Wrong OS family fact reported for Flatcar #77537
Description
Summary
Ansible may report the wrong ansible_os_family fact on Flatcar Container Linux. The correct value is Flatcar, however some users are seeing Flatcar Container Linux by Kinvolk for the same fact under certain circumstances, which leads to wrong playbook behavior given that Ansible fails to identify Flatcar as the running distro.
In #69627 we've contributed Ansible core logic which affects the value of ansible_os_family for Flatcar. Back then we've specified /etc/flatcar/update.conf as the file based on which to figure out the name of the distro (likely because that's how CoreOS - Flatcar's direct ancestor - used to do the same). This decision no longer makes sense to us given that this file isn't the authoritative place for the distro name. Moreover, /etc/flatcar/update.conf may sometimes be missing based on user-provided bootstrap configuration.
Issue Type
Bug Report
Component Name
Ansible core
Ansible Version
$ ansible --version
ansible [core 2.11.5]
config file = None
configured module search path = ['/home/me/.ansible/plugins/modules', '/usr/share/ansible/plugins/modules']
ansible python module location = /home/me/.local/lib/python3.8/site-packages/ansible
ansible collection location = /home/me/.ansible/collections:/usr/share/ansible/collections
executable location = /home/me/.local/bin/ansible
python version = 3.8.10 (default, Nov 26 2021, 20:14:08) [GCC 9.3.0]
jinja version = 3.1.1
libyaml = TrueConfiguration
$ ansible-config dump --only-changedOS / Environment
Flatcar Container Linux 3139.2.0 for example
Steps to Reproduce
Follow the official instructions to run Flatcar locally on QEMU:
mkdir flatcar; cd flatcar
wget https://stable.release.flatcar-linux.net/amd64-usr/3139.2.0/flatcar_production_qemu.sh
wget https://stable.release.flatcar-linux.net/amd64-usr/3139.2.0/flatcar_production_qemu.sh.sig
wget https://stable.release.flatcar-linux.net/amd64-usr/3139.2.0/flatcar_production_qemu_image.img.bz2
wget https://stable.release.flatcar-linux.net/amd64-usr/3139.2.0/flatcar_production_qemu_image.img.bz2.sig
bzip2 -d flatcar_production_qemu_image.img.bz2
chmod +x flatcar_production_qemu.sh
ssh-keygen -f key -q -N ""
./flatcar_production_qemu.sh -a ./key.pub -- -nographic
On another shell, SSH into the Flatcar VM:
cd flatcar
ssh -p 2222 -i key core@localhost
Install PyPy (Flatcar doesn't ship with a Python interpreter):
cd /opt
wget -O - https://downloads.python.org/pypy/pypy3.8-v7.3.9-linux64.tar.bz2 | sudo tar xjf -
sudo ln -s /opt/pypy3.8-v7.3.9-linux64/bin/pypy /opt/bin/python
Run Ansible against the VM and print the OS family:
cat <<EOF >playbook.yaml
- hosts: all
user: core
tasks:
- name: Print distro
debug:
var: ansible_os_family
EOF
ansible-playbook playbook.yaml -i localhost:2222, --key-file ./key -e ansible_python_interpreter=/opt/bin/python -e ansible_port=2222
Output:
PLAY [all] *****************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************
TASK [Gathering Facts] *****************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************ok: [localhost]
TASK [Print distro] ********************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************ok: [localhost] => {
"ansible_os_family": "Flatcar Container Linux by Kinvolk"
}
PLAY RECAP *****************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************localhost : ok=2 changed=0 unreachable=0 failed=0 skipped=0 rescued=0 ignored=0
SSH into the VM and populate /etc/flatcar/update.conf with dummy values:
printf "SERVER=foo\nGROUP=bar\n" | sudo tee /etc/flatcar/update.conf
Run the play book again:
ansible-playbook playbook.yaml -i localhost:2222, --key-file ./key -e ansible_python_interpreter=/opt/bin/python -e ansible_port=2222
Output:
PLAY [all] *****************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************
TASK [Gathering Facts] *****************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************ok: [localhost]
TASK [Print distro] ********************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************ok: [localhost] => {
"ansible_os_family": "Flatcar"
}
PLAY RECAP *****************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************localhost : ok=2 changed=0 unreachable=0 failed=0 skipped=0 rescued=0 ignored=0
Expected Results
I expected to always see Flatcar as ansible_os_family on Flatcar Container Linux.
Actual Results
The value of `ansible_os_family` changes based on the existence of `/etc/flatcar/update.conf`.Code of Conduct
- I agree to follow the Ansible Code of Conduct