Ansible local_action: stat doesnt find the file

ansiblelocalstat

I want to copy a file to remote nodes, but only if the file exists.
I copied it into /tmp/webapps/partner.war

My Task is: 

- local_action: stat path="/tmp/webapps/{{ application }}.war"
  register: war

- name: Copy warfile
  copy: src=/tmp/webapps/{{ application }}.war dest=/tmp/deploy/{{ stage }}/{{ application }}.war
  when: war.stat.exists == true

But stat always tells me, the file does not exist. If I run stat manually, it shows me the file is there.

The result:

    TASK: [deploy | stat path="/tmp/webapps/{{ application }}.war"] *************** 
<127.0.0.1> REMOTE_MODULE stat path="/tmp/webapps/partner.war"
<127.0.0.1> EXEC ['/bin/sh', '-c', 'mkdir -p $HOME/.ansible/tmp/ansible-tmp-1433920640.68-144173277081367 && chmod a+rx $HOME/.ansible/tmp/ansible-tmp-1433920640.68-144173277081367 && echo $HOME/.ansible/tmp/ansible-tmp-1433920640.68-144173277081367']
<127.0.0.1> PUT /tmp/tmpzrV_Ne TO /var/lib/awx/.ansible/tmp/ansible-tmp-1433920640.68-144173277081367/stat
<127.0.0.1> EXEC ['/bin/sh', '-c', u'LANG=C LC_CTYPE=C /usr/bin/python /var/lib/awx/.ansible/tmp/ansible-tmp-1433920640.68-144173277081367/stat; rm -rf /var/lib/awx/.ansible/tmp/ansible-tmp-1433920640.68-144173277081367/ >/dev/null 2>&1']
ok: [example.com -> 127.0.0.1] => {"changed": false, "stat": {"exists": false}}

What did I do wrong? :/

Best Answer

Ansible Tower uses PRoot which provides a cool interface for creating chroot and similar jails. In the Tower docs they state:

3.5. Playbooks missing access to necessary data due to PRoot issues

When running a playbook that reads and writes information in certain prohibited directories, users may encounter issues with PRoot. PRoot runs the ansible-playbook command within a chroot jail. In cases like these, the running playbook cannot see other playbooks or sensitive data on disk and should the playbook expect to have access to that information, problems will occur. To fine tune your usage of PRoot, there are certain variables that can be set:

# Enable proot support for running jobs (playbook runs only).
AWX_PROOT_ENABLED = False

# Command/path to proot.
AWX_PROOT_CMD = 'proot'

# Additional paths to hide from jobs using proot.
AWX_PROOT_HIDE_PATHS = []

# Additional paths to show for jobs using proot.
AWX_PROOT_SHOW_PATHS = []
Related Topic