AnsibleByExample

Set Execute Permission (a+x) on Linux File Using Ansible

Beginneransiblefilemodulepermission
2024-01-013By Luca Berton

Lesson 1 of 15 in Foundations

Ansible Foundations to Production — full curriculum
  1. 1. Introduction to Ansible and Automation
  2. 2. Installing and Configuring Ansible
  3. 3. Running Ad-Hoc Commands
  4. 4. Writing Your First Playbook
  5. 5. Understanding and Using Modules
  6. 6. Variables and Facts
  7. 7. Conditionals and Loops
  8. 8. Handlers and Idempotency
  9. 9. Structuring Projects with Roles
  10. 10. Inventory Management
  11. 11. Using Ansible Vault for Secrets
  12. 12. Debugging and Troubleshooting
  13. 13. Real-World Automation Examples
  14. 14. Final Project: Deploy a Web Server
  15. 15. Bonus - What's Next with Ansible?
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How to Add Execute Permission 755 on Linux file with Ansible?

Ansible Add Execute Permission

  • ansible.builtin.file
  • Manage files and file properties

Today we're talking about the Ansible module file. The full name is ansible.builtin.file, which means that is part of the collection of modules "builtin" with ansible and shipped with it. It's a module pretty stable and out for years. It works in a different variety of operating systems. It manages files and file properties. For Windows targets, use the ansible.windows.win_file module instead.

Main Parameters

  • path string (dest, name) - file path
  • owner string - user
  • group string - group
  • mode raw - Ex: '0644' or 'u=rw,g=r,o=r'
  • state string - file, absent, directory, hard, link, touch
  • setype/seuser/selevel - SELinux

This module has some parameters to perform any tasks. The only required is "path", where you specify the filesystem path of the file you're going to edit. The parameter "owner" set the user that should own the file/directory. The parameter "group" set the group that should own the file/directory. The parameter "mode" set the permissions in the UNIX way of the file/directory. The state defines the type of object we are modifying, the default is "file" but we could handle also directories, hard links, symlinks, or only update the access time with the "touch" option. Let me also highlight that we could also specify the SELinux properties.

Playbook

How to Add Execute Permission 755 file on Linux with Ansible Playbook. I'm going to show you how to set the chmod +x of an example.sh Linux file with Ansible.

code

  • file_permission.yml
---
- name: file module demo
  hosts: all
  vars:
    myscript: "~/example.sh"
  tasks:
    - name: set execution permission
      ansible.builtin.file:
        dest: "{{ myscript }}"
        mode: 'a+x'
  • example.sh
#!/bin/bash
echo "Hello World"

execution

ansible-pilot $ ansible-playbook -i virtualmachines/demo/inventory file_management/file_permission.yml
PLAY [file module demo] ***************************************************************************
TASK [Gathering Facts] ****************************************************************************
ok: [demo.example.com]
TASK [set execution permission] *******************************************************************
changed: [demo.example.com]
PLAY RECAP ****************************************************************************************
demo.example.com           : ok=2    changed=1    unreachable=0    failed=0    skipped=0    rescued=0    ignored=0
ansible-pilot $

idempotency

ansible-pilot $ ansible-playbook -i virtualmachines/demo/inventory file_management/file_permission.yml
PLAY [file module demo] ***************************************************************************
TASK [Gathering Facts] ****************************************************************************
ok: [demo.example.com]
TASK [set execution permission] *******************************************************************
ok: [demo.example.com]
PLAY RECAP ****************************************************************************************
demo.example.com           : ok=2    changed=0    unreachable=0    failed=0    skipped=0    rescued=0    ignored=0
ansible-pilot $

before execution

ansible-pilot $ ssh devops@demo.example.com
Last login: Wed Mar 30 13:38:46 2022 from 192.168.0.59
[devops@demo ~]$ cat example.sh 
#!/bin/bash
echo "Hello World"
[devops@demo ~]$[devops@demo ~]$ ls -al example.sh 
-rw-r--r--. 1 devops wheel 31 Mar 30 13:39 example.sh
[devops@demo ~]$

after execution

ansible-pilot $ ssh devops@demo.example.com
Last login: Wed Mar 30 13:40:36 2022 from 192.168.0.59
[devops@demo ~]$ ls -al example.sh 
-rwxr-xr-x. 1 devops wheel 31 Mar 30 13:39 example.sh
[devops@demo ~]$ ./example.sh 
Hello World
[devops@demo ~]$ cat example.sh 
#!/bin/bash
echo "Hello World"

code with ❤️ in GitHub

Conclusion

Now you know how to Add Execute Permission 755 for a file on Linux.

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