Why isn't Ansible respecting my system proxy settings?

Question

I'm one of those people fortunate enough to have a corporate proxy that breaks SSL! /s

My environment has http_proxy, https_proxy, HTTP_PROXY, and HTTPS_PROXY all correctly configured. I do my configuration via a shell script in /etc/profile.d that sets all 4 environment variables for me.

I'm trying to use Ansible to install packages from pip. Here's my problem.

I can log in to the system and type the following command:

pip install --trusted-host pypi.python.org robotframework

... and it will work. I've tried doing the same thing from inside Ansible both using command and pip modules. No joy.

Using the pip module:

- name: install robotframework
  pip: name=robotframework extra_args='--trusted-host pypi.python.org'
  become: true

Results in this:

fatal: [localhost]: FAILED! => {"changed": false, "cmd": "/bin/pip install --trusted-host pypi.python.org robotframework", "failed": true, "
invocation": {"module_args": {"chdir": null, "editable": true, "executable": null, "extra_args": "--trusted-host pypi.python.org", "name": "
robotframework", "requirements": null, "state": "present", "umask": null, "use_mirrors": true, "version": null, "virtualenv": null, "virtual
env_command": "virtualenv", "virtualenv_python": null, "virtualenv_site_packages": false}, "module_name": "pip"}, "msg": "stdout: Collecting
 robotframework\n\n:stderr: You are using pip version 7.1.0, however version 9.0.1 is available.\nYou should consider upgrading via the 'pip
 install --upgrade pip' command.\n  Retrying (Retry(total=4, connect=None, read=None, redirect=None)) after connection broken by 'ProtocolEr
ror('Connection aborted.', error(101, 'Network is unreachable'))': /simple/robotframework/\n  Retrying (Retry(total=3, connect=None, read=No
ne, redirect=None)) after connection broken by 'ProtocolError('Connection aborted.', error(101, 'Network is unreachable'))': /simple/robotfr
amework/\n  Retrying (Retry(total=2, connect=None, read=None, redirect=None)) after connection broken by 'ProtocolError('Connection aborted.
', error(101, 'Network is unreachable'))': /simple/robotframework/\n  Retrying (Retry(total=1, connect=None, read=None, redirect=None)) afte
r connection broken by 'ProtocolError('Connection aborted.', error(101, 'Network is unreachable'))': /simple/robotframework/\n  Retrying (Re
try(total=0, connect=None, read=None, redirect=None)) after connection broken by 'ProtocolError('Connection aborted.', error(101, 'Network i
s unreachable'))': /simple/robotframework/\n  Retrying (Retry(total=4, connect=None, read=None, redirect=None)) after connection broken by '
ProtocolError('Connection aborted.', error(101, 'Network is unreachable'))': /simple/robotframework/\n  Retrying (Retry(total=3, connect=Non
e, read=None, redirect=None)) after connection broken by 'ProtocolError('Connection aborted.', error(101, 'Network is unreachable'))': /simp
le/robotframework/\n  Retrying (Retry(total=2, connect=None, read=None, redirect=None)) after connection broken by 'ProtocolError('Connectio
n aborted.', error(101, 'Network is unreachable'))': /simple/robotframework/\n  Retrying (Retry(total=1, connect=None, read=None, redirect=N
one)) after connection broken by 'ProtocolError('Connection aborted.', error(101, 'Network is unreachable'))': /simple/robotframework/\n  Re
trying (Retry(total=0, connect=None, read=None, redirect=None)) after connection broken by 'ProtocolError('Connection aborted.', error(101,
'Network is unreachable'))': /simple/robotframework/\n  Could not find a version that satisfies the requirement robotframework (from version
s: )\nNo matching distribution found for robotframework\n"}

Using the command module:

- name: install robotframework
  command: "pip install --trusted-host pypi.python.org robotframework"
  become: true

Results in this:

fatal: [localhost]: FAILED! => {"changed": true, "cmd": ["pip", "install", "--trusted-host", "pypi.python.org", "robotframework"], "delta":
"0:03:16.916685", "end": "2016-11-10 13:26:12.486105", "failed": true, "invocation": {"module_args": {"_raw_params": "pip install --trusted-
host pypi.python.org robotframework", "_uses_shell": false, "chdir": null, "creates": null, "executable": null, "removes": null, "warn": tru
e}, "module_name": "command"}, "rc": 1, "start": "2016-11-10 13:22:55.569420", "stderr": "You are using pip version 7.1.0, however version 9
.0.1 is available.\nYou should consider upgrading via the 'pip install --upgrade pip' command.\n  Retrying (Retry(total=4, connect=None, rea
d=None, redirect=None)) after connection broken by 'ProtocolError('Connection aborted.', error(101, 'Network is unreachable'))': /simple/rob
otframework/\n  Retrying (Retry(total=3, connect=None, read=None, redirect=None)) after connection broken by 'ProtocolError('Connection abor
ted.', error(101, 'Network is unreachable'))': /simple/robotframework/\n  Retrying (Retry(total=2, connect=None, read=None, redirect=None))
after connection broken by 'ProtocolError('Connection aborted.', error(101, 'Network is unreachable'))': /simple/robotframework/\n  Retrying
 (Retry(total=1, connect=None, read=None, redirect=None)) after connection broken by 'ProtocolError('Connection aborted.', error(101, 'Netwo
rk is unreachable'))': /simple/robotframework/\n  Retrying (Retry(total=0, connect=None, read=None, redirect=None)) after connection broken
by 'ProtocolError('Connection aborted.', error(101, 'Network is unreachable'))': /simple/robotframework/\n  Retrying (Retry(total=4, connect
=None, read=None, redirect=None)) after connection broken by 'ProtocolError('Connection aborted.', error(101, 'Network is unreachable'))': /
simple/robotframework/\n  Retrying (Retry(total=3, connect=None, read=None, redirect=None)) after connection broken by 'ProtocolError('Conne
ction aborted.', error(101, 'Network is unreachable'))': /simple/robotframework/\n  Retrying (Retry(total=2, connect=None, read=None, redire
ct=None)) after connection broken by 'ProtocolError('Connection aborted.', error(101, 'Network is unreachable'))': /simple/robotframework/\n
  Retrying (Retry(total=1, connect=None, read=None, redirect=None)) after connection broken by 'ProtocolError('Connection aborted.', error(1
01, 'Network is unreachable'))': /simple/robotframework/\n  Retrying (Retry(total=0, connect=None, read=None, redirect=None)) after connecti
on broken by 'ProtocolError('Connection aborted.', error(101, 'Network is unreachable'))': /simple/robotframework/\n  Could not find a versi
on that satisfies the requirement robotframework (from versions: )\nNo matching distribution found for robotframework", "stdout": "Collectin
g robotframework", "stdout_lines": ["Collecting robotframework"], "warnings": []}

I am totally at a loss. I thought it might have been something funny with the root user, until I logged in as the root user and successfully ran the pip command at the shell. I know I'm on an old version of pip (thank EPEL for that), but that shouldn't be causing the command invocation to fail. Even when I try upgrading pip like the warning states, I get the same result.

The only thing that worked was redundantly specifying the proxy url in the task:

- name: install robot framework
  pip: name=robotframework extra_args='--trusted-host pypi.python.org'
  environment:
    http_proxy: http://proxy1.example.com:8080
    https_proxy: http://proxy1.example.com:8080
    HTTP_PROXY: http://proxy1.example.com:8080
    HTTPS_PROXY: http://proxy1.example.com:8080
  become: true
  become_user: root

Why do I need to do this? If I log in as root I can see that the environment variables are set. I shouldn't need to set them in Ansible, too.

Answer 1

If I log in as root I can see that the environment variables are set. I shouldn't need to set them in Ansible, too.

Incorrect! :) You're probably setting those variables in a file like ~/.bashrc, which is only run on interactive shells.

There's a section of the documentation devoted to working with environment variables, with a specific emphasis on proxy use.