Ansible: copy a directory content to another direc

Question

I am trying to copy the content of dist directory to nginx directory.

- name: copy html file
  copy: src=/home/vagrant/dist/ dest=/usr/share/nginx/html/

But when I execute the playbook it throws an error:

TASK [NGINX : copy html file] **************************************************
fatal: [172.16.8.200]: FAILED! => {"changed": false, "failed": true, "msg": "attempted to take checksum of directory:/home/vagrant/dist/"}

How can I copy a directory that has another directory and a file inside?

Answer 1

I got involved whole a day, too! and finally found the solution in shell command instead of copy: or command: as below:

- hosts: remote-server-name
  gather_facts: no
  vars:
    src_path: "/path/to/source/"
    des_path: "/path/to/dest/"
  tasks:
  - name: Ansible copy files remote to remote
    shell: 'cp -r {{ src_path }}/. {{ des_path }}'

strictly notice to: 1. src_path and des_path end by / symbol 2. in shell command src_path ends by . which shows all content of directory 3. I used my remote-server-name both in hosts: and execute shell section of jenkins, instead of remote_src: specifier in playbook.

I guess it is a good advice to run below command in Execute Shell section in jenkins:

ansible-playbook  copy-payment.yml -i remote-server-name

Answer 2

Ansible Copy module by default copies files/dirs from control machine to remote machine. If you want to copy files/dirs in remote machine and if you have Ansible 2.0, set remote_src to yes

- name: copy html file
  copy: src=/home/vagrant/dist/ dest=/usr/share/nginx/html/ remote_src=yes directory_mode=yes

Answer 3

The simplest solution I've found to copy the contents of a folder without copying the folder itself is to use the following:

- name: Move directory contents
  command: cp -r /<source_path>/. /<dest_path>/

This resolves @surfer190's follow-up question:

Hmmm what if you want to copy the entire contents? I noticed that * doesn't work – surfer190 Jul 23 '16 at 7:29

* is a shell glob, in that it relies on your shell to enumerate all the files within the folder before running cp, while the . directly instructs cp to get the directory contents (see https://askubuntu.com/questions/86822/how-can-i-copy-the-contents-of-a-folder-to-another-folder-in-a-different-directo)

Answer 4

You could use the synchronize module. The example from the documentation:

# Synchronize two directories on one remote host.
- synchronize:
    src: /first/absolute/path
    dest: /second/absolute/path
  delegate_to: "{{ inventory_hostname }}"

This has the added benefit that it will be more efficient for large/many files.

Answer 5

This I found an ideal solution for copying file from Ansible server to remote.

copying yaml file

- hosts: localhost
  user: {{ user }}
  connection: ssh
  become: yes
  gather_facts: no
  tasks:
   - name: Creation of directory on remote server
     file:
       path: /var/lib/jenkins/.aws
       state: directory
       mode: 0755
     register: result
   - debug: 
       var: result

   - name: get file names to copy
     command: "find conf/.aws -type f"
     register: files_to_copy

   - name: copy files
     copy:
      src: "{{ item }}" 
      dest: "/var/lib/jenkins/.aws"
      owner: {{ user }}
      group: {{ group }}
      remote_src: True
      mode: 0644
     with_items:
      - "{{ files_to_copy.stdout_lines }}"

Answer 6

I found a workaround for recursive copying from remote to remote :

- name: List files in /usr/share/easy-rsa
  find:
    path: /usr/share/easy-rsa
    recurse: yes
    file_type: any
  register: find_result

- name: Create the directories
  file:
    path: "{{ item.path | regex_replace('/usr/share/easy-rsa','/etc/easy-rsa') }}"
    state: directory
    mode: "{{ item.mode }}"
  with_items:
    - "{{ find_result.files }}"
  when:
    - item.isdir

- name: Copy the files
  copy:
    src: "{{ item.path }}"
    dest: "{{ item.path | regex_replace('/usr/share/easy-rsa','/etc/easy-rsa') }}"
    remote_src: yes
    mode: "{{ item.mode }}"
  with_items:
    - "{{ find_result.files }}"
  when:
    - item.isdir == False