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My biggest problem with Ansible is the YAML, doing anything with loops is horrendous & trying to mangle nested variable types requires a StackOverflow post ever

My biggest problem with Ansible is the YAML, doing anything with loops is horrendous & trying to mangle nested variable types requires a StackOverflow post every time. A few years ago, I found a library that lets you utilize Ansible's tasks in raw Python, without the huge hassle of using the Ansible Python API. I cannot find it again however. But PyInfra looks great.

Fizzadar 2y ago
This alone is the entire reason I started working on pyinfra, loops in YAML is just evil.
- bruh2 2y ago
  Why did you choose to roll your own modules rather than do what's described in the comment you replied to, i.e. provide a Python layer for interacting with the rich set of available Ansible modules? Not trying to be rude ofc, I'm sure you considered it and have a good reason – just curious as of what it is. An incredible project you put there, nonetheless:)
  - Fizzadar 2y ago
    Not rude at all :) When I first started (not sure if this is still the case?) Ansible would push Python code to the target machine and execute there, meaning it wasn’t actually agentless. I always thought of pyinfra as copying what a human would do if configuring a server by hand over SSH, so new modules that use only shell commands were needed.
  - geerlingguy 2y ago
    It could be interesting if you could write a translator to use any Ansible module with this, and vice versa.
  - natebc 2y ago
    I recall the Ansible Python API to be labeled as Interal Use Only and subject to change on a whim because of that. That at least discouraged using ansible in that way. Seems they still kinda discourage it but do have examples at least. https://docs.ansible.com/ansible/latest/dev_guide/developing_api.html https://docs.ansible.com/ansible/latest/dev_guide/developing...
movedx 2y ago
But you can just write a small module in Python, have it do the looping logic for you, install it at the root of your project's configuration-as-code repository, and then use the module in the YAML, removing the need to do complex, ugly loops in YAML. Is there a reason this isn't an option for you?

Fizzadar 2y ago

This alone is the entire reason I started working on pyinfra, loops in YAML is just evil.

bruh2 2y ago
Why did you choose to roll your own modules rather than do what's described in the comment you replied to, i.e. provide a Python layer for interacting with the rich set of available Ansible modules? Not trying to be rude ofc, I'm sure you considered it and have a good reason – just curious as of what it is. An incredible project you put there, nonetheless:)
- Fizzadar 2y ago
  Not rude at all :) When I first started (not sure if this is still the case?) Ansible would push Python code to the target machine and execute there, meaning it wasn’t actually agentless. I always thought of pyinfra as copying what a human would do if configuring a server by hand over SSH, so new modules that use only shell commands were needed.
- geerlingguy 2y ago
  It could be interesting if you could write a translator to use any Ansible module with this, and vice versa.
- natebc 2y ago
  I recall the Ansible Python API to be labeled as Interal Use Only and subject to change on a whim because of that. That at least discouraged using ansible in that way. Seems they still kinda discourage it but do have examples at least. https://docs.ansible.com/ansible/latest/dev_guide/developing_api.html https://docs.ansible.com/ansible/latest/dev_guide/developing...

movedx 2y ago

But you can just write a small module in Python, have it do the looping logic for you, install it at the root of your project's configuration-as-code repository, and then use the module in the YAML, removing the need to do complex, ugly loops in YAML. Is there a reason this isn't an option for you?