CODEWITHSUNDEEP
ansibleescaping
thistleknot
thistleknot

Reputation: 1158

Create ansible play that works with forward slashes

I have a use case to use R's devtools::install_github

---
- hosts: slurm_w
  vars:
    arg: "USCbiostats/slurmR"
  tasks:
    - debug: var=arg
    - shell: R -e devtools::install_github({{ arg }})
      register: find
    - debug: var=find.stdout.lines

What I'd like to do is write plays that can use install_github

I know there is another method: githubinstall("PackageName") which is easier to work with, but ultimately I'd like a solution to work around the forward slash

The only way I can really get this to install as is is to use a bash script that I ultimately call from an ansible play

error

fatal: [slurmw01]: FAILED! => {"changed": true, "cmd": "R -e devtools::install_github(\\\"USCbiostats/slurmR\\\")", "delta": "0:00:00.004260", "end": "2020-12-21 21:19:26.638852", "msg": "non-zero return code", "rc": 1, "start": "2020-12-21 21:19:26.634592", "stderr": "/bin/sh: -c: line 0: syntax error near unexpected token `('\n/bin/sh: -c: line 0: `R -e devtools::install_github(\\\"USCbiostats/slurmR\\\")'", "stderr_lines": ["/bin/sh: -c: line 0: syntax error near unexpected token `('", "/bin/sh: -c: line 0: `R -e devtools::install_github(\\\"USCbiostats/slurmR\\\")'"], "stdout": "", "stdout_lines": []}

Upvotes: 0

Views: 672

Answers (2)

seshadri_c
seshadri_c

Reputation: 7340

This issue is occurring because of extra quotes required for the expression (-e) passed to the R command.

Typically run like:

R -e "devtools::install_github('USCbiostats/slurmR')"

We can escape the quotes, like so:

- shell: "R -e \"devtools::install_github('{{ arg }}')\""
  register: find

Upvotes: 1

mdaniel
mdaniel

Reputation: 33223

As the message clearly says, it's not the forward slashes, it's the open paren which is a shell metacharacter

You need to escape the expression that is provided to -e to keep bash from trying to interpret the (. The easiest way is via the | quote filter

    - shell: R -e {{ ('devtools::install_github("' ~ arg ~ '")') | quote }}
      register: find

Upvotes: 1

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