Ansible: copy template only when destination file does not exist

ansible

I'm using Ansible 1.6.6 to provision my machine.

There is a template task in my playbook that creates destination file from Jinja2 template:

tasks:
    - template: src=somefile.j2 dest=/etc/somefile.conf

I do not want to replace somefile.conf if it already exists. Is it possible with Ansible? If so, how?

Best Answer

You can check for file existence using stat, and then use template only if file does not exist.

tasks:
  - stat: path=/etc/somefile.conf
    register: st
  - template: src=somefile.j2 dest=/etc/somefile.conf
    when: not st.stat.exists
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