Support strategy_plugins setting in a configuration file

docsite/rst/developing_plugins.rst

@@ -112,6 +112,7 @@ to /usr/share/ansible/plugins, in a subfolder for each plugin type::
     * connection_plugins
     * filter_plugins
     * vars_plugins
+    * strategy_plugins
 
 To change this path, edit the ansible configuration file.
 

docsite/rst/intro_configuration.rst

@@ -600,6 +600,20 @@ Additional paths can be provided separated by colon characters, in the same way
 Roles will be first searched for in the playbook directory.  Should a role not be found, it will indicate all the possible paths
 that were searched.
 
+.. _strategy_plugins:
+
+strategy_plugins
+==================
+
+Strategy plugin allow users to change the way in which Ansible runs tasks on targeted hosts.
+
+This is a developer-centric feature that allows low-level extensions around Ansible to be loaded from
+different locations::
+
+    strategy_plugins = ~/.ansible/plugins/strategy_plugins/:/usr/share/ansible_plugins/strategy_plugins
+
+Most users will not need to use this feature.  See :doc:`developing_plugins` for more details
+
 .. _sudo_exe:
 
 sudo_exe

examples/ansible.cfg

@@ -141,6 +141,7 @@
 #vars_plugins       = /usr/share/ansible/plugins/vars
 #filter_plugins     = /usr/share/ansible/plugins/filter
 #test_plugins       = /usr/share/ansible/plugins/test
+#strategy_plugins   = /usr/share/ansible/plugins/strategy
 
 # by default callbacks are not loaded for /bin/ansible, enable this if you
 # want, for example, a notification or logging callback to also apply to

lib/ansible/constants.py

@@ -212,6 +212,7 @@ DEFAULT_INVENTORY_PLUGIN_PATH  = get_config(p, DEFAULTS, 'inventory_plugins',  '
 DEFAULT_VARS_PLUGIN_PATH       = get_config(p, DEFAULTS, 'vars_plugins',       'ANSIBLE_VARS_PLUGINS', '~/.ansible/plugins/vars:/usr/share/ansible/plugins/vars', ispath=True)
 DEFAULT_FILTER_PLUGIN_PATH     = get_config(p, DEFAULTS, 'filter_plugins',     'ANSIBLE_FILTER_PLUGINS', '~/.ansible/plugins/filter:/usr/share/ansible/plugins/filter', ispath=True)
 DEFAULT_TEST_PLUGIN_PATH       = get_config(p, DEFAULTS, 'test_plugins',       'ANSIBLE_TEST_PLUGINS', '~/.ansible/plugins/test:/usr/share/ansible/plugins/test', ispath=True)
+DEFAULT_STRATEGY_PLUGIN_PATH   = get_config(p, DEFAULTS, 'strategy_plugins',   'ANSIBLE_STRATEGY_PLUGINS', '~/.ansible/plugins/strategy:/usr/share/ansible/plugins/strategy', ispath=True)
 DEFAULT_STDOUT_CALLBACK        = get_config(p, DEFAULTS, 'stdout_callback',    'ANSIBLE_STDOUT_CALLBACK', 'default')
 # cache
 CACHE_PLUGIN                   = get_config(p, DEFAULTS, 'fact_caching', 'ANSIBLE_CACHE_PLUGIN', 'memory')

lib/ansible/plugins/__init__.py

@@ -444,7 +444,7 @@ fragment_loader = PluginLoader(
 strategy_loader = PluginLoader(
     'StrategyModule',
     'ansible.plugins.strategy',
-    None,
+    C.DEFAULT_STRATEGY_PLUGIN_PATH,
     'strategy_plugins',
     required_base_class='StrategyBase',
 )