LXC module uses python2

[Igorgro]

Summary

LXC related modules use python2, which is EOL since 2020 and is not available in modern linux distros.

Issue Type

Bug Report

Component Name

lxc
lxc_container

Ansible Version

$ ansible --version
ansible [core 2.13.4]
  config file = /home/igormahov/dev/ansible/miem/collection/ansible.cfg
  configured module search path = ['/home/igormahov/.ansible/plugins/modules', '/usr/share/ansible/plugins/modules']
  ansible python module location = /usr/lib/python3.10/site-packages/ansible
  ansible collection location = /home/igormahov/.ansible/collections:/usr/share/ansible/collections
  executable location = /usr/bin/ansible
  python version = 3.10.7 (main, Sep  6 2022, 21:22:27) [GCC 12.2.0]
  jinja version = 3.1.2
  libyaml = True

Community.general Version

$ ansible-galaxy collection list community.general
# /usr/lib/python3.10/site-packages/ansible_collections
Collection        Version
----------------- -------
community.general 5.6.0  

Configuration

$ ansible-config dump --only-changed

OS / Environment

Arch Linux, but generally it doesn't matter

Steps to Reproduce

Try to connect to LXC host using lxc connection. Sample inventory:

all:
  hosts:
    mylxc:
      ansible_connection: community.general.lxc
      ansible_host: 192.168.123.123
      ansible_user: root

Sample playbook:

- name: Setup VM
  hosts: mylxc
  tasks:
    - name: Debug
      ansible.builtin.debug:
        msg: Hello

Results in error:

fatal: [mylxc]: FAILED! => {"msg": "lxc bindings for python2 are not installed"}

which cannot be resolved because python2 no longer available.
The same porblem is related to lxc_container module which also requires python2 lxc bindings.

Expected Results

It is expected that lxc modue depends on python3 lxc binding rather than python2.

Actual Results

No response

Code of Conduct

• I agree to follow the Ansible Code of Conduct

[ansibullbot]

Files identified in the description:

• plugins/connection/lxc.py

If these files are incorrect, please update the component name section of the description or use the !component bot command.

click here for bot help

[ansibullbot]

Files identified in the description:

• plugins/connection/lxc.py
• plugins/modules/cloud/lxc/lxc_container.py

If these files are incorrect, please update the component name section of the description or use the !component bot command.

click here for bot help

[ansibullbot]

cc @cloudnull
click here for bot help

[cloudnull]

@Igorgro the error message is wrong and needs to be updated. The module requires python3-lxc for modern linux distros. Just make sure you have that package installed and it should work.

[russoz]

@cloudnull that specific message comes from the lxc connection plugin, not from the lxc_container module. See:
https://github.com/ansible-collections/community.general/blob/main/plugins/connection/lxc.py#L70

@Igorgro the plugin does not seem to check specifically for Python 2 or 3, so regardless of any error message and regardless of having installed the package in the Python3, you have to ensure that Ansible is executing Python 3 on the target node - if that's what you want. Please keep in mind that despite thefact that Python 2 itself is no longer supported, that version is still, in theory, supported by Ansible and by this collection.

[Igorgro]

Should the docs here https://docs.ansible.com/ansible/latest/collections/community/general/lxc_container_module.html also be fixed?

[russoz]

Those docs are generated automatically from the source code. ;)