Undefined variable when running Ansible play

Question

I am running multiple ansible plays defined in YAML files.

In the last play I get the following error:

{"failed": true, "msg": "The conditional check 'ansible_os_family == \"RedHat\"' failed. The error was: error while evaluating conditional (ansible_os_family == \"RedHat\"): 'ansible_os_family' is undefined\n

Do I need to change anything with the facts gathering or something in the ansible.cfg?

Can you explicitly add `gather_facts: true` for that play and try? — helloV, Jan 12 '17 at 15:53
That seemed to work! If you post it as an answer then I'll accept it. — Souciance Eqdam Rashti, Jan 12 '17 at 16:05

score 19 · Accepted Answer · answered Jan 12 '17 at 16:17

19

Add:

gather_facts: true

to your last play and try.

answered Jan 12 '17 at 16:17

helloV

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Maybe this has changed because I don't have to add gather_facts: true in order for the conditional when: ansible_os_family == 'RedHat' to work. If there is an explicit gather_facts: false however, then you will get the error reported above. – pforsthoff Oct 11 '18 at 16:05
2

@pforsthoff `gather_facts` by default is `true`. The OP explicitly set that to `false`, so either removing it or setting it to `true` will work. – helloV Oct 11 '18 at 23:46

score 1 · Answer 2 · answered May 19 '20 at 14:41

In addition to the answer by @helloV :

A note to self and others, gathering = works along with gather_facts::

# smart - gather by default, but don't regather if already gathered
# implicit - gather by default, turn off with gather_facts: False
# explicit - do not gather by default, must say gather_facts: True
# gathering = explicit

Undefined variable when running Ansible play

2 Answers2