From 371b7f2b6ab5a2ffd4b4f6da04da878b43d72e46 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Abhijeet Kasurde <Akasurde@redhat.com>
Date: Thu, 31 Jul 2025 18:43:39 -0700
Subject: [PATCH] User: Raise an error when force is used to delete group

On platforms like Alpine and BusyBox, group delete operation
with force is not applicable. Raise an error notifying the
user about the same.

Fixes: #85565

Signed-off-by: Abhijeet Kasurde <Akasurde@redhat.com>
---
 changelogs/fragments/alpine_group_force.yml   |  3 ++
 lib/ansible/modules/group.py                  |  4 +++
 .../integration/targets/group/tasks/tests.yml | 29 +++++++++++++++++++
 3 files changed, 36 insertions(+)
 create mode 100644 changelogs/fragments/alpine_group_force.yml

diff --git a/changelogs/fragments/alpine_group_force.yml b/changelogs/fragments/alpine_group_force.yml
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..3f8a5f00902
--- /dev/null
+++ b/changelogs/fragments/alpine_group_force.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+---
+bugfixes:
+    - user - raise an error if force=true is used while deleting the group on Alpine and BusyBox (https://github.com/ansible/ansible/issues/85565).
diff --git a/lib/ansible/modules/group.py b/lib/ansible/modules/group.py
index a31b9f8c73a..27531380e24 100644
--- a/lib/ansible/modules/group.py
+++ b/lib/ansible/modules/group.py
@@ -38,6 +38,7 @@ options:
         description:
             - Whether to delete a group even if it is the primary group of a user.
             - Only applicable on platforms which implement a C(--force) flag on the group deletion command.
+            - Not applicable on BusyBox and Alpine Linux.
         type: bool
         default: false
         version_added: "2.15"
@@ -651,6 +652,9 @@ class BusyBoxGroup(Group):
         return self.execute_command(cmd)
 
     def group_del(self):
+        if self.module.params['force']:
+            self.module.fail_json(msg='force is not a valid option for this platform.')
+
         cmd = [self.module.get_bin_path('delgroup', True), self.name]
         return self.execute_command(cmd)
 
diff --git a/test/integration/targets/group/tasks/tests.yml b/test/integration/targets/group/tasks/tests.yml
index c4f90be5de7..8f140b47acb 100644
--- a/test/integration/targets/group/tasks/tests.yml
+++ b/test/integration/targets/group/tasks/tests.yml
@@ -388,6 +388,35 @@
             state: absent
       when: ansible_distribution not in ["MacOSX", "Alpine", "FreeBSD"]
 
+    # https://github.com/ansible/ansible/issues/85565
+    - block:
+        - name: Create a group
+          group:
+            name: groupdeltest
+            state: present
+
+        - name: Use force to delete the group
+          group:
+            name: groupdeltest
+            state: absent
+            force: true
+          ignore_errors: true
+          register: force_delete
+
+        - name: assert an error occurred while deleting the group with force=true
+          assert:
+            that:
+              - force_delete is failed
+              - "'force is not a valid option' in force_delete.msg"
+
+      always:
+        - name: Cleanup group
+          group:
+            name: groupdeltest
+            state: absent
+
+      when: ansible_distribution in ["Alpine"]
+
     # create system group
 
     - name: remove group