Ansible: playbook name and task step index on variables - ansible

Question

In my playbook I have several shell task per playbook, like ten or more. I want to use creates shell arg to avoid executing them over and over.
Currently I have this:
- name: Download sonar-runner
get_url:
url: http://repo1.maven.org/maven2/org/codehaus/sonar/runner/sonar- runner-dist/2.4/sonar-runner-dist-2.4.zip
dest: /tmp
mode: 0755
- name: Unarchive
unarchive:
src: /tmp/sonar-runner-dist-2.4.zip
dest: /opt/tools/sonar-runner-2.4
- name: Sym link
shell: ln -s sonar-runner-2.4 sonar-runner
args:
creates: ~/.ansible/sonar-runner.task/step.3
- name: Configure profile
shell: |
echo 'export JAVA_HOME=/usr/lib/jvm/java-8-openjdk-amd64/' > /etc/profile.d/maven.sh
echo 'export M2_HOME=/opt/maven/apache-maven-3.5.3' >> /etc/profile.d/maven.sh
echo 'export PATH=${M2_HOME}/bin:${PATH}' >> /etc/profile.d/maven.sh
args:
creates: ~/.ansible/sonar-runner.task/step.4
Is there any way to achieve this using variables. I'm thinking something like this:
- name: Sym link
shell: ln -s sonar-runner-2.4 sonar-runner
args:
creates: ~/.ansible/{{playbook_name}}/{{task_index}}
- name: Configure profile
shell: |
echo 'export JAVA_HOME=/usr/lib/jvm/java-8-openjdk-amd64/' > /etc/profile.d/maven.sh
echo 'export M2_HOME=/opt/maven/apache-maven-3.5.3' >> /etc/profile.d/maven.sh
echo 'export PATH=${M2_HOME}/bin:${PATH}' >> /etc/profile.d/maven.sh
args:
creates: ~/.ansible/{{playbook_name}}/{{task_index}}
Is there any way to do this? Am I missing something? Or isn't that the way Ansible works?

Answer 1

Is there any way to do this? Am I missing something? Or isn't that the way Ansible works?
Yes, yes, and no :-)
Is there any way to do this?
The shell: and command: support inline creates= declarations, so you can keep all of that together in one block (and thus it is a candidate for being a variable, or a yaml anchor):
- shell: |
creates=/etc/profile.d/maven.sh
echo 'hello' > /etc/profile.d/maven.sh
- command: |
creates=/etc/profile.d/maven.sh
cp /something /etc/profile.d/maven.sh
However, I just told you that for your information, and for the circumstances where these next set of steps won't work because ...
Am I missing something?
You want to use the built-in idempotency whenever possible, to get you out of the business of having to do manual "has this task run" bookkeeping. Thus:
- file:
src: sonar-runner-2.4
dest: sonar-runner
state: link
- copy:
dest: /etc/profile.d/maven.sh
content: |
export JAVA_HOME=/usr/lib/jvm/java-8-openjdk-amd64/
export M2_HOME=/opt/maven/apache-maven-3.5.3
export PATH=${M2_HOME}/bin:${PATH}
I'm genuinely surprised ansible didn't whine when you tried to use ln manually, as it knows about common shell commands and will nudge you to switch to the built-in module file:

Answer 2

Well, finally I've managed to solve this using a mix of vars, facts and roles.
testfacts.yml playbook
---
- hosts: all
vars:
current_role: 'testfacts'
roles:
- testfacts
roles/testfacts/tasks/main.yml
---
- name: Import task1
import_tasks: task1.yml
- name: Import task2
import_tasks: task2.yml
roles/testfacts/tasks/task1.yml
---
- name: Prepare task
include_role:
name: common
tasks_from: set_facts
vars:
current_task: 'task1'
- name: Test facts in task step 1
shell: "echo foo > /home/awx/outp"
args:
creates: "{{ creates_dir }}/test-fact-tasks-step-1"
# this never gets executed
- name: Test facts in task 2 step 2
shell: "echo bar > /home/awx/outp"
args:
creates: "{{ creates_dir }}/test-fact-tasks-step-1"
roles/common/tasks/set_facts.yml
---
- name: set_facts
set_fact:
creates_dir: "{{ bookeeping_dir }}/roles.d/{{ current_role }}/tasks.d/{{ current_task }}/steps.d"
inventories/prod/group_vars/group_vars.yml
---
bookeeping_dir: /home/awx/.ansible/ansible_bookeeping