Watch: Ansible 2.16.0: Major Enhancements and Updates

Ansible 2.16.0 introduces support for Python 3.12, new remote options, and improved CLI functionality. This release also includes deprecated feature removals, updates to documentation, and enhanced security measures.

Introduction

Ansible, the open-source automation platform, has released a new version with numerous enhancements, bug fixes, and security updates. Ansible has become a fundamental tool for managing IT infrastructure and applications, streamlining workflows, and maintaining infrastructure as code (IaC) principles.

Ansible 2.16

Let’s delve into the key changes introduced in this release:

Important Changes:

Drop Python 3.5 support for module execution.

Drop Python 3.9 support for the controller.

Add Python 3.12 support.

Preserve display context when proxying display over the queue.

Update TaskExecutor to not unnecessarily establish persistent ansible-connection when not needed.

Ansible Enhancements

Collection Path

The INI config option “collections_paths” has been deprecated; please use the singular form “collections_path” instead. Additionally, the environment variable “ANSIBLE_COLLECTIONS_PATHS” is now deprecated, and you should use the singular form “ANSIBLE_COLLECTIONS_PATH” instead.

Removed Support for Windows Server 2012 and 2012 R2 as Microsoft’s support end of life on October 10th, 2023.

Remote Support

New remotes have been added, including Alpine 3.18, Fedora 38, Fedora 38 container, FreeBSD 13.2 remote, RHEL 8.8 remotes, and RHEL 9.2 remotes, expanding compatibility across various platforms.

Python 3.12 Support

Support for testing with Python 3.12 has been introduced, keeping Ansible up-to-date with the latest Python version.

Improved Container Naming

Containers created by ansible-test now include the current test session ID in their name, avoiding conflicts between concurrent ansible-test invocations.

Improved Test Provisioning

RHEL 8.8 and RHEL 9.2 provisioning can now be used with the --python 3.11 option, improving testing flexibility.

Streamlined Code Coverage

Thread code coverage has been enabled alongside existing multiprocessing coverage, enhancing code quality assurance.

RHEL 8.8 and RHEL 9.2 Support

Provisioning for RHEL 8.8 and RHEL 9.2 has been added, expanding compatibility for Red Hat Enterprise Linux users.

Deprecated Features Removal

Several deprecated features have been removed, including the ‘smart’ connection option, deprecated INI config options, and support for older Windows Server versions.

CLI Improvements

Improved CLI Argument Parsing

Support for automatically prepending with the help of CLI arguments that support being specified multiple times has been added