Ansible Changes By Release ========================== 0.8 "Cathedral" -- release pending Highlighted Core Changes: * fireball mode -- ansible can bootstrap a ephemeral 0mq (zeromq) daemon that runs as a given user and expires after X period of time. It is very fast. * playbooks with errors now return 2 on failure. 1 indicates a more fatal syntax error. Similar for /usr/bin/ansible * server side action code (template, etc) are now fully pluggable Other Core Changes: * ansible config file can also go in '.ansible.cfg' in cwd in addition to ~/.ansible.cfg and /etc/ansible/ansible.cfg * fix for inventory hosts at API level when hosts spec is a list and not a colon delimited string * ansible-pull example now sets up logrotate for the ansible-pull cron job log * negative host matching (!hosts) fixed for external inventory script usage * internals: os.executable check replaced with utils function so it plays nice on AIX * Debian packaging now includes ansible-pull manpage * magic variable 'ansible_ssh_host' can override the hostname (great for usage with tunnels) * date command usage in build scripts fixed for OS X * don't use SSH agent with paramiko if a password is specified * make output be cleaner on multi-line command/shell errors * /usr/bin/ansible now prints things when tasks are skipped, like when creates= is used with -m command and /usr/bin/ansible * when trying to async a module that is not a 'normal' asyncable module, ansible will now let you know * ability to access inventory variables via 'hostvars' for hosts not yet included in any play, using on demand lookups * merged ansible-plugins, ansible-resources, and ansible-docs into the main project * you can set ANSIBLE_NOCOWS=1 if you want to disable cowsay if it is installed. Though no one should ever want to do this! Cows are great! * you can set ANSIBLE_FORCECOLOR=1 to force color mode even when running without a TTY * fatal errors are now properly colored red. * skipped messages are now cyan, to differentiate them from unchanged messages. * extensive documentation upgrades Highlighted playbook changes: * is_set is available for use inside of an only_if expression: is_set('ansible_eth0'). We intend to further upgrade this with a 'when' keyword providing better options to 'only_if' in the next release. Also is_unset('ansible_eth0') * playbooks can import playbooks in other directories and then be able to import tasks relative to them * FILE($path) now allows access of contents of file in a path, very good for use with SSH keys * similarly PIPE($command) will run a local command and return the results of executing this command * if all hosts in a play fail, stop the playbook, rather than letting the console log spool on by * only_if using register variables that are booleans now works in a boolean way like you'd expect * task includes now work with with_items (such as: include: path/to/wordpress.yml user=$item) * when using a $list variable with $var or ${var} syntax it will automatically join with commas * setup is not run more than once when we know it is has already been run in a play that included another play, etc Other playbook changes: * to_yaml and from_yaml are available as Jinja2 filters * $group and $group_names are now accessible in with_items * where 'stdout' is provided a new 'stdout_lines' variable (type == list) is now generated and usable with with_items * when local_action is used the transport is automatically overridden to the local type * output on failed playbook commands is now nicely split for stderr/stdout and syntax errors * if local_action is not used and delegate_to was 127.0.0.1 or localhost, use local connection regardless * when running a playbook, and the statement has changed, prints 'changed:' now versus 'ok:' so it is obvious without colored mode * variables now usable within vars_prompt (just not host/group vars) * setup facts are now retained across plays (dictionary just gets updated as needed) * --sudo-user now works with --extra-vars * fix for multi_line strings with only_if New Modules: * ini_file module for manipulating INI files * new LSB facts (release, distro, etc) * new VMware ESX facts module (use with local_action or delegate_to) * new HP ILO facts module (use with local_action or delegate_to) * new HP ILO provisioning module (use with local_action or delegate_to) * pause module -- (pause seconds=10) (pause minutes=1) (pause prompt=foo) -- it's an action plugin * a module for adding entries to the main crontab (though you may still wish to just drop template files into cron.d) * debug module can be used for outputing messages without using 'shell echo' * a fail module is now available for causing errors, you might want to use it with only_if to fail in certain conditions Other module Changes, Upgrades, and Fixes: * removes= exists on command just like creates= * postgresql modules now take an optional port= parameter * /proc/cmdline info is now available in Linux facts * public host key detection for OS X * lineinfile module now uses 'search' not exact 'match' in regexes, making it much more intuitive and not needing regex syntax most of the time * added force=yes|no (default no) option for file module, which allows transition between files to directories and so on * additional facts for SunOS virtualization * copy module is now atomic when used across volumes * url_get module now returns 'dest' with the location of the file saved * fix for yum module when using local RPMs vs downloading * cleaner error messages with copy if destination directory does not exist * setup module now still works if PATH is not set * service module status now correct for services with 'subsys locked' status * misc fixes/upgrades to the wait_for module * git module now expands any "~" in provided destination paths * ignore stop error code failure for service module with state=restarted, always try to start * inline documentation for modules allows documentation source to built without pull requests to the ansible-docs project, among other things * variable '$ansible_managed' is now great to include at the top of your templates and includes useful information and a warning that it will be replaced * "~" now expanded in command module when using creates/removes 0.7 "Panama" -- Sept 6 2012 Module changes: * login_unix_socket option for mysql user and database modules (see PR #781 for doc notes) * new modules -- pip, easy_install, apt_repository, supervisorctl * error handling for setup module when SELinux is in a weird state * misc yum module fixes * better changed=True/False detection in user module on older Linux distros * nicer errors from modules when arguments are not key=value * backup option on copy (backup=yes), as well as template, assemble, and lineinfile * file module will not recurse on directory properties * yum module now workable without having repoquery installed, but doesn't support comparisons or list= if so * setup module now detects interfaces with aliases * better handling of VM guest type detection in setup module * new module boilerplate code to check for mutually required arguments, arguments required together, exclusive args * add pattern= as a paramter to the service module (for init scripts that don't do status, or do poor status) * various fixes to mysql & postresql modules * added a thirsty= option (boolean, default no) to the get_url module to decide to download the file every time or not * added a wait_for module to poll for ports being open * added a nagios module for controlling outage windows and alert statuses * added a seboolean module for getsebool/setsebool type operations * added a selinux module for controlling overall SELinux policy * added a subversion module * added lineinfile for adding and removing lines from basic files * added facts for ARM-based CPUs * support for systemd in the service module * git moduleforce reset behavior is now controllable * file module can now operate on special files (block devices, etc) Core changes: * ansible --version will now give branch/SHA information if running from git * better sudo permissions when encountering different umasks * when using paramiko and SFTP is not accessible, do not traceback, but return a nice human readable msg * use -vvv for extreme debug levels. -v gives more playbook output as before * -vv shows module arguments to all module calls (and maybe some other things later) * don not pass "--" to sudo to work on older EL5 * make remote_md5 internal function work with non-bash shells * allow user to be passed in via --extra-vars (regression) * add --limit option, which can be used to further confine the pattern given in ansible-playbooks * adds ranged patterns like dbservers[0-49] for usage with patterns or --limit * -u and user: defaults to current user, rather than root, override as before * /etc/ansible/ansible.cfg and ~/ansible.cfg now available to set default values and other things * (developers) ANSIBLE_KEEP_REMOTE_FILES=1 can be used in debugging (envrionment variable) * (developers) connection types are now plugins * (developers) callbacks can now be extended via plugins * added FreeBSD ports packaging scripts * check for terminal properties prior to engaging color modes * explicitly disable password auth with -c ssh, as it is not used anyway Playbooks: * YAML syntax errors detected and show where the problem is * if you ctrl+c a playbook it will not traceback (usually) * vars_prompt now has encryption options (see examples/playbooks/prompts.yml) * allow variables in parameterized task include parameters (regression) * add ability to store the result of any command in a register (see examples/playbooks/register_logic.yml) * --list-hosts to show what hosts are included in each play of a playbook * fix a variable ordering issue that could affect vars_files with selective file source lists * adds 'delegate_to' for a task, which can be used to signal outage windows and load balancers on behalf of hosts * adds 'serial' to playbook, allowing you to specify how many hosts can be processing a playbook at one time (default 0=all) * adds 'local_action: ' as an alias to 'delegate_to: 127.0.0.1' 0.6 "Cabo" -- August 6, 2012 playbooks: * support to tag tasks and includes and use --tags in playbook CLI * playbooks can now include other playbooks (example/playbooks/nested_playbooks.yml) * vars_files now usable with with_items, provided file paths don't contain host specific facts * error reporting if with_items value is unbound * with_items no longer creates lots of tasks, creates one task that makes multiple calls * can use host_specific facts inside with_items (see above) * at the top level of a playbook, set 'gather_facts: False' to skip fact gathering * first_available_file and with_items used together will now raise an error * to catch typos, like 'var' for 'vars', playbooks and tasks now yell on invalid parameters * automatically load (directory_of_inventory_file)/group_vars/groupname and /host_vars/hostname in vars_files * playbook is now colorized, set ANSIBLE_NOCOLOR=1 if you do not like this, does not colorize if not a TTY * hostvars now preserved between plays (regression in 0.5 from 0.4), useful for sharing vars in multinode configs * ignore_errors: True on a task can be used to allow a task to fail and not stop the play * with_items with the apt/yum module will install/remove/update everything in a single command inventory: * groups variable available as a hash to return the hosts in each group name * in YAML inventory, hosts can list their groups in inverted order now also (see tests/yaml_hosts) * YAML inventory is deprecated and will be removed in 0.7 * ec2 inventory script * support ranges of hosts in the host file, like www[001-100].example.com (supports leading zeros and also not) modules: * fetch module now does not fail a system when requesting file paths (ex: logs) that don't exist * apt module now takes an optional install-recommends=yes|no (default yes) * fixes to the return codes of the copy module * copy module takes a remote md5sum to avoid large file transfer * various user and group module fixes (error handling, etc) * apt module now takes an optional force parameter * slightly better psychic service status handling for the service module * fetch module fixes for SSH connection type * modules now consistently all take yes/no for boolean parameters (and DWIM on true/false/1/0/y/n/etc) * setup module no longer saves to disk, template module now only used in playbooks * setup module no longer needs to run twice per playbook * apt module now passes DEBIAN_FRONTEND=noninteractive * mount module (manages active mounts + fstab) * setup module fixes if no ipv6 support * internals: template in common module boilerplate, also causes less SSH operations when used * git module fixes * setup module overhaul, more modular * minor caching logic added to inventory to reduce hammering of inventory scripts. * MySQL and PostgreSQL modules for user and db management * vars_prompt now supports private password entry (see examples/playbooks/prompts.yml) * yum module modified to be more tolerant of plugins spewing random console messages (ex: RHN) internals: * when sudoing to root, still use /etc/ansible/setup as the metadata path, as if root * paramiko is now only imported if needed when running from source checkout * cowsay support on Ubuntu * various ssh connection fixes for old Ubuntu clients * ./hacking/test-module now supports options like ansible takes and has a debugger mode * sudoing to a user other than root now works more seamlessly (uses /tmp, avoids umask issues) 0.5 "Amsterdam" ------- July 04, 2012 * Service module gets more accurate service states when running with upstart * Jinja2 usage in playbooks (not templates), reinstated, supports %include directive * support for --connection ssh (supports Kerberos, bastion hosts, etc), requires ControlMaster * misc tracebacks replaced with error messages * various API/internals refactoring * vars can be built from other variables * support for exclusion of hosts/groups with "!groupname" * various changes to support md5 tool differences for FreeBSD nodes & OS X clients * "unparseable" command output shows in command output for easier debugging * mktemp is no longer required on remotes (not available on BSD) * support for older versions of python-apt in the apt module * a new "assemble" module, for constructing files from pieces of files (inspired by Puppet "fragments" idiom) * ability to override most default values with ANSIBLE_FOO environment variables * --module-path parameter can support multiple directories seperated with the OS path seperator * with_items can take a variable of type list * ansible_python_interpreter variable available for systems with more than one Python * BIOS and VMware "fact" upgrades * cowsay is used by ansible-playbook if installed to improve output legibility (try installing it) * authorized_key module * SELinux facts now sourced from the python selinux library * removed module debug option -D * added --verbose, which shows output from successful playbook operations * print the output of the raw command inside /usr/bin/ansible as with command/shell * basic setup module support for Solaris * ./library relative to the playbook is always in path so modules can be included in tarballs with playbooks 0.4 "Unchained" ------- May 23, 2012 Internals/Core * internal inventory API now more object oriented, parsers decoupled * async handling improvements * misc fixes for running ansible on OS X (overlord only) * sudo improvements, now works much more smoothly * sudo to a particular user with -U/--sudo-user, or using 'sudo_user: foo' in a playbook * --private-key CLI option to work with pem files Inventory * can use -i host1,host2,host3:port to specify hosts not in inventory (replaces --override-hosts) * ansible INI style format can do groups of groups [groupname:children] and group vars [groupname:vars] * groups and users module takes an optional system=yes|no on creation (default no) * list of hosts in playbooks can be expressed as a YAML list in addition to ; delimited Playbooks * variables can be replaced like ${foo.nested_hash_key.nested_subkey[array_index]} * unicode now ok in templates (assumes utf8) * able to pass host specifier or group name in to "hosts:" with --extra-vars * ansible-pull script and example playbook (extreme scaling, remediation) * inventory_hostname variable available that contains the value of the host as ansible knows it * variables in the 'all' section can be used to define other variables based on those values * 'group_names' is now a variable made available to templates * first_available_file feature, see selective_file_sources.yml in examples/playbooks for info * --extra-vars="a=2 b=3" etc, now available to inject parameters into playbooks from CLI Incompatible Changes * jinja2 is only usable in templates, not playbooks, use $foo instead * --override-hosts removed, can use -i with comma notation (-i "ahost,bhost") * modules can no longer include stderr output (paramiko limitation from sudo) Module Changes * tweaks to SELinux implementation for file module * fixes for yum module corner cases on EL5 * file module now correctly returns the mode in octal * fix for symlink handling in the file module * service takes an enable=yes|no which works with chkconfig or updates-rc.d as appropriate * service module works better on Ubuntu * git module now does resets and such to work more smoothly on updates * modules all now log to syslog * enabled=yes|no on a service can be used to toggle chkconfig & updates-rc.d states * git module supports branch= * service fixes to better detect status using return codes of the service script * custom facts provided by the setup module mean no dependency on Ruby, facter, or ohai * service now has a state=reloaded * raw module for bootstrapping and talking to routers w/o Python, etc Misc Bugfixes * fixes for variable parsing in only_if lines * misc fixes to key=value parsing * variables with mixed case now legal * fix to internals of hacking/test-module development script 0.3 "Baluchitherium" -- April 23, 2012 * Packaging for Debian, Gentoo, and Arch * Improvements to the apt and yum modules * A virt module * SELinux support for the file module * Ability to use facts from other systems in templates (aka exported resources like support) * Built in Ansible facts so you don't need ohai, facter, or Ruby * tempdir selections that work with noexec mounted /tmp * templates happen locally, not remotely, so no dependency on python-jinja2 for remote computers * advanced inventory format in YAML allows more control over variables per host and per group * variables in playbooks can be structured/nested versus just a flat namespace * manpage upgrades (docs) * various bugfixes * can specify a default --user for playbooks rather than specifying it in the playbook file * able to specify ansible port in ansible host file (see docs) * refactored Inventory API to make it easier to write scripts using Ansible * looping capability for playbooks (with_items) * support for using sudo with a password * module arguments can be unicode * A local connection type, --connection=local, for use with cron or in kickstarts * better module debugging with -D * fetch module for pulling in files from remote hosts * command task supports creates=foo for idempotent semantics, won't run if file foo already exists 0.0.2 and 0.0.1 * Initial stages of project