Address memory ballooning caused by task caching changes (#35921)

* Exclude parent when copying included task to avoid memory issues. Fixes #35796

* Simplify implicit block squashing to pre-group, instead of post re-parenting

lib/ansible/playbook/helpers.py

@@ -48,29 +48,38 @@ def load_list_of_blocks(ds, play, parent_block=None, role=None, task_include=Non
 
     block_list = []
     if ds:
-        for block_ds in ds:
+        count = iter(range(len(ds)))
-            b = Block.load(
+        for i in count:
-                block_ds,
+            block_ds = ds[i]
-                play=play,
-                parent_block=parent_block,
-                role=role,
-                task_include=task_include,
-                use_handlers=use_handlers,
-                variable_manager=variable_manager,
-                loader=loader,
-            )
             # Implicit blocks are created by bare tasks listed in a play without
             # an explicit block statement. If we have two implicit blocks in a row,
             # squash them down to a single block to save processing time later.
-            if b._implicit and len(block_list) > 0 and block_list[-1]._implicit:
+            implicit_blocks = []
-                for t in b.block:
+            while block_ds is not None and not Block.is_block(block_ds):
-                    if isinstance(t._parent, (TaskInclude, IncludeRole)):
+                implicit_blocks.append(block_ds)
-                        t._parent._parent = block_list[-1]
+                i += 1
-                    else:
+                # Advance the iterator, so we don't repeat
-                        t._parent = block_list[-1]
+                next(count, None)
-                block_list[-1].block.extend(b.block)
+                try:
-            else:
+                    block_ds = ds[i]
-                block_list.append(b)
+                except IndexError:
+                    block_ds = None
+
+            # Loop both implicit blocks and block_ds as block_ds is the next in the list
+            for b in (implicit_blocks, block_ds):
+                if b:
+                    block_list.append(
+                        Block.load(
+                            b,
+                            play=play,
+                            parent_block=parent_block,
+                            role=role,
+                            task_include=task_include,
+                            use_handlers=use_handlers,
+                            variable_manager=variable_manager,
+                            loader=loader,
+                        )
+                    )
 
     return block_list
 

lib/ansible/plugins/strategy/__init__.py

@@ -763,7 +763,8 @@ class StrategyBase:
             elif not isinstance(data, list):
                 raise AnsibleError("included task files must contain a list of tasks")
 
-            ti_copy = included_file._task.copy()
+            ti_copy = included_file._task.copy(exclude_parent=True)
+            ti_copy._parent = included_file._task._parent
             temp_vars = ti_copy.vars.copy()
             temp_vars.update(included_file._args)
             # pop tags out of the include args, if they were specified there, and assign