CODEWITHSUNDEEP
ansible
FrustratedWithFormsDesigner
FrustratedWithFormsDesigner

Reputation: 27486

ansible - check if file exists on *local* machine

I have a situation where I need to check the status of a file on the local machine (the one where I will call ansible-playbook ...).

If a file that is created by the user exists, it needs to be copied over to the remote host(s). If it doesn't exist, then none of the remote hosts need it.

I know I've done things like :

- name: Check for ~/.blah/config
  stat: path=/home/ubuntu/.blah/config
  register: stat_blah_config

- name: Do something with blah config
  shell: ~/do_something_with_config.sh
  when: stat_aws_config.stat.exists == true

But that will only work if the file exists remotely. Is there a way to conditionally execute a task (like copy) only if the file exists locally (have the stat in the first task execute locally instead of remotely), and fail silently if it does not? I'm not sure if ansible has this kind of functionality, but it would be useful.

Upvotes: 44

Views: 44050

Answers (2)

Russell Stuart
Russell Stuart

Reputation: 649

This also works, and saves executing a task:

when: "lookup('ansible.builtin.fileglob', '/home/ubuntu/.blah/config') != []"

fileglob always looks on the local machine.

Upvotes: 9

Bruce P
Bruce P

Reputation: 20719

Delegating the tasks to the localhost via the delegate_to statement should do what you want:

- name: Check for ~/.blah/config
  delegate_to: localhost
  stat:
    path: /home/ubuntu/.blah/config
  register: stat_blah_config

Upvotes: 47

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