Pass the top level dictionaries to combine_vars (#72979)

* Pass the top level dictionaries to combine_vars

combine_vars uses dict.update() to replace keys

changelogs/fragments/72979-fix-inventory-merge-hash-replace.yaml

@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+bugfixes:
+  - inventory - pass the vars dictionary to combine_vars instead of an individual key's value (https://github.com/ansible/ansible/issues/72975).

lib/ansible/inventory/group.py

@@ -247,7 +247,7 @@ class Group:
             self.set_priority(int(value))
         else:
             if key in self.vars and isinstance(self.vars[key], MutableMapping) and isinstance(value, Mapping):
-                self.vars[key] = combine_vars(self.vars[key], value)
+                self.vars = combine_vars(self.vars, {key: value})
             else:
                 self.vars[key] = value
 

lib/ansible/inventory/host.py

@@ -143,7 +143,7 @@ class Host:
 
     def set_variable(self, key, value):
         if key in self.vars and isinstance(self.vars[key], MutableMapping) and isinstance(value, Mapping):
-            self.vars[key] = combine_vars(self.vars[key], value)
+            self.vars = combine_vars(self.vars, {key: value})
         else:
             self.vars[key] = value