Why is Ansible not Running Pip as sudo user? - pip

Question

I have a playbook that ensures all requirements are installed locally. I am using ansible 2.0.0
ansible-playbook site.yml -i staging
site.yml:
---
- hosts: localhost
become: yes
become_user: "{{ sudo_user }}"
connection: local
vars_files:
- vars/main.yml
roles:
- do
sudo_user is surfer190 in vars.
do/tasks/main.yml:
- name: make sure everything is installed
apt: name={{item}} state=installed
with_items:
- python-apt
- python-pycurl
- python-pip
- python-setuptools
- name: Install dopy
pip: name={{ item }}
with_items:
- virtualenv
- dopy
- passlib
I get the following error:
failed: [localhost] => (item=passlib) => {"cmd": "/usr/local/bin/pip install passlib", "failed": true, "invocation": {"module_args": {"name": "passlib"}, "module_name": "pip"}, "item": "passlib", "msg": "stdout: Collecting passlib\n Using cached passlib-1.6.5-py2.py3-none-any.whl\nInstalling collected packages: passlib\n\n:stderr: Exception:\nTraceback (most recent call last):\n File \"/usr/local/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/pip/basecommand.py\", line 211, in main\n status = self.run(options, args)\n File \"/usr/local/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/pip/commands/install.py\", line 311, in run\n root=options.root_path,\n File \"/usr/local/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/pip/req/req_set.py\", line 646, in install\n **kwargs\n File \"/usr/local/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/pip/req/req_install.py\", line 803, in install\n self.move_wheel_files(self.source_dir, root=root)\n File \"/usr/local/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/pip/req/req_install.py\", line 998, in move_wheel_files\n isolated=self.isolated,\n File \"/usr/local/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/pip/wheel.py\", line 339, in move_wheel_files\n clobber(source, lib_dir, True)\n File \"/usr/local/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/pip/wheel.py\", line 310, in clobber\n ensure_dir(destdir)\n File \"/usr/local/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/pip/utils/__init__.py\", line 71, in ensure_dir\n os.makedirs(path)\n File \"/usr/lib/python2.7/os.py\", line 157, in makedirs\n mkdir(name, mode)\nOSError: [Errno 13] Permission denied: '/usr/local/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/passlib'\n"}
Which is basically a permission denied. So it is not running the command with sudo. As I try sudo pip install passlib and it works.
Even if I run with -k and enter the sudo password it does not work. Take note that the surfer190 user requires a password to sudo.
What am I doing wrong?

Answer 1

Add 'sudo: yes' to Install dopy task
- name: make sure everything is installed
apt: name={{item}} state=installed
with_items:
- python-apt
- python-pycurl
- python-pip
- python-setuptools
- name: Install dopy
pip: name={{ item }}
with_items:
- virtualenv
- dopy
- passlib
sudo: yes
If you notice that the execution of the playbook hangs while executing the task then it is likely that ansible waits for the sudo passoword but there is no way you can enter the password. There is a way to get around that. Update the below specified section in your sudoers file located at '/etc/sudoers'
# Allow members of group sudo to execute any command
%sudo ALL=(ALL:ALL) ALL
yourusername ALL=NOPASSWD: ALL
Be careful while editing /etc/sudoers, having the incorrect entries might prevent you from logging on to the server ever again.

Answer 2

So it looks like the minimum config you need is:
---
- hosts: localhost
become: yes
become_user: "{{ sudo_user }}"
connection: local
vars_files:
- vars/main.yml
roles:
- ...
So the become_user needs to be a user that can sudo with no pass I think.
If there is no become_user it fails with:
failed: [localhost] => (item=passlib) => {"failed": true, "item": "passlib", "parsed": false}
[sudo via ansible, key=sgidbrejgqoibeozxncyhixnwsukxjbe] password: