ansible.builtin.package_facts module – Package information as facts

Note

This module is part of ansible-core and included in all Ansible installations. In most cases, you can use the short module name package_facts even without specifying the collections: keyword. However, we recommend you use the FQCN for easy linking to the module documentation and to avoid conflicting with other collections that may have the same module name.

New in version 2.5: of ansible.builtin

Synopsis

  • Return information about installed packages as facts.

Requirements

The below requirements are needed on the host that executes this module.

  • For ‘portage’ support it requires the qlist utility, which is part of ‘app-portage/portage-utils’.

  • For Debian-based systems python-apt package must be installed on targeted hosts.

Parameters

Parameter

Comments

manager

list / elements=string

The package manager used by the system so we can query the package information.

Since 2.8 this is a list and can support multiple package managers per system.

The ‘portage’ and ‘pkg’ options were added in version 2.8.

The ‘apk’ option was added in version 2.11.

Choices:

  • auto ← (default)

  • rpm

  • apt

  • portage

  • pkg

  • pacman

  • apk

Default: [“auto”]

strategy

string

added in 2.8 of ansible.builtin

This option controls how the module queries the package managers on the system. first means it will return only information for the first supported package manager available. all will return information for all supported and available package managers on the system.

Choices:

  • first ← (default)

  • all

Attributes

Attribute

Support

Description

check_mode

Support: full

Can run in check_mode and return changed status prediction withought modifying target

diff_mode

Support: none

Will return details on what has changed (or possibly needs changing in check_mode), when in diff mode

facts

Support: full

Action returns an ansible_facts dictionary that will update existing host facts

platform

Platform: posix

Target OS/families that can be operated against

Examples

- name: Gather the package facts
  ansible.builtin.package_facts:
    manager: auto

- name: Print the package facts
  ansible.builtin.debug:
    var: ansible_facts.packages

- name: Check whether a package called foobar is installed
  ansible.builtin.debug:
    msg: "{{ ansible_facts.packages['foobar'] | length }} versions of foobar are installed!"
  when: "'foobar' in ansible_facts.packages"

Returned Facts

Facts returned by this module are added/updated in the hostvars host facts and can be referenced by name just like any other host fact. They do not need to be registered in order to use them.

Key

Description

packages

dictionary

Maps the package name to a non-empty list of dicts with package information.

Every dict in the list corresponds to one installed version of the package.

The fields described below are present for all package managers. Depending on the package manager, there might be more fields for a package.

Returned: when operating system level package manager is specified or auto detected manager

Sample: “{\n \”packages\”: {\n \”kernel\”: [\n {\n \”name\”: \”kernel\”,\n \”source\”: \”rpm\”,\n \”version\”: \”3.10.0\”,\n …\n },\n {\n \”name\”: \”kernel\”,\n \”source\”: \”rpm\”,\n \”version\”: \”3.10.0\”,\n …\n },\n …\n ],\n \”kernel-tools\”: [\n {\n \”name\”: \”kernel-tools\”,\n \”source\”: \”rpm\”,\n \”version\”: \”3.10.0\”,\n …\n }\n ],\n …\n }\n}\n# Sample rpm\n{\n \”packages\”: {\n \”kernel\”: [\n {\n \”arch\”: \”x86_64\”,\n \”epoch\”: null,\n \”name\”: \”kernel\”,\n \”release\”: \”514.26.2.el7\”,\n \”source\”: \”rpm\”,\n \”version\”: \”3.10.0\”\n },\n {\n \”arch\”: \”x86_64\”,\n \”epoch\”: null,\n \”name\”: \”kernel\”,\n \”release\”: \”514.16.1.el7\”,\n \”source\”: \”rpm\”,\n \”version\”: \”3.10.0\”\n },\n {\n \”arch\”: \”x86_64\”,\n \”epoch\”: null,\n \”name\”: \”kernel\”,\n \”release\”: \”514.10.2.el7\”,\n \”source\”: \”rpm\”,\n \”version\”: \”3.10.0\”\n },\n {\n \”arch\”: \”x86_64\”,\n \”epoch\”: null,\n \”name\”: \”kernel\”,\n \”release\”: \”514.21.1.el7\”,\n \”source\”: \”rpm\”,\n \”version\”: \”3.10.0\”\n },\n {\n \”arch\”: \”x86_64\”,\n \”epoch\”: null,\n \”name\”: \”kernel\”,\n \”release\”: \”693.2.2.el7\”,\n \”source\”: \”rpm\”,\n \”version\”: \”3.10.0\”\n }\n ],\n \”kernel-tools\”: [\n {\n \”arch\”: \”x86_64\”,\n \”epoch\”: null,\n \”name\”: \”kernel-tools\”,\n \”release\”: \”693.2.2.el7\”,\n \”source\”: \”rpm\”,\n \”version\”: \”3.10.0\”\n }\n ],\n \”kernel-tools-libs\”: [\n {\n \”arch\”: \”x86_64\”,\n \”epoch\”: null,\n \”name\”: \”kernel-tools-libs\”,\n \”release\”: \”693.2.2.el7\”,\n \”source\”: \”rpm\”,\n \”version\”: \”3.10.0\”\n }\n ],\n }\n}\n# Sample deb\n{\n \”packages\”: {\n \”libbz2-1.0\”: [\n {\n \”version\”: \”1.0.6-5\”,\n \”source\”: \”apt\”,\n \”arch\”: \”amd64\”,\n \”name\”: \”libbz2-1.0\”\n }\n ],\n \”patch\”: [\n {\n \”version\”: \”2.7.1-4ubuntu1\”,\n \”source\”: \”apt\”,\n \”arch\”: \”amd64\”,\n \”name\”: \”patch\”\n }\n ],\n }\n}”

name

string

The package’s name.

Returned: always

source

string

Where information on the package came from.

Returned: always

version

string

The package’s version.

Returned: always

Authors

  • Matthew Jones (@matburt)

  • Brian Coca (@bcoca)

  • Adam Miller (@maxamillion)