Auto cleanup of async cache file (#73760)

* Auto cleanup of async cache file

* Add changelog

changelogs/fragments/73760-async-cleanup.yml

@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+bugfixes:
+  - Automatically remove async cache files for polled async tasks that have completed (issue https://github.com/ansible/ansible/issues/73206).

docs/docsite/rst/user_guide/playbooks_async.rst

@@ -62,6 +62,10 @@ To avoid timeouts on a task, specify its maximum runtime and how frequently you
   task when run in check mode. See :ref:`check_mode_dry` on how to
   skip a task in check mode.
 
+.. note::
+   When an async task completes with polling enabled, the temporary async job cache
+   file (by default in ~/.ansible_async/) is automatically removed.
+
 Run tasks concurrently: poll = 0
 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
 
@@ -87,6 +91,11 @@ To run a playbook task asynchronously::
 .. note::
    Using a higher value for ``--forks`` will result in kicking off asynchronous tasks even faster. This also increases the efficiency of polling.
 
+.. note::
+   When running with ``poll: 0``, Ansible will not automatically cleanup the async job cache file.
+   You will need to manually clean this up with the :ref:`async_status <async_status_module>` module
+   with ``mode: cleanup``.
+
 If you need a synchronization point with an async task, you can register it to obtain its job ID and use the :ref:`async_status <async_status_module>` module to observe it in a later task. For example::
 
       - name: Run an async task

lib/ansible/executor/task_executor.py

@@ -795,6 +795,28 @@ class TaskExecutor:
             else:
                 return dict(failed=True, msg="async task produced unparseable results", async_result=async_result)
         else:
+            # If the async task finished, automatically cleanup the temporary
+            # status file left behind.
+            cleanup_task = Task().load(
+                {
+                    'async_status': {
+                        'jid': async_jid,
+                        'mode': 'cleanup',
+                    },
+                    'environment': self._task.environment,
+                }
+            )
+            cleanup_handler = self._shared_loader_obj.action_loader.get(
+                'ansible.legacy.async_status',
+                task=cleanup_task,
+                connection=self._connection,
+                play_context=self._play_context,
+                loader=self._loader,
+                templar=templar,
+                shared_loader_obj=self._shared_loader_obj,
+            )
+            cleanup_handler.run(task_vars=task_vars)
+            cleanup_handler.cleanup(force=True)
             async_handler.cleanup(force=True)
             return async_result
 

test/integration/targets/async/tasks/main.yml

@@ -42,6 +42,25 @@
         - async_result.finished == 1
         - async_result is finished
 
+- name: assert temp async directory exists
+  stat:
+    path: "~/.ansible_async"
+  register: dir_st
+
+- assert:
+    that:
+      - dir_st.stat.isdir is defined and dir_st.stat.isdir
+
+- name: stat temp async status file
+  stat:
+    path: "~/.ansible_async/{{ async_result.ansible_job_id }}"
+  register: tmp_async_file_st
+
+- name: validate automatic cleanup of temp async status file on completed run
+  assert:
+    that:
+      - not tmp_async_file_st.stat.exists
+
 - name: test async without polling
   command: sleep 5
   async: 30