win_updates return values format differ if no update is found

[Yannis100]

SUMMARY

The type of data in return_values.updates is not a dict ({}) if no updates were found, instead it's a list ([]), therefore dict2items Jinja filter returns an error instead of usually working if updates are found.

ISSUE TYPE

• Bug Report

COMPONENT NAME

win_updates module

ANSIBLE VERSION

ansible [core 2.11.6]
  config file = /home/nimda/ansible/ansible.cfg
  configured module search path = ['/home/nimda/.ansible/plugins/modules', '/usr/share/ansible/plugins/modules']
  ansible python module location = /home/nimda/.local/lib/python3.8/site-packages/ansible
  ansible collection location = /home/nimda/.ansible/collections:/usr/share/ansible/collections
  executable location = /home/nimda/.local/bin/ansible
  python version = 3.8.10 (default, Sep 28 2021, 16:10:42) [GCC 9.3.0]
  jinja version = 2.10.1
  libyaml = True

COLLECTION VERSION

# /home/admin/.ansible/collections/ansible_collections
Collection      Version
--------------- -------
ansible.windows 1.8.0

CONFIGURATION

ANSIBLE_PIPELINING(/home/nimda/ansible/ansible.cfg) = True
CACHE_PLUGIN(/home/nimda/ansible/ansible.cfg) = jsonfile
CACHE_PLUGIN_CONNECTION(/home/nimda/ansible/ansible.cfg) = cache
CACHE_PLUGIN_TIMEOUT(/home/nimda/ansible/ansible.cfg) = 3600
DEFAULT_FORKS(/home/nimda/ansible/ansible.cfg) = 50
DEFAULT_GATHERING(/home/nimda/ansible/ansible.cfg) = smart
DEFAULT_GATHER_SUBSET(/home/nimda/ansible/ansible.cfg) = ['!config', '!hardware', '!interfaces']
DEFAULT_HOST_LIST(/home/nimda/ansible/ansible.cfg) = ['/home/nimda/ansible/inventory']
DEFAULT_TIMEOUT(/home/nimda/ansible/ansible.cfg) = 30
INVENTORY_CACHE_ENABLED(/home/nimda/ansible/ansible.cfg) = True
PARAMIKO_HOST_KEY_AUTO_ADD(/home/nimda/ansible/ansible.cfg) = True
PERSISTENT_COMMAND_TIMEOUT(/home/nimda/ansible/ansible.cfg) = 60
PERSISTENT_CONNECT_TIMEOUT(/home/nimda/ansible/ansible.cfg) = 60
RETRY_FILES_ENABLED(/home/nimda/ansible/ansible.cfg) = True

OS / ENVIRONMENT

Ubuntu 20.04, python 3.8.10

STEPS TO REPRODUCE

      - name: Install updates
        ansible.windows.win_updates:
          reject_list: "{{ blacklist_package | default(omit, true) }}"
          accept_list: "{{ whitelist_package | default(omit, true) }}"
          category_names:
          - CriticalUpdates
          - SecurityUpdates
          - Windows Server 2019
          state: installed
          log_path: c:\{{ inventory_hostname }}_updates.log
          reboot: yes
          reboot_timeout: 3600
        register: update_result

     - name: writing host and update to log
        shell: echo host:{{inventory_hostname}} ,title:{{ item.value.title }} ,kb number:{{ item.value.kb }} >> /path/to/log.txt
        loop: "{{ update_result.updates | dict2items }}"
        delegate_to: localhost

EXPECTED RESULTS

TASK [Update results] ***********************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************
ok: [srvfrtestwin] => {
    "update_result": {
        "changed": false,
        "failed": false,
        "failed_update_count": 0,
        "filtered_updates": [],
        "found_update_count": 0,
        "installed_update_count": 0,
        "reboot_required": false,
        "updates": {}
    }
}

ACTUAL RESULTS

TASK [Update results] ***********************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************
ok: [srvfrtestwin] => {
    "update_result": {
        "changed": false,
        "failed": false,
        "failed_update_count": 0,
        "filtered_updates": [],
        "found_update_count": 0,
        "installed_update_count": 0,
        "reboot_required": false,
        "updates": []
    }
}
ERROR! Unexpected templating type error occurred on ({{ update_result.updates | dict2items }}): dict2items requires a dictionary, got <class 'list'> instead.

[jborean93]

Wow I don't know how this went unnoticed but looks like both updates and filtered_updates are returning a list of dicts rather than the dict with the key being the update guid. This is a result of the large refactor on in 1.7.0 of this collection #225. Will have to fix that up so it returns the dict format that was used historically.

[jborean93]

Thanks for picking this up @Yannis100, I've opened #308 which should revert the return value back to what it was before.