Allow variables coming in from the playbook and the API to be expressed as dictionaries throughout their full life cycle

such that nested data can be made available in templates and playbooks.

lib/ansible/playbook.py

@@ -436,24 +436,17 @@ class PlayBook(object):
         else:
             self.callbacks.on_setup_primary()
 
-        # first run the setup task on every node, which gets the variables
-        # written to the JSON file and will also bubble facts back up via
-        # magic in Runner()
-        push_var_str=''
-        for (k,v) in vars.iteritems():
-            push_var_str += "%s=\"%s\" " % (k,v)
-
         host_list = [ h for h in self.host_list if not (h in self.stats.failures or h in self.stats.dark) ]
 
         # push any variables down to the system
         setup_results = ansible.runner.Runner(
             pattern=pattern, groups=self.groups, module_name='setup',
-            module_args=push_var_str, host_list=host_list,
+            module_args=vars, host_list=host_list,
             forks=self.forks, module_path=self.module_path,
             timeout=self.timeout, remote_user=user,
             remote_pass=self.remote_pass, remote_port=self.remote_port,
             setup_cache=SETUP_CACHE,
-            callbacks=self.runner_callbacks, sudo=sudo,
+            callbacks=self.runner_callbacks, sudo=sudo, debug=self.debug,
         ).run()
         self.stats.compute(setup_results, setup=True)
 

lib/ansible/runner.py

@@ -113,8 +113,8 @@ class Runner(object):
         self.basedir     = basedir
         self.sudo        = sudo
 
-        if type(self.module_args) != str:
-            raise Exception("module_args must be a string: %s" % self.module_args)
+        if type(self.module_args) != str and type(self.module_args) != dict:
+            raise Exception("module_args must be a string or dict: %s" % self.module_args)
 
         self._tmp_paths  = {}
         random.seed()
@@ -271,6 +271,9 @@ class Runner(object):
     def _transfer_str(self, conn, tmp, name, args_str):
         ''' transfer arguments as a single file to be fed to the module. '''
 
+        if type(args_str) == dict:
+            args_str = utils.smjson(args_str)
+
         args_fd, args_file = tempfile.mkstemp()
         args_fo = os.fdopen(args_fd, 'w')
         args_fo.write(args_str)
@@ -316,23 +319,43 @@ class Runner(object):
     def _add_setup_vars(self, inject, args):
         ''' setup module variables need special handling '''
 
+        is_dict = False
+        if type(args) == dict:
+            is_dict = True
+
+        # TODO: keep this as a dict through the whole path to simplify this code
         for (k,v) in inject.iteritems():
             if not k.startswith('facter_') and not k.startswith('ohai_'):
-                if str(v).find(" ") != -1:
-                    v = "\"%s\"" % v
-                args += " %s=%s" % (k, str(v).replace(" ","~~~"))
+                if not is_dict:
+                    if str(v).find(" ") != -1:
+                        v = "\"%s\"" % v
+                    args += " %s=%s" % (k, str(v).replace(" ","~~~"))
+                else:
+                    args[k]=v
         return args   
  
     # *****************************************************
 
     def _add_setup_metadata(self, args):
         ''' automatically determine where to store variables for the setup module '''
+        
+        is_dict = False
+        if type(args) == dict:
+            is_dict = True
 
-        if args.find("metadata=") == -1:
-            if self.remote_user == 'root':
-                args = "%s metadata=/etc/ansible/setup" % args
-            else:
-                args = "%s metadata=/home/%s/.ansible/setup" % (args, self.remote_user)
+        # TODO: keep this as a dict through the whole path to simplify this code
+        if not is_dict:
+            if args.find("metadata=") == -1:
+                if self.remote_user == 'root':
+                    args = "%s metadata=/etc/ansible/setup" % args
+                else:
+                    args = "%s metadata=/home/%s/.ansible/setup" % (args, self.remote_user)
+        else:
+            if not 'metadata' in args:
+                if self.remote_user == 'root':
+                    args['metadata'] = '/etc/ansible/setup'
+                else:
+                    args['metadata'] = "/home/%s/.ansible/setup" % (self.remote_user)
         return args   
  
     # *****************************************************
@@ -352,9 +375,11 @@ class Runner(object):
             args = self._add_setup_vars(inject, args)
             args = self._add_setup_metadata(args)
 
+        if type(args) == dict:
+           args = utils.bigjson(args)
         args = utils.template(args, inject)
+
         module_name_tail = remote_module_path.split("/")[-1]
-        client_executed_str = "%s %s" % (module_name_tail, args.strip())
 
         argsfile = self._transfer_str(conn, tmp, 'arguments', args)
         if async_jid is None:
@@ -368,6 +393,7 @@ class Runner(object):
 
                     
         res, err = self._exec_command(conn, cmd, tmp, sudoable=True)
+        client_executed_str = "%s %s" % (module_name_tail, args.strip())
         return ( res, err, client_executed_str )
 
     # *****************************************************