook, I am getting the error shown below.
fatal:[
command-task
]:FAILED! =>{
"changed":true,
"cmd":[ ],
"delta":"0:00:00.131115",
"end":"2019-07-11 17:32:44.651504",
"msg":"non-zero return code",
"rc":4,
"start":"2019-07-11 17:32:44.520389",
"stderr":"mesg: ttyname
failed: Inappropriate ioctl for device\nparse error: Invalid numeric
literal at line 1, column 9",
"stderr_lines":[
"mesg: ttyname failed:
Inappropriate ioctl for device",
"parse error: Invalid numeric literal
at line 1, column 9"
],
"stdout":"",
"stdout_lines":[
]
}
But if I manually execute command in the docker container, it works fine and I don't get any issue.
EDIT:
As suggested i tried with shell module
shell: docker exec cli -it bash -l -c "echo '{"payload":{"header":{"channel_header":{"channel_id":"gll", "type":2}},"data":{"config_update":'$(cat jaguar_update.json)'}}}' | jq . > jaguar_update_in_envelope.json"
But i get below error as
fatal: [command-task]: FAILED! => {"changed": true, "cmd": "docker
exec cli -it bash -l -c echo
'{\"payload\":{\"header\":{\"channel_header\":{\"channel_id\":\"gll\",
\"type\":2}},\"data\":{\"config_update\":'$(cat
jaguar_update.json)'}}}' | jq . > jaguar_update_in_envelope.json",
"delta": "0:00:00.110341", "end": "2019-07-12 10:21:45.204049", "msg":
"non-zero return code", "rc": 4, "start": "2019-07-12
10:21:45.093708", "stderr": "cat: jaguar_update.json: No such file or
directory\nparse error: Invalid numeric literal at line 1, column 4",
"stderr_lines": ["cat: jaguar_update.json: No such file or directory",
"parse error: Invalid numeric literal at line 1, column 4"], "stdout":
"", "stdout_lines": []}
All the files 'jaguar_update.json' present in the working directory. I have confirmed the working directory.
Above commands works if i put it in a shell script file then execute the shell script from ansible.

Answer 1

As everyone has mentioned this does need you to use shell instead of command. Now you want to simplify this command so it can run first in bash. Which can be done easily using printf
$ printf "%s%s%s" '{"payload":{"header":{"channel_header":{"channel_id":"gll", "type":2}},"data":{"config_update":' $(<jaguar_update.json'}}}' | jq . > jaguar_update_in_envelope.json
$ cat jaguar_update_in_envelope.json
{
"payload": {
"header": {
"channel_header": {
"channel_id": "gll",
"type": 2
}
},
"data": {
"config_update": {
"name": "tarun"
}
}
}
}
So now our commands runs without issues. Next is to move it with bash -l -c format. So instead using -c which requires us to pass the whole command as one parameter, we use the multiline commands
$ bash -l <<EOF
printf "%s%s%s" '{"payload":{"header":{"channel_header":{"channel_id":"gll", "type":2}},"data":{"config_update":' $(<jaguar_update.json) '}}}' | jq . > jaguar_update_in_envelope.json
EOF
But this fails with an error
{"payload":{"header":{"channel_header":{"channel_id":"gll", "type":2}},"data":{"config_update":{bash: line 2: name:: command not found
bash: line 3: syntax error near unexpected token `}'
bash: line 3: `} '}}}' | jq . > jaguar_update_in_envelope.json'
This is because the EOF format will treat each new line as a different command. So we need to replace all new line characters
bash -l <<EOF
printf "%s%s%s" '{"payload":{"header":{"channel_header":{"channel_id":"gll", "type":2}},"data":{"config_update":' $(sed -E 's|"|\\"|g' jaguar_update.json | tr -d '\n') '}}}' | jq . > jaguar_update_in_envelope.json
EOF
And now in ansible
- name: a play that runs entirely on the ansible host
hosts: 127.0.0.1
connection: local
tasks:
- name: Solve the problem
shell: |
bash -l <<EOF
printf "%s%s%s" '{"payload":{"header":{"channel_header":{"channel_id":"gll", "type":2}},"data":{"config_update":' $(sed -E 's|"|\\"|g' jaguar_update.json | tr -d '\n') '}}}' | jq . > jaguar_update_in_envelope.json
EOF
And the result
$ ansible-playbook test.yml
PLAY [a play that runs entirely on the ansible host] *********************************************************************************************************************************
TASK [Gathering Facts] ***************************************************************************************************************************************************************
ok: [127.0.0.1]
TASK [Solve the problem] *************************************************************************************************************************************************************
changed: [127.0.0.1]
PLAY RECAP ***************************************************************************************************************************************************************************
127.0.0.1 : ok=2 changed=1 unreachable=0 failed=0 skipped=0 rescued=0 ignored=0
$ cat jaguar_update_in_envelope.json
{
"payload": {
"header": {
"channel_header": {
"channel_id": "gll",
"type": 2
}
},
"data": {
"config_update": {
"name": "tarun"
}
}
}
}

Answer 2

To avoid any complexity, try as in this question to wrap your command in a script, and call that script (with command or shell)
- name: Add header
raw: /path/to/script/docker-add-header.sh
And in /path/to/script/docker-add-header.sh:
docker exec cli -it bash -l -c "echo '{"payload":{"header":{"channel_header":{"channel_id":"gll", "type":2}},"data":{"config_update":'$(cat jaguar_update.json)'}}}' | jq . > jaguar_update_in_envelope.json
Try to make the script work first alone (no Ansible).
See (if it is not working, even outside any Ansible call), to escape nested double-quotes:
docker exec cli -it bash -l -c "echo '{\"payload\":{\"header\":...

Answer 3

c.f. the docs -
The command(s) will not be processed through the shell, so variables like $HOME and operations like "<", ">", "|", ";" and "&" will not work. Use the shell module if you need these features.
shell pretty literally submits a script to the sh command parser.
Another note - you end the single-quote before the $(cat jaguar_update.json) and restart it after, but don't use any double quoting around it. Your output may handle that, but I wanted to call attention in case it matters.