Ansible fails with /bin/sh: 1: /usr/bin/python: not found

Question

I\'m running into an error I\'ve never seen before. Here is the command and the error:

$ ansible-playbook create_api.yml

PLAY [straw] **********************         


        

Answer 1

Solution 1:

If you're using Ansible >2.2.0, you can set the ansible_python_interpreter configuration option to /usr/bin/python3:

ansible my_ubuntu_host -m ping -e 'ansible_python_interpreter=/usr/bin/python3'

or in your inventory file:

[ubuntu_hosts]
<xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx>

[ubuntu_hosts:vars]
ansible_python_interpreter=/usr/bin/python3

Solution 2:

If you're using Ansible <2.2.0 then you can add these pre_tasks to your playbook:

gather_facts: False
pre_tasks:
  - name: Install python for Ansible
    raw: test -e /usr/bin/python || (apt -y update && apt install -y python-minimal)
    register: output
    changed_when: output.stdout != ""
    tags: always
  - setup: # aka gather_facts

UPDATE With ansible 2.8.x, you don't need to worry about it, it's working out of the box for python > 3.5 for both controller and target machine(s)

Answer 2

You can use the raw module to install Python on the remote hosts:

- raw: sudo apt-get install python-simplejson

Answer 3

By default, Ansible requires Python 2, however, Ansible 2.2+ can work with Python 3 as well.

So either install Python 2 using the raw module, e.g.

ansible localhost --sudo -m raw -a "yum install -y python2 python-simplejson"

or set ansible_python_interpreter variable in the inventory file, like:

[local]
localhost ansible_python_interpreter="env python3"

---

For Docker, you can add the following line:

RUN printf '[local]\r\nlocalhost ansible_python_interpreter="env python3"\r\n' > /etc/ansible/hosts

or run it as:

ansible-playbook /ansible/provision.yml -e 'ansible_python_interpreter=/usr/bin/python3' -c local

Answer 4

I had the same issue, until I realised you also need to install python on the remote host as well as your own local machine. now it works!

Answer 5

Ansible 2.2 features a tech preview of Python 3 support. To take advantage of this (so you don't have to install Python 2 on Ubuntu 16.04), just set the ansible_python_interpreter config option to /usr/bin/python3. This can be done on a per-host basis in your inventory file:

[db]
123.123.123.123 ansible_python_interpreter=/usr/bin/python3

Answer 6

@Miroslav, thanks for pointing me in the right direction. I used user_data in the ec2_instance module too and it works like a treat.

I.e.

- name: Creating single EC2 instance 
  ec2_instance:
    region: "{{ aws_region }}"
    key_name: "{{ aws_ec2_key_pair }}"
    name: "some-cool-name"
    instance_type: t1.micro
    image_id: ami-d38a4ab1
    security_group: sg-123456
    vpc_subnet_id: sn-678901234
    network:
        assign_public_ip: no
    volumes:
      - device_name: /dev/sda1
        ebs:
          volume_type: gp2
          volume_size: 15
    user_data: |
      #!/bin/bash
      #
      apt update
      apt install -y python-simplejson              
    termination_protection: yes
    wait: yes