How to register files that changed with ansible.posix.synchronize in Ansible

I have the following task that copy certain files from a host to another:

- name: Copy the Quadlet files for rootless containers
  ansible.posix.synchronize:
    src: ./files/quadlet-files/homeserver/
    dest: /home/user/.config/containers/systemd/
    rsync_opts:
      - '--include=*.container'
      - '--exclude=*'
      - '--chmod=D700,F600'
  register: changed_quadlet_files
  notify:
    - Restart container(s)

I'd like to have a handler that takes as input the name of the files that have changed without the .container extension

Something like this:

- name: Restart container(s)
  ansible.builtin.systemd:
    name: "{{ item }}"
    state: restarted
    scope: user
  loop:
    -  LIST_FROM_SYNCRONIZE_TASK

Is it possible?

Solution

Unfortunately, you can't format the output because of the bug. But, you can parse the output on your own. For example, given the tree for testing

shell> tree /tmp/ansible/
/tmp/ansible/
├── dest
└── src
    ├── a
    ├── b
    └── c

    - synchronize:
        src: /tmp/ansible/src/
        dest: /tmp/ansible/dest
      register: out
      notify: Restart containers

gives

  out:
    changed: true
    cmd: /usr/bin/rsync --delay-updates -F --compress --archive --out-format='<<CHANGED>>%i %n%L' /tmp/ansible/src/ /tmp/ansible/dest
    failed: false
    msg: |-
      .d..t...... ./
      >f+++++++++ a
      >f+++++++++ b
      >f+++++++++ c
    rc: 0
    stdout_lines:
    - .d..t...... ./
    - '>f+++++++++ a'
    - '>f+++++++++ b'
    - '>f+++++++++ c'

Parse the output

  changed_files: "{{ out.stdout_lines |
                     select('match', '>f') |
                     map('split') |
                     map('last') }}"

and use it in the handler. For example,

    - name: Restart containers
      debug:
        msg: "Restart {{ item }}"
      loop: "{{ changed_files }}"

gives

ok: [localhost] => (item=a) => 
  msg: Restart a
ok: [localhost] => (item=b) => 
  msg: Restart b
ok: [localhost] => (item=c) => 
  msg: Restart c

^{Example of a complete playbook for testing
- hosts: localhost

vars:

changed_files: "{{ out.stdout_lines |
select('match', '>f') |
map('split') |
map('last') }}"

tasks:

- synchronize:
src: /tmp/ansible/src/
dest: /tmp/ansible/dest
register: out
notify: Restart containers

handlers:

- name: Restart containers
debug:
msg: "Restart {{ item }}"
loop: "{{ changed_files }}"}