Ansible OR not working correctly (I know its me!)

Question

I know this is something I am doing wrong but its slowly driving me crazy. Please note, this cannot be yum controlled unfortunately. I have an ansible playbook that checks for the presence of tomcat, then contents of a file and retrieves a version:

Vars:

tomcat_version: 9.0.62

Checks:

- name: Check for Tomcat installation
  stat:
    path: "{{ tomcat_directory }}/lib/catalina.jar"
  register: tomcat_already_installed
    
- name: Get existing Tomcat version
  shell: "{{ java_directory }}/bin/java -cp {{ tomcat_directory }}/lib/catalina.jar org.apache.catalina.util.ServerInfo |grep \"Server number\" |awk -F':[[:blank:]]*' '{print $2}' | sed '/\\./ s/\\.\\{0,1\\}0\\{1,\\}$//'"
  register: existing_tomcat_version

This returns a true / false and also a version number.

The next playbook will install Tomcat or Upgrade it... if the version (set in vars) isn't matched or Tomcat found.

- name: Install tomcat
  include_tasks: install.yml
  when:
       

The issue I have is with the when statement. Independently these two work:

#   - not tomcat_already_installed
#   - "existing_tomcat_version.stdout|string not in tomcat_version"

However, I've tried an or between them and it either doesn't install at all or just keeps running the installer every run. Things I've tried:

#    - "not tomcat_already_installed or existing_tomcat_version.stdout|string not in tomcat_version"
#    - not tomcat_already_installed or existing_tomcat_version.stdout|string not in tomcat_version
#    - not tomcat_already_installed or 'existing_tomcat_version.stdout|string not in tomcat_version'
    - not tomcat_already_installed or "existing_tomcat_version.stdout|string" not in tomcat_version
    - "( not tomcat_already_installed or existing_tomcat_version.stdout|string not in tomcat_version"

Debug isn't really showing me anything other than the values look ok:

- name: Debug existing_tomcat_version.stdout
  debug:
    msg: "existing_tomcat_version = {{ existing_tomcat_version }}"

- name: Debug vars_tomcat_version
  debug:
    msg: "vars_tomcat_version = {{ tomcat_version }}"

    ok: [i-0ddfdsfdsf90b8] => {
        "msg": "existing_tomcat_version = 9.0.62"
    }
    
    Thursday 12 May 2022  15:38:27 +0200 (0:00:00.012)       0:00:38.711 ********** 
    ok: [i-sdfdsfsdfsdffd] => {
        "msg": "vars_tomcat_version = 9.0.62"
    }
    
    
    
    TASK [tomcat : debug tomcat_already_installed] *********************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************
    Thursday 12 May 2022  16:12:12 +0200 (0:00:00.915)       0:00:38.940 ********** 
    Thursday 12 May 2022  16:12:12 +0200 (0:00:00.915)       0:00:38.939 ********** 
    ok: [i-sdfsdfsdfsdfsdf] => {
        "msg": "tomcat_already_installed = {'stat': {'exists': False}, 'changed': False, 'failed': False}"

Any help welcomed, I'm sure this is just a string misread or format thing. Thanks!

Answer 1

Just to put you on track, the following playbook:

---
- hosts: localhost
  gather_facts: false

  vars:
    # Fake the original example vars from extra_vars on this example
    existing_tomcat_version:
      stdout: "{{ f_tomcat_version | d('0.0.0') }}"
    tomcat_already_installed: "{{ f_tomcat_exists | bool }}"

    tomcat_version: 9.0.62

  tasks:
    - debug:
        msg: "Tomcat isn't installed or is not using version {{ tomcat_version }}"
      when: not (tomcat_already_installed and existing_tomcat_version.stdout is version(tomcat_version, 'eq'))

Gives with different faked values passed as extra vars:

$ ansible-playbook playbook.yml -e f_tomcat_exists=false

PLAY [localhost] ****************************************************************************************************************************

TASK [debug] ********************************************************************************************************************************
ok: [localhost] => {
    "msg": "Tomcat isn't installed or is not using version 9.0.62"
}

PLAY RECAP **********************************************************************************************************************************
localhost                  : ok=1    changed=0    unreachable=0    failed=0    skipped=0    rescued=0    ignored=0

$ ansible-playbook playbook.yml -e f_tomcat_exists=true -e f_tomcat_version=8.4.5

PLAY [localhost] ****************************************************************************************************************************

TASK [debug] ********************************************************************************************************************************
ok: [localhost] => {
    "msg": "Tomcat isn't installed or is not using version 9.0.62"
}

PLAY RECAP **********************************************************************************************************************************
localhost                  : ok=1    changed=0    unreachable=0    failed=0    skipped=0    rescued=0    ignored=0

$ ansible-playbook playbook.yml -e f_tomcat_exists=true -e f_tomcat_version=9.0.62

PLAY [localhost] ****************************************************************************************************************************

TASK [debug] ********************************************************************************************************************************
skipping: [localhost]

PLAY RECAP **********************************************************************************************************************************
localhost                  : ok=0    changed=0    unreachable=0    failed=0    skipped=1    rescued=0    ignored=0