"file not found" error when file lookup plugin 'errors' parameter set to ignore

[GROwen]

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• [X] I agree to follow this project's code of conduct.
• [X] I have checked the current issues for duplicates.
• [X] I understand that AWX is open source software provided for free and that I might not receive a timely response.
• [X] I am NOT reporting a (potential) security vulnerability. (These should be emailed to [email protected] instead.)

Bug Summary

When using the file lookup plugin to template a files contents the AWX job fails even with the errors='ignore'

We've setup a mechanism to add file contents to templates based on the presence of a file in directory. When the template step is defined in the playbook the errors (if a file is not found) are ignored (i.e. ...ignoring) however if the template step is defined in a role errors are not ignored.

I've pushed a scaffold to https://github.com/GROwen/awx-errors-not-ignored but also outlined it below.

Structure

.
├── bug-report.yml
└── roles
    ├── requirements.yml
    └── templating-role
        ├── files
        │   └── bug-report
        │       ├── environment_variables.yml
        │       └── templates
        │           └── test.yml.j2
        └── tasks
            └── main.yml

File contents

./bug-report.yml
---
-
  name: Playbook to reproduce error handling error.
  hosts: all
  gather_facts: false
  connection: local
  vars:
    project_name: bug-report
    present_variables_file: "{{ role_path }}/files/{{ project_name }}/environment_variables.yml"
    present_variables: "{{ lookup('file', present_variables_file, errors='ignore') }}"
    absent_variables_file: "{{ role_path }}/files/{{ project_name }}/absent_variables.yml"
    absent_variables: "{{ lookup('file', absent_variables_file, errors='ignore') }}"
  collections:
    - community.general

  tasks:
    - name: Set working directory
      set_fact:
        working_directory: "{{ project_name }}"
      tags:
        - always

    - name: Template files
      include_role:
        name: templating-role
        apply:
          tags:
            - always

./roles/requirements.yml
---
- src: VCS
  name: templating-role

./roles/templating-role/files/bug-report/environment_variables.yml
KEY=value

./roles/templating-role/files/bug-report/templates/test.yml.j2
---

project: {{ project_name }}
{{ present_variables }}

{{ absent_variables }}

./roles/templating-role/tasks/main.yml
---
- name: Template files
  template:
    src: "{{ item.src }}"
    dest: "{{ working_directory }}/{{ item.path | splitext | first }}"
    mode: preserve
    trim_blocks: no
  with_filetree: '{{ role_path }}/files/{{ project_name }}/templates'
  when: item.state == 'file'

- name: Pause for confirmation of file contents
  pause:
    minutes: 5

This mechanism has worked until recently

AWX version

AWX 23.6.0

Select the relevant components

• [ ] UI
• [ ] UI (tech preview)
• [ ] API
• [ ] Docs
• [ ] Collection
• [ ] CLI
• [X] Other

Installation method

kubernetes

Modifications

no

Ansible version

2.13.6

Operating system

Debian GNU/Linux 12 (bookworm)

Web browser

Safari

Steps to reproduce

1. Execute the templating-role tasks using the include-role module

Expected results

An error is thrown because the absent_variables_file is not found but is ignored and the job completes successfully.

An exception occurred during task execution. To see the full traceback, use -vvv. The error was: ansible.errors.AnsibleError: An unhandled exception occurred while templating '{{ lookup('file', absent_variables_file, errors='ignore') }}'. Error was a <class 'ansible.errors.AnsibleOptionsError'>, original message: The 'file' lookup had an issue accessing the file '/runner/requirements_roles/sdp-tide-platform/files/bug-report/absent_variables.yml'. file not found, use -vvvvv to see paths searched
failed: [content-legislation-vic-gov-au-develop] (item={'root': '/runner/requirements_roles/sdp-tide-platform/files/bug-report/templates', 'path': '.test.yml.j2', 'state': 'file', 'src': '/runner/requirements_roles/sdp-tide-platform/files/bug-report/templates/.test.yml.j2', 'uid': 1000, 'gid': 0, 'owner': '1000', 'group': 'root', 'mode': '0777', 'size': 80, 'mtime': 1712035704.0, 'ctime': 1712035852.2879279}) => {"ansible_loop_var": "item", "changed": false, "item": {"ctime": 1712035852.2879279, "gi…
...ignoring

Actual results

An error is thrown and the job fails.

An exception occurred during task execution. To see the full traceback, use -vvv. The error was: ansible.errors.AnsibleError: An unhandled exception occurred while templating '{{ lookup('file', absent_variables_file, errors='ignore') }}'. Error was a <class 'ansible.errors.AnsibleOptionsError'>, original message: The 'file' lookup had an issue accessing the file '/runner/requirements_roles/sdp-tide-platform/files/bug-report/absent_variables.yml'. file not found, use -vvvvv to see paths searched
failed: [content-legislation-vic-gov-au-develop] (item={'root': '/runner/requirements_roles/sdp-tide-platform/files/bug-report/templates', 'path': '.test.yml.j2', 'state': 'file', 'src': '/runner/requirements_roles/sdp-tide-platform/files/bug-report/templates/.test.yml.j2', 'uid': 1000, 'gid': 0, 'owner': '1000', 'group': 'root', 'mode': '0777', 'size': 80, 'mtime': 1712032380.0, 'ctime': 1712034523.8676915}) => {"ansible_loop_var": "item", "changed": false, "item": {"ctime": 1712034523.8676915, "gi…

Additional information

No response

[fosterseth]

@GROwen do you experience this issue when running the playbook directly from command line (not through awx)? ideally using exact same ansible and collections modules versions