Removing a cron file when the 'name' parameter is specified is now allowed (#57471). Added integration tests to validate new behavior. (#65640)

Also added user input validation to return a clear error when deleting an environment variables without specifying a name.

lib/ansible/modules/system/cron.py

@@ -642,6 +642,9 @@ def main():
 
     # --- user input validation ---
 
+    if env and not name:
+        module.fail_json(msg="You must specify 'name' while working with environment variables (env=yes)")
+
     if (special_time or reboot) and \
        (True in [(x != '*') for x in [minute, hour, day, month, weekday]]):
         module.fail_json(msg="You must specify time and date fields or special time.")
@@ -668,7 +671,7 @@ def main():
         (backuph, backup_file) = tempfile.mkstemp(prefix='crontab')
         crontab.write(backup_file)
 
-    if crontab.cron_file and not name and not do_install:
+    if crontab.cron_file and not do_install:
         if module._diff:
             diff['after'] = ''
             diff['after_header'] = '/dev/null'

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

@@ -99,3 +99,26 @@
 
 - assert:
     that: remove_cron_file is not changed
+
+- name: Removing a cron file when the name is specified is allowed (#57471)
+  block:
+  - name: Cron file creation
+    cron:
+      cron_file: cron_filename
+      name: "integration test cron"
+      job: 'ls'
+      user: root
+
+  - name: Cron file deletion
+    cron:
+      cron_file: cron_filename
+      name: "integration test cron"
+      state: absent
+
+  - name: Check file succesfull deletion
+    stat:
+      path: /etc/cron.d/cron_filename
+    register: cron_file_stats
+
+  - assert:
+      that: not cron_file_stats.stat.exists