Selective Debug

selectivedebug is an Ansible Output Callback Plugin that combines the powers of the plugins selective and debug. It is useful if you want to see readable multi-line output from some (but not all) successful tasks.

NB: A previous version of this plugin also didn't display output for skipped tasks, like the skippy plugin. This functionality is now optional and is no longer the default behaviour. If you are upgrading from an older version, see the Usage section below on how to configure display_skipped_hosts if you want to preserve this behaviour.

Features

• Output stdout/stderr as raw output, not wrapped in quotes or json (exactly like debug does)
• Optionally don't display output for jobs that are skipped (in the same way default and debug support)
• Optionally output stdout/stderr from tasks that succeeded, on task-by-task basis (not exactly like selective)

Usage

Configure this as your stdout callback in ansible.cfg in the usual way:

stdout_callback = selectivedebug

To output stdout/stderr for a task even if it succeeds, add the always_log tag to the task:

- name: a task whose output we always want to log
  script: foobar.sh
  tags: [always_log]

To show no output for tasks that are skipped, add this to your ansible.cfg:

display_skipped_hosts = no

Example output

With the default output plugin:

PLAY [all] *****************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************

TASK [a task we only run on some machines] *********************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************
skipping: [machine-b]
changed: [machine-a]

TASK [task that sometimes fails, and we only want to log it if it fails] ***************************************************************************************************************************************************************************
changed: [machine-a]
fatal: [machine-b]: FAILED! => {"changed": true, "failed": true, "rc": 1, "stderr": "Shared connection to machine-b closed.\r\n", "stdout": "This script outputs useful debugging information when it fails\r\nOn multiple lines\r\n", "stdout_lines": ["This script outputs useful debugging information when it fails", "On multiple lines"]}
...ignoring

TASK [task that sometimes fails, but we always want to log its output regardless] ******************************************************************************************************************************************************************
changed: [machine-b]
fatal: [machine-a]: FAILED! => {"changed": true, "failed": true, "rc": 1, "stderr": "Shared connection to machine-a closed.\r\n", "stdout": "This script outputs useful information even when it succeeds\r\nOn multiple lines\r\nFor example a legacy script that is dishonest about its return code\r\nSo if there is a problem, you want to be able to read these logs later\r\n", "stdout_lines": ["This script outputs useful information even when it succeeds", "On multiple lines", "For example a legacy script that is dishonest about its return code", "So if there is a problem, you want to be able to read these logs later"]}

PLAY RECAP *****************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************
machine-a                  : ok=2    changed=2    unreachable=0    failed=1
machine-b                  : ok=2    changed=2    unreachable=0    failed=0

With the selectivedebug output plugin:

PLAY [all] *****************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************

TASK [a task we only run on some machines] *********************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************
changed: [machine-a]

TASK [task that sometimes fails, and we only want to log it if it fails] ***************************************************************************************************************************************************************************
changed: [machine-a]
fatal: [machine-b]: FAILED! => {
    "changed": true,
    "failed": true,
    "rc": 1
}

STDOUT:

This script outputs useful debugging information when it fails
On multiple lines



STDERR:

Shared connection to machine-b closed.


...ignoring

TASK [task that sometimes fails, but we always want to log its output regardless] ******************************************************************************************************************************************************************
changed: [machine-b] => {
    "changed": true,
    "rc": 0
}

STDOUT:

This script outputs useful information even when it succeeds
On multiple lines
For example a legacy script that is dishonest about its return code
So if there is a problem, you want to be able to read these logs later



STDERR:

Shared connection to machine-b closed.


fatal: [machine-a]: FAILED! => {
    "changed": true,
    "failed": true,
    "rc": 1
}

STDOUT:

This script outputs useful information even when it succeeds
On multiple lines
For example a legacy script that is dishonest about its return code
So if there is a problem, you want to be able to read these logs later



STDERR:

Shared connection to machine-a closed.



PLAY RECAP *****************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************
machine-a                  : ok=2    changed=2    unreachable=0    failed=1
machine-b                  : ok=2    changed=2    unreachable=0    failed=0