cherry-pick #36470 for 2.4 (#36526)

* Re-use logic from StrategyBase._load_included_file in StrategyModule.run for free and linear (#36470)

This improves include_role performance and recursion limits

(cherry picked from commit 10fefc7156)

* Add changelog for 36470

CHANGELOG.md

@@ -75,6 +75,8 @@ Ansible Changes By Release
   (https://github.com/ansible/ansible/issues/36255)
 * Always show custom prompt in pause module
   (https://github.com/ansible/ansible/issues/36057)
+* Improve performance and recursion depth in include_role
+  (https://github.com/ansible/ansible/pull/36470)
 
 
 <a id="2.4.3"></a

lib/ansible/plugins/strategy/__init__.py

@@ -690,6 +690,20 @@ class StrategyBase:
 
         return changed
 
+    def _copy_included_file(self, included_file):
+        '''
+        A proven safe and performant way to create a copy of an included file
+        '''
+        ti_copy = included_file._task.copy(exclude_parent=True)
+        ti_copy._parent = included_file._task._parent
+
+        temp_vars = ti_copy.vars.copy()
+        temp_vars.update(included_file._args)
+
+        ti_copy.vars = temp_vars
+
+        return ti_copy
+
     def _load_included_file(self, included_file, iterator, is_handler=False):
         '''
         Loads an included YAML file of tasks, applying the optional set of variables.
@@ -703,10 +717,7 @@ class StrategyBase:
             elif not isinstance(data, list):
                 raise AnsibleError("included task files must contain a list of tasks")
 
-            ti_copy = included_file._task.copy(exclude_parent=True)
-            ti_copy._parent = included_file._task._parent
-            temp_vars = ti_copy.vars.copy()
-            temp_vars.update(included_file._args)
+            ti_copy = self._copy_included_file(included_file)
             # pop tags out of the include args, if they were specified there, and assign
             # them to the include. If the include already had tags specified, we raise an
             # error so that users know not to specify them both ways
@@ -721,8 +732,6 @@ class StrategyBase:
                 display.deprecated("You should not specify tags in the include parameters. All tags should be specified using the task-level option")
                 included_file._task.tags = tags
 
-            ti_copy.vars = temp_vars
-
             block_list = load_list_of_blocks(
                 data,
                 play=iterator._play,

lib/ansible/plugins/strategy/free.py

@@ -194,8 +194,7 @@ class StrategyModule(StrategyBase):
                     display.debug("collecting new blocks for %s" % included_file)
                     try:
                         if included_file._is_role:
-                            new_ir = included_file._task.copy()
-                            new_ir.vars.update(included_file._args)
+                            new_ir = self._copy_included_file(included_file)
 
                             new_blocks, handler_blocks = new_ir.get_block_list(
                                 play=iterator._play,

lib/ansible/plugins/strategy/linear.py

@@ -325,8 +325,7 @@ class StrategyModule(StrategyBase):
                         # list of noop tasks, to make sure that they continue running in lock-step
                         try:
                             if included_file._is_role:
-                                new_ir = included_file._task.copy()
-                                new_ir.vars.update(included_file._args)
+                                new_ir = self._copy_included_file(included_file)
 
                                 new_blocks, handler_blocks = new_ir.get_block_list(
                                     play=iterator._play,