support passing additional env vars to host

README.md

@@ -44,10 +44,15 @@ A username can still be provided when using a token to authenticate. This user w
 
 # CLI Usage
 **Checking out a VM or container**
+You can pass in any arbitrary arguments you want.
 ```
 broker checkout --workflow "workflow-name" --workflow-arg1 something --workflow-arg2 else
 ```
-You can pass in any arbitrary arguments you want. Broker can also checkout multiple VMs at once by specifying a count.
+Passing environment variables to the target container.
+```
+broker checkout --nick rhel7 --environment "VAR1=val1,VAR2=val2"
+```
+Broker can also checkout multiple VMs at once by specifying a count.
 ```
 broker checkout --nick rhel7 --count 3
 ```
@@ -57,6 +62,9 @@ broker checkout --nick rhel7 --AnsibleTower testing
 ```
 If you have more complex data structures you need to pass in, you can do that in two ways.
 You can populate a json or yaml file where the top-level keys will become broker arguments and their nested data structures become values.
+Note:
+    The json and yaml files need to use the supported suffix ('json', 'yaml', '.yml') in order to be properly recognized.
+    Any eventual arbitrary arguments passed to CLI will be combined with those in the passed argument file with the CLI ones taking precedence.  
 ```
 broker checkout --nick rhel7 --args-file tests/data/broker_args.json
 ```
@@ -204,11 +212,11 @@ from broker import Broker
 ```
 The Broker class largely accepts the same arguments as you would pass via the CLI. One key difference is that you need to use underscores instead of dashes. For example, a checkout at the CLI that looks like this
 ```
-broker checkout --nick rhel7 --args-file tests/data/broker_args.json
+broker checkout --nick rhel7 --args-file tests/data/broker_args.json --environment="VAR1=val1,VAR2=val2"
 ```
 could look like this in an API usage
 ```python
-rhel7_host = Broker(nick="rhel7", args_file="tests/data/broker_args.json").checkout()
+rhel7_host = Broker(nick="rhel7", args_file="tests/data/broker_args.json", environment={"VAR1": "val1", "VAR2": "val2"}).checkout()
 ```
 Broker will carry out its usual actions and package the resulting host in a Host object. This host object will also include some basic functionality, like the ability to execute ssh commands on the host.
 Executed ssh command results are packaged in a Results object containing status (return code), stdout, and stderr.

broker/commands.py

@@ -130,7 +130,7 @@ def cli(version):
 @click.option(
     "--args-file",
     type=click.Path(exists=True),
-    help="A json or yaml file mappng arguments to values",
+    help="A json or yaml file mapping arguments to values",
 )
 @provider_options
 @click.pass_context
@@ -146,7 +146,7 @@ def checkout(ctx, background, nick, count, args_file, **kwargs):
 
     :param nick: shortcut for arguments saved in settings.yaml, passed in as a string
 
-    :param args_file: this broker argument wil be replaced with the contents of the file passed in
+    :param args_file: this broker argument will be replaced with the contents of the file passed in
     """
     broker_args = helpers.clean_dict(kwargs)
     if nick:
@@ -342,7 +342,7 @@ def duplicate(vm, background, count, all_, filter):
 @click.option(
     "--args-file",
     type=click.Path(exists=True),
-    help="A json or yaml file mappng arguments to values",
+    help="A json or yaml file mapping arguments to values",
 )
 @provider_options
 @click.pass_context
@@ -362,7 +362,7 @@ def execute(ctx, background, nick, output_format, artifacts, args_file, **kwargs
 
     :param artifacts: AnsibleTower provider specific option for choosing what to return
 
-    :param args_file: this broker argument wil be replaced with the contents of the file passed in
+    :param args_file: this broker argument will be replaced with the contents of the file passed in
     """
     broker_args = helpers.clean_dict(kwargs)
     if nick:

broker/helpers.py

@@ -180,25 +180,30 @@ def resolve_file_args(broker_args):
     then attempt to resolve them. If not resolved, keep arg/value pair intact.
     """
     final_args = {}
-    for key, val in broker_args.items():
+    # parse the eventual args_file first
+    if val := broker_args.pop('args_file', None):
         if isinstance(val, Path) or (
             isinstance(val, str) and val[-4:] in ("json", "yaml", ".yml")
         ):
             if data := load_file(val):
-                if key == "args_file":
-                    if isinstance(data, dict):
-                        final_args.update(data)
-                    elif isinstance(data, list):
-                        for d in data:
-                            final_args.update(d)
-                else:
-                    final_args[key] = data
-            elif key == "args_file":
+                if isinstance(data, dict):
+                    final_args.update(data)
+                elif isinstance(data, list):
+                    for d in data:
+                        final_args.update(d)
+            else:
                 raise exceptions.BrokerError(f"No data loaded from {val}")
+
+    for key, val in broker_args.items():
+        if isinstance(val, Path) or (
+            isinstance(val, str) and val[-4:] in ("json", "yaml", ".yml")
+        ):
+            if data := load_file(val):
+                final_args.update({key: data})
             else:
-                final_args[key] = val
+                final_arg.update({key: val})
         else:
-            final_args[key] = val
+            final_args.update({key: val})
     return final_args
 
 

broker/providers/container.py

@@ -266,8 +266,13 @@ def run_container(self, container_host, **kwargs):
         if not kwargs.get("name"):
             kwargs["name"] = self._gen_name()
         kwargs["ports"] = self._port_mapping(container_host, **kwargs)
+
+        envars = kwargs.get('environment', {})
+        if isinstance(envars, str):
+            envars = {var.split('=')[0]: var.split('=')[1] for var in envars.split(',')}
         # add some context information about the container's requester
-        envars, origin = {}, helpers.find_origin()
+        origin = helpers.find_origin()
+
         if "for" in origin:
             origin = origin.split()[-1]
         envars["BROKER_ORIGIN"] = origin[0]