summaryrefslogtreecommitdiffstats
path: root/src/ansiblelint/rules/no_free_form.md
blob: 3ce514034fa6dbe8c88e68d1becc812e9d2f4849 (plain)
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
# no-free-form

This rule identifies any use of
[free-form](https://docs.ansible.com/ansible/2.7/user_guide/playbooks_intro.html#action-shorthand)
module calling syntax and asks for switching to the full syntax.

**Free-form** syntax, also known as **inline** or **shorthand**, can produce
subtle bugs. It can also prevent editors and IDEs from providing feedback,
autocomplete and validation for the edited line.

!!! note

    As long you just pass a YAML string that contains a `=` character inside as the
    parameter to the action module name, we consider this as using free-formsyntax.
    Be sure you pass a dictionary to the module, so the free-form parsing is never
    triggered.

As `raw` module only accepts free-form, we trigger `no-free-form[raw]` only if
we detect the presence of `executable=` inside raw calls. We advice the explicit
use of `args:` dictionary for configuring the executable to be run.

This rule can produce messages such:

- `no-free-form` - Free-form syntax is discouraged.
- `no-free-form[raw-non-string]` - Passing a non string value to `raw` module is
  neither documented or supported.

## Problematic code

```yaml
---
- name: Example with discouraged free-form syntax
  hosts: localhost
  tasks:
    - name: Create a placefolder file
      ansible.builtin.command: chdir=/tmp touch foo # <-- don't use free-form
    - name: Use raw to echo
      ansible.builtin.raw: executable=/bin/bash echo foo # <-- don't use executable=
      changed_when: false
```

## Correct code

```yaml
---
- name: Example that avoids free-form syntax
  hosts: localhost
  tasks:
    - name: Create a placefolder file
      ansible.builtin.command:
        cmd: touch foo # <-- ansible will not touch it
        chdir: /tmp
    - name: Use raw to echo
      ansible.builtin.raw: echo foo
      args:
        executable: /bin/bash # <-- explicit is better
      changed_when: false
```