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ansible/docs/docsite/rst/inventory/implicit_localhost.rst
Sandra McCann ceb474bb9e [WIP] Backport/2.7/batch port (#45859) 
Batch of docs backports:

* docs: Clarify include_task v import_tasks with conditionals (#43856)
(cherry picked from commit 6be42a2a0e)

* Add single quotes around package name (#45152)
(cherry picked from commit 0d81386144)

* prefer ansible_facts namespace and dict notation (#44980)
(cherry picked from commit 44510448b0)

* fix cherrypick conflict - scenario_guides

* Update implicit_localhost.rst (#45455)
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* updated fbsd install instructions (#45309)
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* Change "Defaulting Undefined Variables" (#41379)
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* adds license details to dev guide pages (#45574)
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* FAQ: fix a typo, add link to 'vars' lookup (#42412)
(cherry picked from commit 95649dc793)

* Fix link and toctree (#45595)
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* Improve the local toctree (and title) (#45590)
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* Add undocumented configuration parameter and explain in porting guide (#36059)
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* Simplify PPA installation for Ubuntu (#45690)
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* adding git+ssh uri scheme (#36025)
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* Add workaround for non-standard kerberos environments (#41465)
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* Restore license agreement (#45809)
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* partial cherry-pick - lenovo doc update PR 45483
2018-09-19 22:02:01 -05:00

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Implicit 'localhost'

When you try to reference a localhost and you don't have it defined in inventory, Ansible will create an implicit one for you.:

- hosts: all
  tasks:
    - name: check that i have log file for all hosts on my local machine
      stat: path=/var/log/hosts/{{inventory_hostname}}.log
      delegate_to: localhost

In a case like this (or local_action) when Ansible needs to contact a 'localhost' but you did not supply one, we create one for you. This host is defined with specific connection variables equivalent to this in an inventory:

...

hosts:
  localhost:
   vars:
     ansible_connection: local
     ansible_python_interpreter: "{{ansible_playbook_python}}"

This ensures that the proper connection and Python are used to execute your tasks locally. You can override the built-in implicit version by creating a localhost host entry in your inventory. At that point, all implicit behaviors are ignored; the localhost in inventory is treated just like any other host. Group and host vars will apply, including connection vars, which includes the ansible_python_interpreter setting. This will also affect delegate_to: localhost and local_action, the latter being an alias to the former.

Note

- This host is not targetable via any group, however it will use vars from host_vars and from the 'all' group. - The inventory_file and inventory_dir magic variables are not available for the implicit localhost as they are dependent on each inventory host. - This implicit host also gets triggered by using 127.0.0.1 or ::1 as they are the IPv4 and IPv6 representations of 'localhost'. - Even though there are many ways to create it, there will only ever be ONE implicit localhost, using the name first used to create it. - Having connection: local does NOT trigger an implicit localhost, you are just changing the connection for the inventory_hostname.