ansible AttributeError: 'list' object has no attribute 'startswith' - ansible

Question

I am running ansible and trying to make this task work, it fails with this error:
An exception occurred during task execution. To see the full
traceback, use -vvv. The error was: AttributeError: 'list' object has
no attribute 'startswith' fatal: [test-1]: FAILED! =>
{"failed": true, "msg": "Unexpected failure during module execution.",
"stdout": ""} msg: Unexpected failure during module execution.
The code is:
- name: Register env Type
shell: facter configured_setup
register: setup
- name: foo tasks
shell: {{some_script}} -t -a {{hosts}} -i {{inventory_hostname}}
register: test
when: setup.stdout == "something"
- name: fetch group_vars
fetch:
src:
- { "{{ item }}", when: setup.stdout == "something" }
dest: "{{group_vars}}"
flat: yes
with_items:
- "{{ test.stdout_lines[0] }}"
- "{{ test.stdout_lines[1] }}"
"fetch group_vars" is the task that always fails, any idea how this can work?
What I am trying to do is add more source files to fetch from different setvers.
So I want to have more lines under "src:", saying - { filename, when setup.stdout =="something else" }
The full error is:
An exception occurred during task execution. The full traceback is:
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "/usr/lib/python2.7/site-packages/ansible/executor/task_executor.py", line 96, in run
item_results = self._run_loop(items)
File "/usr/lib/python2.7/site-packages/ansible/executor/task_executor.py", line 252, in _run_loop
res = self._execute(variables=task_vars)
File "/usr/lib/python2.7/site-packages/ansible/executor/task_executor.py", line 446, in _execute
result = self._handler.run(task_vars=variables)
File "/usr/lib/python2.7/site-packages/ansible/plugins/action/fetch.py", line 62, in run
source = self._remote_expand_user(source)
File "/usr/lib/python2.7/site-packages/ansible/plugins/action/init.py", line 460, in _remote_expand_user
if not path.startswith('~'): # FIXME: Windows paths may start with "~ instead of just ~
AttributeError: 'list' object has no attribute 'startswith'
fatal: [test-1]: FAILED! => {"failed": true, "msg":
"Unexpected failure during module execution.", "stdout": ""} msg:
Unexpected failure during module execution.

Answer 1

The ansible documentation clearly states that fetch, fetches a file, not a list of files. Although one can program an application to deal with both a scalar and a sequence loaded from a YAML document, that is not automatic and would almost certainly have been reflected in the documentation.
Since you already have a sequence at a higher level, just extend that.
- name: Register env Type
shell: facter configured_setup
register: setup
- name: transparency tasks
shell: {{some_script}} -t -a {{hosts}} -i {{inventory_hostname}}
register: test
when: setup.stdout == "something"
- name: fetch group_vars
fetch:
src: { "{{ item }}", when: setup.stdout == "something" }
dest: "{{group_vars}}"
flat: yes
with_items:
- "{{ test.stdout_lines[0] }}"
- "{{ test.stdout_lines[1] }}"
- name: fetch group_vars2
fetch:
src: { filename, when setup.stdout =="something else" }
dest: "{{group_vars}}"
flat: yes
with_items:
- "{{ test.stdout_lines[0] }}"
- "{{ test.stdout_lines[1] }}"
You might be able to reduce the repetitiveness somewhat by using YAML's anchor and merge:
- name: Register env Type
shell: facter configured_setup
register: setup
- name: transparency tasks
shell: {{some_script}} -t -a {{hosts}} -i {{inventory_hostname}}
register: test
when: setup.stdout == "something"
- &fetchtask
name: fetch group_vars
fetch: &fetchsrc
src: { "{{ item }}", when: setup.stdout == "something" }
dest: "{{group_vars}}"
flat: yes
with_items:
- "{{ test.stdout_lines[0] }}"
- "{{ test.stdout_lines[1] }}"
- <<: *fetchtask
name: fetch group_vars2
fetch:
<<: *fetchsrc
src: { filename, when setup.stdout =="something else" }
Ansible probably expands the {{...}} before handing the document to the YAML parser, otherwise the value for shell in the "transparency task" would throw an error. But you should probably still quote that like you do with the value for dest

Answer 2

So I ended up doing this (which is working):
- name: fetch group_vars test
fetch:
src: "{{ item }}"
dest: "{{group_vars}}"
flat: yes
with_items:
- "{{ test.stdout_lines[0] }}"
- "{{ test.stdout_lines[1] }}"
when: setup.stdout == "something" and {{something_else}} == True
I also noticed that there might be a bug in ansible related to registers.
while using the "when" statement, even if the condition is not met, the register statement takes affect:
- name: test tasks something enabled
shell: /tmp/{{populate_script}} -u -a {{hosts}} -r
register: variable
when: setup.stdout == "test" and something == True
- name: test tasks something disabled
shell: /tmp/{{populate_script}} -u -a {{hosts}}
register: variable
when: setup.stdout == "test" and something == False
only one of these conditions will be met, in case the first one is met the second condition will override "variable"