Ansible troubleshooting — Error 402: latest[hg]

How to Solve the Ansible Error 402 latest[hg] Mercurial

Introduction

Ansible is a powerful automation tool used for managing and provisioning infrastructure. It allows users to interact with source control repositories to fetch, manage, and deploy code. To ensure consistency and predictability in playbook development, Ansible provides a set of rules. In this article, we’ll delve into Rule 402, known as “latest[hg],” which focuses on Mercurial (hg) repositories. We’ll explore the significance of this rule and understand how it contributes to maintaining stable and reliable automation workflows in Ansible.

Understanding Rule 402 — “latest[hg]”

Rule 402, also referred to as “latest[hg],” is an essential part of Ansible’s rule set that promotes best practices in playbook development. This rule primarily checks module arguments related to source control checkouts, specifically Mercurial (hg) repositories. Its primary goal is to identify arguments that might introduce variability or unpredictability based on the context in which they are executed.

This rule serves as a more generic replacement for two older rules, “git-latest” and “hg-latest.” By consolidating these rules into “latest[hg],” Ansible…