community.general.ini_file module – Tweak settings in INI files

Note

This module is part of the community.general collection (version 6.6.2).

You might already have this collection installed if you are using the ansible package. It is not included in ansible-core. To check whether it is installed, run ansible-galaxy collection list.

To install it, use: ansible-galaxy collection install community.general.

To use it in a playbook, specify: community.general.ini_file.

Synopsis

  • Manage (add, remove, change) individual settings in an INI-style file without having to manage the file as a whole with, say, ansible.builtin.template or ansible.builtin.assemble.

  • Adds missing sections if they don’t exist.

  • Before Ansible 2.0, comments are discarded when the source file is read, and therefore will not show up in the destination file.

  • Since Ansible 2.3, this module adds missing ending newlines to files to keep in line with the POSIX standard, even when no other modifications need to be applied.

Parameters

Parameter

Comments

allow_no_value

boolean

Allow option without value and without ‘=’ symbol.

Choices:

  • false ← (default)

  • true

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.

backup

boolean

Create a backup file including the timestamp information so you can get the original file back if you somehow clobbered it incorrectly.

Choices:

  • false ← (default)

  • true

create

boolean

If set to false, the module will fail if the file does not already exist.

By default it will create the file if it is missing.

Choices:

  • false

  • true ← (default)

exclusive

boolean

added in community.general 3.6.0

If set to true (default), all matching option lines are removed when state=absent, or replaced when state=present.

If set to false, only the specified value(s) are added when state=present, or removed when state=absent, and existing ones are not modified.

Choices:

  • false

  • true ← (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.

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.

no_extra_spaces

boolean

Do not insert spaces before and after ‘=’ symbol.

Choices:

  • false ← (default)

  • true

option

string

If set (required for changing a value), this is the name of the option.

May be omitted if adding/removing a whole section.

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.

path

aliases: dest

path / required

Path to the INI-style file; this file is created if required.

Before Ansible 2.3 this option was only usable as dest.

section

string

Section name in INI file. This is added if state=present automatically when a single value is being set.

If left empty, being omitted, or being set to null, the option will be placed before the first section.

Using null is also required if the config format does not support sections.

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.

state

string

If set to absent and exclusive set to true all matching option lines are removed.

If set to absent and exclusive set to false the specified option=value lines are removed, but the other options with the same name are not touched.

If set to present and exclusive set to false the specified option=values lines are added, but the other options with the same name are not touched.

If set to present and exclusive set to true all given option=values lines will be added and the other options with the same name are removed.

Choices:

  • "absent"

  • "present" ← (default)

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

value

string

The string value to be associated with an option.

May be omitted when removing an option.

Mutually exclusive with values.

value=v is equivalent to values=[v].

values

list / elements=string

added in community.general 3.6.0

The string value to be associated with an option.

May be omitted when removing an option.

Mutually exclusive with value.

value=v is equivalent to values=[v].

Attributes

Attribute

Support

Description

check_mode

Support: full

Can run in check_mode and return changed status prediction without modifying target.

diff_mode

Support: full

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

Notes

Note

  • While it is possible to add an option without specifying a value, this makes no sense.

  • As of Ansible 2.3, the dest option has been changed to path as default, but dest still works as well.

  • As of community.general 3.2.0, UTF-8 BOM markers are discarded when reading files.

Examples

# Before Ansible 2.3, option 'dest' was used instead of 'path'
- name: Ensure "fav=lemonade is in section "[drinks]" in specified file
  community.general.ini_file:
    path: /etc/conf
    section: drinks
    option: fav
    value: lemonade
    mode: '0600'
    backup: true

- name: Ensure "temperature=cold is in section "[drinks]" in specified file
  community.general.ini_file:
    path: /etc/anotherconf
    section: drinks
    option: temperature
    value: cold
    backup: true

- name: Add "beverage=lemon juice" is in section "[drinks]" in specified file
  community.general.ini_file:
    path: /etc/conf
    section: drinks
    option: beverage
    value: lemon juice
    mode: '0600'
    state: present
    exclusive: false

- name: Ensure multiple values "beverage=coke" and "beverage=pepsi" are in section "[drinks]" in specified file
  community.general.ini_file:
    path: /etc/conf
    section: drinks
    option: beverage
    values:
      - coke
      - pepsi
    mode: '0600'
    state: present

Authors

  • Jan-Piet Mens (@jpmens)

  • Ales Nosek (@noseka1)