Generate ansible role variable locally

Question

We have a new open source ansible role that automates compilation of some custom router (OpenWRT) images called openwisp2-image-generator

The root password of the root user can be defined in the playbook YAML, but the process to do so is cumbersome.

I would like to let users to define their password and salt in clear text on the YAML and then behind the scene do something like:

import crypt;
password = crypt.crypt('password', '$1$salt-here$')

That value should be stored in a variable so I can easily add it into the right role templates.

Can I run that python code locally instead of remotely? What's the best way to do this?

Answer 1

There is local_action module in ansible, you should be fine to run it locally.

Example from http://docs.ansible.com/ansible/playbooks_delegation.html

  - name: take out of load balancer pool
    local_action: command /usr/bin/take_out_of_pool {{ inventory_hostname }}

# ...

  - name: add back to load balancer pool
    local_action: command /usr/bin/add_back_to_pool {{ inventory_hostname }}