Ansible - Function

include_tasks vs import_tasks

• Include_tasks is done at runtime
• while import_tasks is done at start time

If you have a conditional (such as when), you would see:

• one task that was skipped for Include_tasks
• all tasks that were skipped after the import_tasks

Include_tasks

include_tasks ¹⁾ permits to include a playbook with task

The same example than above where:

• for each nginx configuration file in a local directory with the filetree
• call the nginx_template_conf.yml
• pass the parameters:
  • fqdn with the file basename without extension.
  • file with the relative file path
  • protocol with the directory name

- name: "Copy http and tcp site template configuration"
  with_filetree: 'host_files/{{ inventory_hostname }}/nginx/'
  include_tasks: nginx_template_conf.yml
  vars:
    fqdn: '{{ item.path | basename | splitext | first }}'
    file: '{{ item.path }}'
    protocol: '{{ item.path | dirname }}'
  when: item.state != 'directory'

Include (Deprecated)

The most known function task was include ²⁾ but is now deprecated for more dedicated include syntax such as include_tasks, include_role, …

Example:

• for each nginx configuration file in a local directory with the filetree
• call the nginx_template_conf.yml
• pass the parameters:
  • fqdn with the file basename without extension.
  • file with the relative file path
  • protocol with the directory name

- name: "Copy http and tcp site template configuration"
  become: true
  with_filetree: 'host_files/{{ inventory_hostname }}/nginx/'
  include: nginx_template_conf.yml fqdn={{ item.path | basename | splitext | first }} file={{ item.path }} protocol={{ item.path | dirname }}
  when: item.state != 'directory'

Note that to pass variables, you can also use the var keywords. The below syntax is equivalent to the above.

  include: nginx_template_conf.yml
  vars:
    fqdn: '{{ item.path | basename | splitext | first }}'
    file: '{{ item.path }}'
    protocol: '{{ item.path | dirname }}'