[WARNING]: error loading facts as JSON or ini - please check content: /etc/ansible/facts.d/local_facts.fact

[dagelf]

Expected behavior and actual behavior:

Following one click install, with unit-test, minimal, medium or big install, and manual steps from https://github.com/iiab/iiab/wiki/IIAB-Installation#do-everything-from-scratch, all lead to the same dead end below. It seems that bash.env does not get generated or is missing. Where does it get generated? Or did I miss a step? Which one? I have done this at least 10 times now, so I am sure I am not missing a step.

I've never used ansible before - but I have read the manual and the introduction, but I am still missing something. This is where I am at: From my reading of https://github.com/iiab/iiab/blob/master/vars/default_vars.yml it seems there is a catch-22 - the /etc/ansible/facts.d/local_facts.fact mentioned contains environment variables that aren't set, and seems to be set form iiab.env, but that only gets generated much later, from the facts file, by the looks of it.

Steps to reproduce the problem:

root@box:/opt/iiab/iiab# sudo ./iiab-install

./iiab-install  BEGUN IN /opt/iiab/iiab

Placed /etc/ansible/facts.d/local_facts.fact into position.
Found Kernel 5.4.0-81-generic
Found Ansible [core 2.11.4]

TRY TO RERUN './iiab-install' IF IT FAILS DUE TO CONNECTIVITY ISSUES ETC!

Running local Ansible playbooks...
...Stage 0 will now run
...followed by Stages 1-9
...and then the Network Role.

[WARNING]: error loading facts as JSON or ini - please check content:
/etc/ansible/facts.d/local_facts.fact
        "ansible_python": {
            "executable": "/usr/bin/python3",
            "type": "cpython",
        "ansible_python_version": "3.8.10",
        "ansible_selinux_python_present": true,
[WARNING]: error loading facts as JSON or ini - please check content:
/etc/ansible/facts.d/local_facts.fact
[WARNING]: While constructing a mapping from /etc/iiab/local_vars.yml, line 16, column 1, found a duplicate dict key (iiab_hostname). Using last defined value only.

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

TASK [Gathering Facts] ********************************************************************************************************************************************************************************
[WARNING]: error loading facts as JSON or ini - please check content: /etc/ansible/facts.d/local_facts.fact
ok: [127.0.0.1]
ERROR! an undefined variable was found when attempting to template the vars_files item 'vars/{{ ansible_local.local_facts.os_ver }}.yml'

The error appears to be in '/opt/iiab/iiab/iiab-stages.yml': line 8, column 5, but may
be elsewhere in the file depending on the exact syntax problem.

The offending line appears to be:

  - vars/default_vars.yml
  - vars/{{ ansible_local.local_facts.os_ver }}.yml
    ^ here
We could be wrong, but this one looks like it might be an issue with
missing quotes. Always quote template expression brackets when they
start a value. For instance:

    with_items:
      - {{ foo }}

Should be written as:

    with_items:
      - "{{ foo }}"
root@box:/opt/iiab/iiab#

My /etc/ansible/facts.d/local_facts.fact is identical to https://github.com/iiab/iiab/blob/eabd521200be088fd484edaaa8bc430851297adc/scripts/local_facts.fact

IIAB version, OS version, hardware details:

Version: git
OS: Ubuntu 20.04
Hardware: qemu_system_x86_64 kvm

Please run the iiab-diagnostics command, to generate a URL summarizing your IIAB configuration, for volunteers seeking to help you: (Include that short URL here, Thanks!)

Even this tries to reference the iiab.env file which I seem to be missing (where and how did I lose it?):

root@box:/opt/iiab/iiab# scripts/iiab-diagnostics
cat: /etc/iiab/iiab.env: No such file or directory
cat: /etc/iiab/iiab.env: No such file or directory

Gathers IIAB diagnostics into 1 file, to accelerate troubleshooting.  USAGE:

   iiab-diagnostics
   sudo iiab-diagnostics                                # USE 'sudo' FOR MORE
   sudo iiab-diagnostics PATH/FILE1 PATH/FILE2 ...      # COMPLETE RESULTS !!

Can you provide a short public nickname: (no spaces!) isa1

Compiling diagnostics...

  0. Filename Header + Git Hashes + Raspberry Pi Model + OS
scripts/iiab-diagnostics: line 110: /etc/iiab/diag/__2021-08-19_21:08:21_UTC_isa1: No such file or directory
scripts/iiab-diagnostics: line 111: /etc/iiab/diag/__2021-08-19_21:08:21_UTC_isa1: No such file or directory
scripts/iiab-diagnostics: line 112: /etc/iiab/diag/__2021-08-19_21:08:21_UTC_isa1: No such file or directory
scripts/iiab-diagnostics: line 113: /etc/iiab/diag/__2021-08-19_21:08:21_UTC_isa1: No such file or directory
scripts/iiab-diagnostics: line 114: /etc/iiab/diag/__2021-08-19_21:08:21_UTC_isa1: No such file or directory
scripts/iiab-diagnostics: line 115: /etc/iiab/diag/__2021-08-19_21:08:21_UTC_isa1: No such file or directory
scripts/iiab-diagnostics: line 116: /etc/iiab/diag/__2021-08-19_21:08:21_UTC_isa1: No such file or directory
   ... these errors continue for everything onwards

[dagelf]

Re iiab-diagnostics: I am so confused. Line 110 of scripts/iiab-diagnostics is an echo command - and there is no directory named /etc/iiab/diag on the system.

[dagelf]

I now see that /etc/ansible/facts.d/local_facts.fact is a script that plays a role in generating the missing iiab.env.

It failed because I made a typo in a pre-setup script that broke systemctl 🤦

Sanity checking the output of systemctl commands and errorring as part of the local_facts.fact file, could've saved me a few hours here... will try do a PR later. Although the chances of someone else doing what I just did are slim!

But considering that this is a project that people might be interested in porting, and a fairly complex one, that might help a potential high value contributor in future...

[jvonau]

Are you trying to introduce a new OS or trying to setup a build pipeline? Being a bash script you can just run it and see the returned values

ubuntu@box:/opt/iiab/iiab$ /opt/iiab/iiab/scripts/local_facts.fact 
/opt/iiab/iiab/scripts/local_facts.fact: line 94: warning: command substitution: ignored null byte in input
Failed to get unit file state for dhcpcd.service: No such file or directory
{"stage"                  : "9",
"dhcpcd"                  : "none",
"network_manager"         : "enabled",
"systemd_networkd"        : "enabled",
"iiab_branch"             : "no-net-exit",
"iiab_commit"             : "1e2096e50c1f778e5ebc5aaa13817226a50a424a",
"rpi_model"               : "Raspberry Pi 400 Rev 1.0",
"ansible_version"         : "2.10.12",
"os"                      : "ubuntu",
"os_ver"                  : "ubuntu-20"}

The error you noted is about os detection that would be derived from the contents of /etc/os-release on your target VM, to tell ansible about your OS.

[jvonau]

#1960 (comment) iiab/iiab-factory#136 iiab/iiab-factory#155 (comment) iiab/iiab-factory#155 (comment)