Packer: ansible-local: extra_arguments messing with skip-tags option

[xlr-8]

Packer version:
0.12.0

Description of problem:
I'm running packer inside a pipeline, so I believe the problem comes from packer.
The parsing of the skip-tags parameter seems incorrect, when entered --skip-tags="tag1,tag2" it then becomes --skip-tags="tag1 tag2".

How reproducible:
Always with ansible-local as long as this extra-parameter includes skipping tag.

Steps to reproduce:
I believe could be done with such simple playbook as:
https://gist.github.com/xlr-8/0f1c729c17768c310612b6343a4db2d8

And a fairly basic template:
https://gist.github.com/xlr-8/7c524028de339277d1243ca8fb4da9f3

Expected output:
Of ansible-playbook play.yml -v --skip-tags='C,B':

Using /etc/ansible/ansible.cfg as config file

PLAY [localhost] ***************************************************************

TASK [setup] *******************************************************************
ok: [localhost]

TASK [command] *****************************************************************
changed: [localhost] => {"changed": true, "cmd": "echo 'A'", "delta": "0:00:00.005072", "end": "2016-11-18 18:36:02.183270", "rc": 0, "start": "2016-11-18 18:36:02.178198", "stderr": "", "stdout": "A", "stdout_lines": ["A"], "warnings": []}

PLAY RECAP *********************************************************************
localhost                  : ok=2    changed=1    unreachable=0    failed=0   

Current output:
Of ansible-playbook play.yml -v --skip-tags='C,B' when bad substitution:

Using /etc/ansible/ansible.cfg as config file

PLAY [localhost] ***************************************************************

TASK [setup] *******************************************************************
ok: [localhost]

TASK [command] *****************************************************************
changed: [localhost] => {"changed": true, "cmd": "echo 'A'", "delta": "0:00:00.005334", "end": "2016-11-18 18:36:07.074736", "rc": 0, "start": "2016-11-18 18:36:07.069402", "stderr": "", "stdout": "A", "stdout_lines": ["A"], "warnings": []}

TASK [command] *****************************************************************
changed: [localhost] => {"changed": true, "cmd": "echo 'B'", "delta": "0:00:00.004666", "end": "2016-11-18 18:36:07.260849", "rc": 0, "start": "2016-11-18 18:36:07.256183", "stderr": "", "stdout": "B", "stdout_lines": ["B"], "warnings": []}

TASK [command] *****************************************************************
changed: [localhost] => {"changed": true, "cmd": "echo 'C'", "delta": "0:00:00.005292", "end": "2016-11-18 18:36:07.449064", "rc": 0, "start": "2016-11-18 18:36:07.443772", "stderr": "", "stdout": "C", "stdout_lines": ["C"], "warnings": []}

PLAY RECAP *********************************************************************
localhost                  : ok=4    changed=3    unreachable=0    failed=0   

Host platform:
EC2 IAM Jessie - ami-e079f893

I tried to find way of bypassing the problem, with multiple --skip-tags, or with inhibitions, etc; but didn't manage to get it working. Sorry if the report is not as complete as you wish, if you need extra information please let me know.

[mwhooker]

looks to me like extra_arguments is a list https://www.packer.io/docs/provisioners/ansible-local.html#extra_arguments

try updating your config and let me know if that helps

[rickard-von-essen]

extra_arguments is a list

That solves the problem. Reopen if it doesn't solves it for you.

[xlr-8]

Indeed solved the problem, sorry to haven't double check the documentation.

I am not sure it's possible, but would it be worth adding a type check in packer, so that it rejects object that does not look as explained in the documentation?

If I understood the problem, it came from the fact that the coma was interpreted as a second element in the array; but what I provided really was a string, so maybe is there a way to better parse the elements between json/golang?

Thanks for the quick help anyway, really appreciated!

[rickard-von-essen]

but would it be worth adding a type check in packer

The reason to handle it this way is so you can pass arrays as user vars, example:

{
  "variables": {
    "extra_args": "",
  },
  "provisioners": [
    {
      "type": "ansible-local",
      "playbook_file": "test.yml",
      "extra_arguments": "{{ user `extra_args` }}"
    }
  ]
}

packer build -var extra_args='[ "--diff", "-v", "--skip-tags=\'A,C\'" ]' template.json

[xlr-8]

Alright, I see it makes sense; thank you for the clarifications and trick.