Ansible 14 Community Package RC1 — What's New and How to Test

# Install in a virtual environment (recommended)
python3 -m venv ansible14-test
source ansible14-test/bin/activate

# Install the release candidate
pip install ansible==14.0.0rc1

# Verify
ansible --version
# ansible [core 2.20.x]
# ansible-community 14.0.0rc1

# ❌ Python 3.9 on controller — no longer supported
# Upgrade to Python 3.10+

# ❌ Paramiko as default for network_cli — deprecated path
# Switch to libssh (ansible-pylibssh)

# ❌ community.mysql — development moved to ansible.mysql
# Update requirements.yml:
#   - name: ansible.mysql  # not community.mysql

# ❌ skipped_reason in callback plugins — deprecated
# Use skip_reason instead (see below)

# Run your playbooks against the RC
ansible-playbook -i inventory site.yml --check

# Run with verbose to see deprecation warnings
ansible-playbook -i inventory site.yml -vv 2>&1 | grep -i deprecat

# Test specific roles
ansible-playbook test-playbook.yml --tags smoke-test

# .github/workflows/test-ansible14.yml
name: Test Ansible 14 RC

on:
  workflow_dispatch:
  schedule:
    - cron: '0 6 * * 1'  # Weekly Monday

jobs:
  test:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    strategy:
      matrix:
        python: ["3.11", "3.12", "3.13"]
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
      - uses: actions/setup-python@v5
        with:
          python-version: ${{ matrix.python }}
      - run: pip install ansible==14.0.0rc1
      - run: ansible-playbook -i inventory/test site.yml --check
      - run: ansible-lint .

python3 --version
# Must be 3.10+ on controller

# On managed nodes:
ansible all -m setup -a "filter=ansible_python_version"
# Must be 3.7+

# requirements.yml
collections:
  - name: ansible.mysql        # NOT community.mysql
    version: ">=5.0.0"
  - name: ansible.netcommon
    version: ">=9.0.0"
  - name: community.general
    version: ">=10.0.0"

# Run with Ansible 13 first, fix all deprecation warnings
ansible-playbook site.yml -vv 2>&1 | grep "DEPRECATION WARNING"

pip install ansible==14.0.0rc1
ansible-playbook site.yml --check

# If you find bugs, report them:
# https://github.com/ansible/ansible/issues
# https://forum.ansible.com/c/project/