Hacker News Reader

I'm just starting to use Ansible for a major deployment at work, so I am not an expert- can anyone who knows more explain why "ansible_connection" exists as a host definable fact? The controller already knows what host it is connecting to when it retrieves the fact, so why can the host change it?

View on HN

it is not a host definable fact, it is a 'host variable' which you normally define in inventory.

From the advisory:

When Ansible runs on a host, a JSON object with Facts is returned to the Controller. The Controller uses these facts for various housekeeping purposes. Some facts have special meaning, like the fact "ansible_python_interpreter" and "ansible_connection".

So while you may normally define it in the inventory, it sounds like, from the advisory, it can also be defined by the host.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com