Lookup Plugins such as amazon.aws.aws_secret will only use the main interpreter

[ckdecember]

Summary

Lookup Plugins such as amazon.aws.aws_secret will only use the main interpreter - ansible_python_interpreter CANNOT override this.

This is not made clear in the documentation.

I was using ansible that was using a python interpreter that did not have the correct python libraries installed. I used the ansible_python_interpreter to override this behavior to point to the correct set of libraries.

However, it appears that the lookup plugins will ONLY use the main interpreter. The override does nothing here.

Issue Type

Documentation Report

Component Name

plugins/lookup/aws_account_attribute.py
plugins/lookup/aws_secret.py
plugins/lookup/aws_ssm.py

Ansible Version

$ ansible --version

Collection Versions

$ ansible-galaxy collection list

Configuration

$ ansible-config dump --only-changed

OS / Environment

No response

Additional Information

Some people might like to use virtual environments to install different python packages. They might believe they can use the ansible interpreter override to facilitate this desire. While this works for most of ansible, I was not aware it does not work for lookup plugins and ran into issues because of it.

At least building awareness of this gotcha can help engineers work around this.

Code of Conduct

• I agree to follow the Ansible Code of Conduct

[ansibullbot]

Files identified in the description:
None

If these files are inaccurate, please update the component name section of the description or use the !component bot command.

click here for bot help

[ansibullbot]

Files identified in the description:

• [plugins/lookup/aws_account_attribute.py](https://github.com/['ansible-collections/amazon.aws', 'ansible-collections/community.aws', 'ansible-collections/community.vmware']/blob/main/plugins/lookup/aws_account_attribute.py)
• [plugins/lookup/aws_secret.py](https://github.com/['ansible-collections/amazon.aws', 'ansible-collections/community.aws', 'ansible-collections/community.vmware']/blob/main/plugins/lookup/aws_secret.py)
• [plugins/lookup/aws_ssm.py](https://github.com/['ansible-collections/amazon.aws', 'ansible-collections/community.aws', 'ansible-collections/community.vmware']/blob/main/plugins/lookup/aws_ssm.py)

If these files are inaccurate, please update the component name section of the description or use the !component bot command.

click here for bot help

[jillr]

Hi @ckdecember All lookup plugins in Ansible execute on the controller. https://docs.ansible.com/ansible/devel/plugins/lookup.html

I can see how that statement would be easy to miss in the docs though, you might want to file a documentation bug against the Ansible user guide in https://github.com/ansible/ansible.