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community.general.ini_file – Tweak settings in INI files

Note

This plugin is part of the community.general collection (version 3.8.1).

You might already have this collection installed if you are using the ansible package. It is not included in ansible-core. To check whether it is installed, run ansible-galaxy collection list.

To install it, use: ansible-galaxy collection install community.general.

To use it in a playbook, specify: community.general.ini_file.

Synopsis
Parameters
Notes
Examples

Synopsis

Manage (add, remove, change) individual settings in an INI-style file without having to manage the file as a whole with, say, ansible.builtin.template or ansible.builtin.assemble.
Adds missing sections if they don’t exist.
Before Ansible 2.0, comments are discarded when the source file is read, and therefore will not show up in the destination file.
Since Ansible 2.3, this module adds missing ending newlines to files to keep in line with the POSIX standard, even when no other modifications need to be applied.

Parameters

Parameter	Choices/Defaults	Comments
allow_no_value boolean	Choices: no ← yes	Allow option without value and without '=' symbol.
attributes string added in 2.3 of ansible.builtin		The attributes the resulting file or directory should have. To get supported flags look at the man page for chattr on the target system. This string should contain the attributes in the same order as the one displayed by lsattr. The `=` operator is assumed as default, otherwise `+` or `-` operators need to be included in the string. aliases: attr
backup boolean	Choices: no ← yes	Create a backup file including the timestamp information so you can get the original file back if you somehow clobbered it incorrectly.
create boolean	Choices: no yes ←	If set to `no`, the module will fail if the file does not already exist. By default it will create the file if it is missing.
exclusive boolean added in 3.6.0 of community.general	Choices: no yes ←	If set to `yes` (default), all matching option lines are removed when state=absent, or replaced when state=present. If set to `no`, only the specified value(s) are added when state=present, or removed when state=absent, and existing ones are not modified.
group string		Name of the group that should own the file/directory, as would be fed to chown.
mode raw		The permissions the resulting file or directory should have. For those used to /usr/bin/chmod remember that modes are actually octal numbers. You must either add a leading zero so that Ansible's YAML parser knows it is an octal number (like `0644` or `01777`) or quote it (like `'644'` or `'1777'`) so Ansible receives a string and can do its own conversion from string into number. Giving Ansible a number without following one of these rules will end up with a decimal number which will have unexpected results. As of Ansible 1.8, the mode may be specified as a symbolic mode (for example, `u+rwx` or `u=rw,g=r,o=r`). If `mode` is not specified and the destination file does not exist, the default `umask` on the system will be used when setting the mode for the newly created file. If `mode` is not specified and the destination file does exist, the mode of the existing file will be used. Specifying `mode` is the best way to ensure files are created with the correct permissions. See CVE-2020-1736 for further details.
no_extra_spaces boolean	Choices: no ← yes	Do not insert spaces before and after '=' symbol.
option string		If set (required for changing a value), this is the name of the option. May be omitted if adding/removing a whole section.
owner string		Name of the user that should own the file/directory, as would be fed to chown.
path path / required		Path to the INI-style file; this file is created if required. Before Ansible 2.3 this option was only usable as dest. aliases: dest
section string / required		Section name in INI file. This is added if `state=present` automatically when a single value is being set. If left empty or set to `null`, the option will be placed before the first section. Using `null` is also required if the config format does not support sections.
selevel string		The level part of the SELinux file context. This is the MLS/MCS attribute, sometimes known as the `range`. When set to `_default`, it will use the `level` portion of the policy if available.
serole string		The role part of the SELinux file context. When set to `_default`, it will use the `role` portion of the policy if available.
setype string		The type part of the SELinux file context. When set to `_default`, it will use the `type` portion of the policy if available.
seuser string		The user part of the SELinux file context. By default it uses the `system` policy, where applicable. When set to `_default`, it will use the `user` portion of the policy if available.
state string	Choices: absent present ←	If set to `absent` and exclusive set to `yes` all matching option lines are removed. If set to `absent` and exclusive set to `no` the specified `option=value` lines are removed, but the other options with the same name are not touched. If set to `present` and exclusive set to `no` the specified `option=values` lines are added, but the other options with the same name are not touched. If set to `present` and exclusive set to `yes` all given `option=values` lines will be added and the other options with the same name are removed.
unsafe_writes boolean added in 2.2 of ansible.builtin	Choices: no ← yes	Influence when to use atomic operation to prevent data corruption or inconsistent reads from the target file. By default this module uses atomic operations to prevent data corruption or inconsistent reads from the target files, but sometimes systems are configured or just broken in ways that prevent this. One example is docker mounted files, which cannot be updated atomically from inside the container and can only be written in an unsafe manner. This option allows Ansible to fall back to unsafe methods of updating files when atomic operations fail (however, it doesn't force Ansible to perform unsafe writes). IMPORTANT! Unsafe writes are subject to race conditions and can lead to data corruption.
value string		The string value to be associated with an option. May be omitted when removing an option. Mutually exclusive with values. value=v is equivalent to values=[v].
values list / elements=string added in 3.6.0 of community.general		The string value to be associated with an option. May be omitted when removing an option. Mutually exclusive with value. value=v is equivalent to values=[v].

Notes

Note

While it is possible to add an option without specifying a value, this makes no sense.
As of Ansible 2.3, the dest option has been changed to path as default, but dest still works as well.
As of community.general 3.2.0, UTF-8 BOM markers are discarded when reading files.

Examples

# Before Ansible 2.3, option 'dest' was used instead of 'path'
- name: Ensure "fav=lemonade is in section "[drinks]" in specified file
  community.general.ini_file:
    path: /etc/conf
    section: drinks
    option: fav
    value: lemonade
    mode: '0600'
    backup: yes

- name: Ensure "temperature=cold is in section "[drinks]" in specified file
  community.general.ini_file:
    path: /etc/anotherconf
    section: drinks
    option: temperature
    value: cold
    backup: yes

- name: Add "beverage=lemon juice" is in section "[drinks]" in specified file
  community.general.ini_file:
    path: /etc/conf
    section: drinks
    option: beverage
    value: lemon juice
    mode: '0600'
    state: present
    exclusive: no

- name: Ensure multiple values "beverage=coke" and "beverage=pepsi" are in section "[drinks]" in specified file
  community.general.ini_file:
    path: /etc/conf
    section: drinks
    option: beverage
    values:
      - coke
      - pepsi
    mode: '0600'
    state: present

Authors

Jan-Piet Mens (@jpmens)
Ales Nosek (@noseka1)

© 2012–2018 Michael DeHaan
© 2018–2021 Red Hat, Inc.
Licensed under the GNU General Public License version 3.
https://docs.ansible.com/ansible/latest/collections/community/general/ini_file_module.html