Ansible stat module not working - ansible

Question

I need some help here:
I am creating virtual machines with Vagrant to configure some cluster on them. For the first VM, which I want to use as an Ansible control node, I'm running Ansible from my local machine to install and configure Ansible in my Control Node.
The problem appears when I try to check if the .inventory file exists and try to copy the file to the home directory (inside the VM).
The same command that I use for the inventory file works just file to check the stat of the .ansible.cfg file but not for the inventory file.
Do you guys have any idea what I'm doing wrong?
roles/ansible/tasks/main.yml
---
- name: install epel-release
yum:
name: epel-release
state: present
- name: install ansible
yum:
name: ansible
state: present
- name: stat ansible configuration file
stat:
path: "{{ cfg_file }}"
register: stat_ansible_config
- name: copy .ansible.cfg to home directory
copy:
src: .ansible.cfg
dest: /home/{{ user }}/.ansible.cfg
owner: "{{ user }}"
group: "{{ group }}"
mode: 0644
when: stat_ansible_config.stat.exists
- name: stat ansible inventory file
stat:
path: "{{ inventory_file }}"
register: stat_inventory
- name: copy .inventory to home directory
copy:
src: .inventory
dest: /home/{{ user }}/.inventory
owner: "{{ user }}"
group: "{{ group }}"
mode: 0644
when: stat_inventory.stat.exists
...
roles/ansible/vars/main.yml
---
user: vagrant
group: vagrant
cfg_file: /{{ user }}/provision/playbooks/roles/ansible/files/.ansible.cfg
inventory_file: /{{ user }}/provision/playbooks/roles/ansible/files/.inventory
...
the playbook:
---
- hosts: controller
become: yes
roles:
- ansible
...
and the output:
TASK [ansible : stat ansible configuration file] *******************************
ok: [controller] => {
"changed": false,
"invocation": {
"module_args": {
"checksum_algorithm": "sha1",
"follow": false,
"get_checksum": true,
"get_md5": true,
"mime": false,
"path": "/vagrant/provision/playbooks/roles/ansible/files/.ansible.cfg"
},
"module_name": "stat"
},
"stat": {
"atime": 1485527858.0,
"checksum": "46acc076fda7e38fd7262fbc88f8ab4e1f52ddca",
"ctime": 1485452789.0,
"dev": 38,
"executable": false,
"exists": true,
"gid": 1000,
"gr_name": "vagrant",
"inode": 118,
"isblk": false,
"ischr": false,
"isdir": false,
"isfifo": false,
"isgid": false,
"islnk": false,
"isreg": true,
"issock": false,
"isuid": false,
"md5": "0cb8c97246776dc7e88fe44f19c3278f",
"mode": "0644",
"mtime": 1485452789.0,
"nlink": 1,
"path": "/vagrant/provision/playbooks/roles/ansible/files/.ansible.cfg",
"pw_name": "vagrant",
"readable": true,
"rgrp": true,
"roth": true,
"rusr": true,
"size": 164,
"uid": 1000,
"wgrp": false,
"woth": false,
"writeable": true,
"wusr": true,
"xgrp": false,
"xoth": false,
"xusr": false
}
}
TASK [ansible : copy .ansible.cfg to home directory] ***************************
ok: [controller] => {
"changed": false,
"checksum": "46acc076fda7e38fd7262fbc88f8ab4e1f52ddca",
"dest": "/home/vagrant/.ansible.cfg",
"diff": {
"after": {
"path": "/home/vagrant/.ansible.cfg"
},
"before": {
"path": "/home/vagrant/.ansible.cfg"
}
},
"gid": 1000,
"group": "vagrant",
"invocation": {
"module_args": {
"backup": null,
"content": null,
"delimiter": null,
"dest": "/home/vagrant/.ansible.cfg",
"diff_peek": null,
"directory_mode": null,
"follow": false,
"force": false,
"group": "vagrant",
"mode": 420,
"original_basename": ".ansible.cfg",
"owner": "vagrant",
"path": "/home/vagrant/.ansible.cfg",
"recurse": false,
"regexp": null,
"remote_src": null,
"selevel": null,
"serole": null,
"setype": null,
"seuser": null,
"src": ".ansible.cfg",
"state": null,
"unsafe_writes": null,
"validate": null
}
},
"mode": "0644",
"owner": "vagrant",
"path": "/home/vagrant/.ansible.cfg",
"secontext": "unconfined_u:object_r:user_home_t:s0",
"size": 164,
"state": "file",
"uid": 1000
}
TASK [ansible : stat ansible inventory file] ***********************************
ok: [controller] => {
"changed": false,
"invocation": {
"module_args": {
"checksum_algorithm": "sha1",
"follow": false,
"get_checksum": true,
"get_md5": true,
"mime": false,
"path": null
},
"module_name": "stat"
},
"stat": {
"exists": false
}
}
TASK [ansible : copy .inventory to home directory] *****************************
task path: /Users/alessandro/Go/src/github.com/alesr/neo4go/provision/playbooks/roles/ansible/tasks/main.yml:31
skipping: [controller] => {
"changed": false,
"skip_reason": "Conditional check failed",
"skipped": true
}

Answer 1

inventory_file is a magic variable and is set by Ansible during playbook run overwriting any values you try to assign.
In your inventory stat task you may notice: invocation.module_args.path: null.
Rename your inventory_file variable to my_inventory_file and it will work.

Answer 2

copy sees the file is already there and is saying there's no change, but is identical to your source and not making a change.
The debug output shows:
stat_ansible_config.stat.exists = True
stat_inventory.stat.exists = False
and that explains the behavior difference.