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ansible.builtin.unarchive module – Unpacks an archive after (optionally) copying it from the local machine

Note

This module is part of ansible-core and included in all Ansible installations. In most cases, you can use the short module name unarchive 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 Ansible 1.4

Synopsis

• The unarchive module unpacks an archive. It will not unpack a compressed file that does not contain an archive.

• By default, it will copy the source file from the local system to the target before unpacking.

• Set remote_src=yes to unpack an archive which already exists on the target.

• If checksum validation is desired, use ansible.builtin.get_url or ansible.builtin.uri instead to fetch the file and set remote_src=yes.

• For Windows targets, use the community.windows.win_unzip module instead.

Note

This module has a corresponding action plugin.

Parameters

Parameter	Comments
attributes aliases: attr string added in Ansible 2.3	The attributes the resulting filesystem object should have. To get supported flags look at the man page for chattr on the target system. This string should contain the attributes in the same order as the one displayed by lsattr. The = operator is assumed as default, otherwise + or - operators need to be included in the string.
copy boolean	If true, the file is copied from local controller to the managed (remote) node, otherwise, the plugin will look for src archive on the managed machine. This option has been deprecated in favor of remote_src. This option is mutually exclusive with remote_src. Choices: false true ← (default)
creates path added in Ansible 1.6	If the specified absolute path (file or directory) already exists, this step will not be run. The specified absolute path (file or directory) must be below the base path given with dest:.
decrypt boolean added in Ansible 2.4	This option controls the autodecryption of source files using vault. Choices: false true ← (default)
dest path / required	Remote absolute path where the archive should be unpacked. The given path must exist. Base directory is not created by this module.
exclude list / elements=string added in Ansible 2.1	List the directory and file entries that you would like to exclude from the unarchive action. Mutually exclusive with include. Default: []
extra_opts list / elements=string added in Ansible 2.1	Specify additional options by passing in an array. Each space-separated command-line option should be a new element of the array. See examples. Command-line options with multiple elements must use multiple lines in the array, one for each element. Default: [""]
group string	Name of the group that should own the filesystem object, as would be fed to chown. When left unspecified, it uses the current group of the current user unless you are root, in which case it can preserve the previous ownership.
include list / elements=string added in ansible-core 2.11	List of directory and file entries that you would like to extract from the archive. If include is not empty, only files listed here will be extracted. Mutually exclusive with exclude. Default: []
io_buffer_size integer added in ansible-core 2.12	Size of the volatile memory buffer that is used for extracting files from the archive in bytes. Default: 65536
keep_newer boolean added in Ansible 2.1	Do not replace existing files that are newer than files from the archive. Choices: false ← (default) true
list_files boolean added in Ansible 2.0	If set to True, return the list of files that are contained in the tarball. Choices: false ← (default) true
mode any	The permissions the resulting filesystem object should have. For those used to /usr/bin/chmod remember that modes are actually octal numbers. You must either add a leading zero so that Ansible’s YAML parser knows it is an octal number (like 0644 or 01777) or quote it (like '644' or '1777') so Ansible receives a string and can do its own conversion from string into number. Giving Ansible a number without following one of these rules will end up with a decimal number which will have unexpected results. As of Ansible 1.8, the mode may be specified as a symbolic mode (for example, u+rwx or u=rw,g=r,o=r). If mode is not specified and the destination filesystem object does not exist, the default umask on the system will be used when setting the mode for the newly created filesystem object. If mode is not specified and the destination filesystem object does exist, the mode of the existing filesystem object will be used. Specifying mode is the best way to ensure filesystem objects are created with the correct permissions. See CVE-2020-1736 for further details.
owner string	Name of the user that should own the filesystem object, as would be fed to chown. When left unspecified, it uses the current user unless you are root, in which case it can preserve the previous ownership. Specifying a numeric username will be assumed to be a user ID and not a username. Avoid numeric usernames to avoid this confusion.
remote_src boolean added in Ansible 2.2	Set to true to indicate the archived file is already on the remote system and not local to the Ansible controller. This option is mutually exclusive with copy. Choices: false ← (default) true
selevel string	The level part of the SELinux filesystem object context. This is the MLS/MCS attribute, sometimes known as the range. When set to _default, it will use the level portion of the policy if available.
serole string	The role part of the SELinux filesystem object context. When set to _default, it will use the role portion of the policy if available.
setype string	The type part of the SELinux filesystem object context. When set to _default, it will use the type portion of the policy if available.
seuser string	The user part of the SELinux filesystem object context. By default it uses the system policy, where applicable. When set to _default, it will use the user portion of the policy if available.
src path / required	If remote_src=no (default), local path to archive file to copy to the target server; can be absolute or relative. If remote_src=yes, path on the target server to existing archive file to unpack. If remote_src=yes and src contains ://, the remote machine will download the file from the URL first. (version_added 2.0). This is only for simple cases, for full download support use the ansible.builtin.get_url module.
unsafe_writes boolean added in Ansible 2.2	Influence when to use atomic operation to prevent data corruption or inconsistent reads from the target filesystem object. By default this module uses atomic operations to prevent data corruption or inconsistent reads from the target filesystem objects, but sometimes systems are configured or just broken in ways that prevent this. One example is docker mounted filesystem objects, which cannot be updated atomically from inside the container and can only be written in an unsafe manner. This option allows Ansible to fall back to unsafe methods of updating filesystem objects when atomic operations fail (however, it doesn’t force Ansible to perform unsafe writes). IMPORTANT! Unsafe writes are subject to race conditions and can lead to data corruption. Choices: false ← (default) true
validate_certs boolean added in Ansible 2.2	This only applies if using a https URL as the source of the file. This should only set to false used on personally controlled sites using self-signed certificate. Prior to 2.2 the code worked as if this was set to true. Choices: false true ← (default)

Attributes

Attribute	Support	Description
action	Support: full	Indicates this has a corresponding action plugin so some parts of the options can be executed on the controller
async	Support: none	Supports being used with the async keyword
bypass_host_loop	Support: none	Forces a ‘global’ task that does not execute per host, this bypasses per host templating and serial, throttle and other loop considerations Conditionals will work as if run_once is being used, variables used will be from the first available host This action will not work normally outside of lockstep strategies
check_mode	Support: partial Not supported for gzipped tar files.	Can run in check_mode and return changed status prediction without modifying target
diff_mode	Support: partial Uses gtar’s --diff arg to calculate if changed or not. If this arg is not supported, it will always unpack the archive.	Will return details on what has changed (or possibly needs changing in check_mode), when in diff mode
platform	Platform: posix	Target OS/families that can be operated against
safe_file_operations	Support: none	Uses Ansible’s strict file operation functions to ensure proper permissions and avoid data corruption
vault	Support: full	Can automatically decrypt Ansible vaulted files

Notes

Note

• Requires zipinfo and gtar/unzip command on target host.

• Requires zstd command on target host to expand .tar.zst files.

• Can handle .zip files using unzip as well as .tar, .tar.gz, .tar.bz2, .tar.xz, and .tar.zst files using gtar.

• Does not handle .gz files, .bz2 files, .xz, or .zst files that do not contain a .tar archive.

• Existing files/directories in the destination which are not in the archive are not touched. This is the same behavior as a normal archive extraction.

• Existing files/directories in the destination which are not in the archive are ignored for purposes of deciding if the archive should be unpacked or not.

See Also

See also

community.general.archive

The official documentation on the community.general.archive module.

community.general.iso_extract

The official documentation on the community.general.iso_extract module.

community.windows.win_unzip

The official documentation on the community.windows.win_unzip module.

Examples

- name: Extract foo.tgz into /var/lib/foo
  ansible.builtin.unarchive:
    src: foo.tgz
    dest: /var/lib/foo

- name: Unarchive a file that is already on the remote machine
  ansible.builtin.unarchive:
    src: /tmp/foo.zip
    dest: /usr/local/bin
    remote_src: yes

- name: Unarchive a file that needs to be downloaded (added in 2.0)
  ansible.builtin.unarchive:
    src: https://example.com/example.zip
    dest: /usr/local/bin
    remote_src: yes

- name: Unarchive a file with extra options
  ansible.builtin.unarchive:
    src: /tmp/foo.zip
    dest: /usr/local/bin
    extra_opts:
    - --transform
    - s/^xxx/yyy/

Return Values

Common return values are documented here, the following are the fields unique to this module:

Key	Description
dest string	Path to the destination directory. Returned: always Sample: "/opt/software"
files list / elements=string	List of all the files in the archive. Returned: When list_files is True Sample: ["[\"file1\"", " \"file2\"]"]
gid integer	Numerical ID of the group that owns the destination directory. Returned: always Sample: 1000
group string	Name of the group that owns the destination directory. Returned: always Sample: "librarians"
handler string	Archive software handler used to extract and decompress the archive. Returned: always Sample: "TgzArchive"
mode string	String that represents the octal permissions of the destination directory. Returned: always Sample: "0755"
owner string	Name of the user that owns the destination directory. Returned: always Sample: "paul"
size integer	The size of destination directory in bytes. Does not include the size of files or subdirectories contained within. Returned: always Sample: 36
src string	The source archive’s path. If src was a remote web URL, or from the local ansible controller, this shows the temporary location where the download was stored. Returned: always Sample: "/home/paul/test.tar.gz"
state string	State of the destination. Effectively always “directory”. Returned: always Sample: "directory"
uid integer	Numerical ID of the user that owns the destination directory. Returned: always Sample: 1000

Authors

• Michael DeHaan

Collection links

Issue Tracker Repository (Sources) Communication