ansible.builtin.unarchive module – Unpacks an archive after (optionally) copying it from the local machine

attributes

aliases: attr

string

The attributes the resulting filesystem object should have.

To get supported flags look at the man page for chattr on the target system.

This string should contain the attributes in the same order as the one displayed by lsattr.

The = operator is assumed as default, otherwise + or - operators need to be included in the string.

copy

boolean

If true, the file is copied from local controller to the managed (remote) node, otherwise, the plugin will look for src archive on the managed machine.

This option has been deprecated in favor of remote_src.

This option is mutually exclusive with remote_src.

Choices:

• false
• true ← (default)

creates

path

If the specified absolute path (file or directory) already exists, this step will not be run.

The specified absolute path (file or directory) must be below the base path given with dest.

decrypt

boolean

This option controls the auto-decryption of source files using vault.

Choices:

• false
• true ← (default)

dest

path / required

Remote absolute path where the archive should be unpacked.

The given path must exist. Base directory is not created by this module.

exclude

list / elements=string

List the directory and file entries that you would like to exclude from the unarchive action.

Mutually exclusive with include.

Default: []

extra_opts

list / elements=string

Specify additional options by passing in an array.

Each space-separated command-line option should be a new element of the array. See examples.

Command-line options with multiple elements must use multiple lines in the array, one for each element.

Default: []

group

string

Name of the group that should own the filesystem object, as would be fed to chown.

When left unspecified, it uses the current group of the current user unless you are root, in which case it can preserve the previous ownership.

include

list / elements=string

added in ansible-core 2.11

List of directory and file entries that you would like to extract from the archive. If include is not empty, only files listed here will be extracted.

Mutually exclusive with exclude.

Default: []

io_buffer_size

integer

added in ansible-core 2.12

Size of the volatile memory buffer that is used for extracting files from the archive in bytes.

Default: 65536

keep_newer

boolean

Do not replace existing files that are newer than files from the archive.

Choices:

• false ← (default)
• true

list_files

boolean

If set to True, return the list of files that are contained in the tarball.

Choices:

• false ← (default)
• true

mode

any

The permissions the resulting filesystem object should have.

For those used to /usr/bin/chmod remember that modes are actually octal numbers. You must give Ansible enough information to parse them correctly. For consistent results, quote octal numbers (for example, '644' or '1777') so Ansible receives a string and can do its own conversion from string into number. Adding a leading zero (for example, 0755) works sometimes, but can fail in loops and some other circumstances.

Giving Ansible a number without following either of these rules will end up with a decimal number which will have unexpected results.

As of Ansible 1.8, the mode may be specified as a symbolic mode (for example, u+rwx or u=rw,g=r,o=r).

If mode is not specified and the destination filesystem object does not exist, the default umask on the system will be used when setting the mode for the newly created filesystem object.

If mode is not specified and the destination filesystem object does exist, the mode of the existing filesystem object will be used.

Specifying mode is the best way to ensure filesystem objects are created with the correct permissions. See CVE-2020-1736 for further details.

owner

string

Name of the user that should own the filesystem object, as would be fed to chown.

When left unspecified, it uses the current user unless you are root, in which case it can preserve the previous ownership.

Specifying a numeric username will be assumed to be a user ID and not a username. Avoid numeric usernames to avoid this confusion.

remote_src

boolean

Set to true to indicate the archived file is already on the remote system and not local to the Ansible controller.

This option is mutually exclusive with copy.

Choices:

• false ← (default)
• true

selevel

string

The level part of the SELinux filesystem object context.

This is the MLS/MCS attribute, sometimes known as the range.

When set to _default, it will use the level portion of the policy if available.

serole

string

The role part of the SELinux filesystem object context.

When set to _default, it will use the role portion of the policy if available.

setype

string

The type part of the SELinux filesystem object context.

When set to _default, it will use the type portion of the policy if available.

seuser

string

The user part of the SELinux filesystem object context.

By default it uses the system policy, where applicable.

When set to _default, it will use the user portion of the policy if available.

src

path / required

If remote_src=no (default), local path to archive file to copy to the target server; can be absolute or relative. If remote_src=yes, path on the target server to existing archive file to unpack.

If remote_src=yes and src contains ://, the remote machine will download the file from the URL first. (version_added 2.0). This is only for simple cases, for full download support use the ansible.builtin.get_url module.

unsafe_writes

boolean

Influence when to use atomic operation to prevent data corruption or inconsistent reads from the target filesystem object.

By default this module uses atomic operations to prevent data corruption or inconsistent reads from the target filesystem objects, but sometimes systems are configured or just broken in ways that prevent this. One example is docker mounted filesystem objects, which cannot be updated atomically from inside the container and can only be written in an unsafe manner.

This option allows Ansible to fall back to unsafe methods of updating filesystem objects when atomic operations fail (however, it doesn’t force Ansible to perform unsafe writes).

IMPORTANT! Unsafe writes are subject to race conditions and can lead to data corruption.

Choices:

• false ← (default)
• true

validate_certs

boolean

This only applies if using a https URL as the source of the file.

This should only set to false used on personally controlled sites using self-signed certificate.

Prior to 2.2 the code worked as if this was set to true.

Choices:

• false
• true ← (default)

action

Support: full

Indicates this has a corresponding action plugin so some parts of the options can be executed on the controller

async

Support: none

Supports being used with the async keyword

bypass_host_loop

Support: none

Forces a ‘global’ task that does not execute per host, this bypasses per host templating and serial, throttle and other loop considerations

Conditionals will work as if run_once is being used, variables used will be from the first available host

This action will not work normally outside of lockstep strategies

check_mode

Support: partial

Not supported for gzipped tar files.

Can run in check_mode and return changed status prediction without modifying target, if not supported the action will be skipped.

diff_mode

Support: partial

Uses gtar’s --diff arg to calculate if changed or not. If this arg is not supported, it will always unpack the archive.

Will return details on what has changed (or possibly needs changing in check_mode), when in diff mode

platform

Platform: posix

Target OS/families that can be operated against

safe_file_operations

Support: none

Uses Ansible’s strict file operation functions to ensure proper permissions and avoid data corruption

vault

Support: full

Can automatically decrypt Ansible vaulted files

dest

string

Path to the destination directory.

Returned: always

Sample: "/opt/software"

files

list / elements=string

List of all the files in the archive.

Returned: When list_files is True

Sample: ["[\"file1\"", " \"file2\"]"]

gid

integer

Numerical ID of the group that owns the destination directory.

Returned: always

Sample: 1000

group

string

Name of the group that owns the destination directory.

Returned: always

Sample: "librarians"

handler

string

Archive software handler used to extract and decompress the archive.

Returned: always

Sample: "TgzArchive"

mode

string

String that represents the octal permissions of the destination directory.

Returned: always

Sample: "0755"

owner

string

Name of the user that owns the destination directory.

Returned: always

Sample: "paul"

size

integer

The size of destination directory in bytes. Does not include the size of files or subdirectories contained within.

Returned: always

Sample: 36

src

string

The source archive’s path.

If src was a remote web URL, or from the local ansible controller, this shows the temporary location where the download was stored.

Returned: always

Sample: "/home/paul/test.tar.gz"

state

string

State of the destination. Effectively always “directory”.

Returned: always

Sample: "directory"

uid

integer

Numerical ID of the user that owns the destination directory.

Returned: always

Sample: 1000