Command failed: ansible-lint: no such option: --offline

[doxxx]

Sanity check

• I certify that the redhat.ansible extension is in use and the language of the document in this bug report shows up as Ansible

Summary

When I open an Ansible yml file for the first time in a VSCode window, I get the following error popup:

Command failed: ansible-lint  --offline --nocolor -f codeclimate "/home/gtyler/dev/ansible/playbooks/roles/mount-installers/tasks/main.yml"
Usage: ansible-lint [options] [playbook.yml [playbook2 ...]]

ansible-lint: error: no such option: --offline

Extension version

0.9.0

VS Code version

1.67.1

Ansible Version

ansible 2.9.6
  config file = /etc/ansible/ansible.cfg
  configured module search path = ['/home/gtyler/.ansible/plugins/modules', '/usr/share/ansible/plugins/modules']
  ansible python module location = /usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/ansible
  executable location = /usr/bin/ansible
  python version = 3.8.10 (default, Mar 15 2022, 12:22:08) [GCC 9.4.0]

OS / Environment

Windows 10, WSL Ubuntu 20.04
ansible-lint 4.2.0 (from Ubuntu package)

Relevant log output

Path for lint:  /usr/bin/ansible-lint
Validating using ansible-lint
[Info  - 2:12:36 PM] [ansible-lint] Usage: ansible-lint [options] [playbook.yml [playbook2 ...]]

ansible-lint: error: no such option: --offline

Ansible-lint command execution failed. Falling back to ansible syntax-check
Validating using ansible syntax-check
not a playbook...

[priyamsahoo]

@doxxx, could you please specify the version of ansible-lint installed on your system?

[doxxx]

4.2.0 as I wrote in the environment section.

[priyamsahoo]

@doxxx, you are using an ancient version of the ansible-lint.
Please update ansible-lint (min supported version is 5.0.0) and the extension work fine again!

[doxxx]

It's the most up-to-date version in Ubuntu 20.04.

[doxxx]

Uninstalling the ansible-lint from Ubuntu and installing it from pypi results in a bunch of errors because it requires a newer version of ansible-core, which conflicts with the ansible 2.9.6 already installed from Ubuntu repo. When I install ansible-lint v5.0.0 specifically, it installs successfully, but I now get a different error in vscode:

Command failed: ansible-lint  --offline --nocolor -f codeclimate "/home/gtyler/dev/ansible/playbooks/roles/algorithms-vnv/tasks/r.yml"
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/usr/local/bin/ansible-lint", line 8, in <module>
    sys.exit(_run_cli_entrypoint())
  File "/usr/local/lib/python3.8/dist-packages/ansiblelint/__main__.py", line 254, in _run_cli_entrypoint
    sys.exit(main(sys.argv))
  File "/usr/local/lib/python3.8/dist-packages/ansiblelint/__main__.py", line 170, in main
    from ansiblelint.generate_docs import rules_as_rich, rules_as_rst
  File "/usr/local/lib/python3.8/dist-packages/ansiblelint/generate_docs.py", line 6, in <module>
    from rich.console import render_group
ImportError: cannot import name 'render_group' from 'rich.console' (/usr/local/lib/python3.8/dist-packages/rich/console.py)

Same error with ansible-lint v5.1.3. I don't think I can go newer than that without upgrading my version of ansible as well, which I'd like to avoid for now.

[edouard-lopez]

I'm on Ubuntu 20.04.4 LTS and manage to upgrade through Pypi

❯ lsb_release -a
No LSB modules are available.
Distributor ID:	Ubuntu
Description:	Ubuntu 20.04.4 LTS
Release:	20.04
Codename:	focal

What I did

❯ pip install --user --upgrade ansible-lint
# fix some conflicting dependencies related to appdesc
❯ ansible-lint --version
ansible-lint 6.2.2 using ansible 2.1

[ssbarnea]

Sorry but we do not support older versions. If you have problems with ansible, either use a separated virtualenv or switch to user execution environments for the extension.

In the future we will add a warning when an unsupported or broken version of the linter is detected.

[tdmike]

From my understanding, this is a Red Hat supported plugin for Visual Code that doesn't support an Ansible Lint version that supports the Red Hat supported version of Ansible, mainly Ansible Core (Ansible v2.9). An Ansible version used by both Ansible Tower and Ansible Automation Platform. I find that kind of odd...

[ssbarnea]

I think that you misunderstand what supported means. That version of ansible-lint that you mention is no longer supported anyway, so it makes no sense to even mention ansible version.

Both linter and extension have a clearly documented list of supported requirements, and ansible 2.9 is not part of them.

We could make some changes to avoid use of offline option so you could use it with older ansible but you will later face lots of other problems for which we are unable to provide any help with.

We do have very limited resources and we cannot support a limited set of tools for development.

Also from upstream perspective ansible 2.9 reached end-of-life last year, see https://access.redhat.com/support/policy/updates/ansible-engine and you should threat both linter and extension like any upstream project. The fact that Red Hat still supports ansible 2.9 for some customers has nothing to do with these two projects.

Shortly, do not expect to get support for older versions of either linter or ansible here. That is not because we don't want to do it, it is just an unreasonable/impractical goal. I am saying this because I know the technical constraints very well.

PS. Since yesterday the current stable version of Ansible is 2.13 !

[cidrblock]

I wanted to note here, the vscode extension and ansible-lint are not currently supported as part of the Redhat ansible automation platform subscription. That said, the ansible dev tools team does support both as upstream community tools.

The next release of the ansible automation platform (2.2), will include Redhat paid support for ansible-lint as tech-preview. The minimum version of ansible-core will remain 2.11 for ansible-lint.

You should be able to use ansible-lint, ansible-core 2.12 to lint and vet your content, and run it in an ansible 2.9 execution environment without issues, as long as you have added the collection versions you require.

[tdmike]

I appreciate both replies. This makes things a lot clearer for me. Luckily we are in the progress of moving from Ansible Tower 3.8 to Ansible Automation Platform (and most likely we will hold off until 2.2 is released). I still find it odd that Red Hat still uses Ansible 2.9.27 in their most recent release of Ansible Tower. However, that is not an issue related to here but more an issue that I will raise with Red Hat Support.

[FostWare]

Just flagging that ansible-lint v5.0+ is still not listed as a requirement in the Details of vscode-ansible as at v1.0.106

[wotsyula]

All in all. I think it was a dumb idea to not support the version of ansible / ansible-lint that RedHat sells to people. It makes the company as a whole look bad. What you are suggesting in quotes is that we should not use RedHat premium products if we expect support. Generally, the expectation is that RedHat products should work with one another.