Unable to parse smb.conf with idmap line

[gurubert]

Summary

I am trying to parse a smb.conf (Samba configuration) file that contains these two lines:

[global]
	idmap config * : backend = tdb
	idmap config * : range = 2000-9999

It looks like from_ini stumbles across the : and uses it as a separator instead of the = in the same line.

Issue Type

Bug Report

Component Name

from_ini

Ansible Version

$ ansible --version
ansible [core 2.20.2]
  config file = /home/media/anarchy/gurubert/git/kunden/bbaw/ceph-deployment/ansible.cfg
  configured module search path = ['/home/gurubert/.ansible/plugins/modules', '/usr/share/ansible/plugins/modules']
  ansible python module location = /home/anarchy/gurubert/venv-ansible/lib/python3.13/site-packages/ansible
  ansible collection location = /home/gurubert/.ansible/collections:/usr/share/ansible/collections
  executable location = /home/anarchy/gurubert/venv-ansible/bin/ansible
  python version = 3.13.5 (main, Jun 25 2025, 18:55:22) [GCC 14.2.0] (/home/anarchy/gurubert/venv-ansible/bin/python3)
  jinja version = 3.1.6
  pyyaml version = 6.0.3 (with libyaml v0.2.5)

Community.general Version

$ ansible-galaxy collection list community.general

# /home/anarchy/gurubert/venv-ansible/lib/python3.13/site-packages/ansible_collections
Collection        Version
----------------- -------
community.general 12.3.0 

Configuration

$ ansible-config dump --only-changed

OS / Environment

No response

Steps to Reproduce

Example comes from a CTDB cluster, the first task could also slurp the contents of /etc/samba/smb.conf

- name: Get SMB config
  ansible.builtin.shell:
    cmd: "net conf list"
  register: smbconfigraw

- name: Put SMB config into var
  delegate_to: "{{ groups[current_ctdb_group][0] }}"
  ansible.builtin.set_fact:
    current_samba_config: "{{ smbconfigraw.stdout | community.general.from_ini(allow_no_value=true, ) }}"

Expected Results

I expect a nice dictionary like this:

        "global": {
            "idmap config * : backend": "tdb",
            "idmap config * : range": "2000-9999",
         }

Actual Results

[ERROR]: Task failed: Finalization of task args for 'ansible.builtin.set_fact' failed: Error while resolving value for 'current_samba_config': The filter plugin 'community.general.from_ini' failed: from_ini failed to parse given string: While reading from '<???>' [line 10]: option 'idmap config *' in section 'global' already exists

Task failed.
Origin: includes/subtask-update-samba-net-conf.yaml:18:3

16   register: smbconfigraw
17
18 - name: Put SMB config into var
     ^ column 3

<<< caused by >>>

Finalization of task args for 'ansible.builtin.set_fact' failed.
Origin: includes/subtask-update-samba-net-conf.yaml:20:3

18 - name: Put SMB config into var
19   delegate_to: "{{ groups[current_ctdb_group][0] }}"
20   ansible.builtin.set_fact:
     ^ column 3

<<< caused by >>>

Error while resolving value for 'current_samba_config': The filter plugin 'community.general.from_ini' failed: from_ini failed to parse given string: While reading from '<???>' [line 10]: option 'idmap config *' in section 'global' already exists
Origin: includes/subtask-update-samba-net-conf.yaml:21:27

19   delegate_to: "{{ groups[current_ctdb_group][0] }}"
20   ansible.builtin.set_fact:
21     current_samba_config: "{{ smbconfigraw.stdout | community.general.from_ini }}"
                             ^ column 27

fatal: [bbaw-mds01]: FAILED! => {"changed": false, "msg": "Task failed: Finalization of task args for 'ansible.builtin.set_fact' failed: Error while resolving value for 'current_samba_config': The filter plugin 'community.general.from_ini' failed: from_ini failed to parse given string: While reading from '<???>' [line 10]: option 'idmap config *' in section 'global' already exists"}

Code of Conduct

• I agree to follow the Ansible Code of Conduct

[ansibullbot]

Files identified in the description:

• plugins/filter/from_ini.py

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

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[ansibullbot]

cc @sscheib
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[gurubert]

A very quick fix would be this one:

diff --git a/plugins/filter/from_ini.py b/plugins/filter/from_ini.py
index 1d3a2f1ce..64314a035 100644
--- a/plugins/filter/from_ini.py
+++ b/plugins/filter/from_ini.py
@@ -59,7 +59,7 @@ class IniParser(ConfigParser):
     """Implements a configparser which is able to return a dict"""
 
     def __init__(self):
-        super().__init__(interpolation=None)
+        super().__init__(interpolation=None, delimiters=set("="))
         self.optionxform = str
 
     def as_dict(self):

But obviously this should be configurable.

[felixfontein]

I'm not sure that this is a bug, since the module doesn't promise to handle all kind of INI files. (It doesn't not promise it either, though.) There exists no single INI standard, so when not better defined, it's unclear what kind of INI files the plugin can handle and which it can't.

Changing delimiters would break other existing use-cases that work right now. But making this configurable is fine, so that you can change it to only accept =.

[gurubert]

Yes, its is more like a feature request.

Would this work?

diff --git a/plugins/filter/from_ini.py b/plugins/filter/from_ini.py
index 1d3a2f1ce..9ccea881d 100644
--- a/plugins/filter/from_ini.py
+++ b/plugins/filter/from_ini.py
@@ -58,8 +58,8 @@ from ansible.errors import AnsibleFilterError
 class IniParser(ConfigParser):
     """Implements a configparser which is able to return a dict"""
 
-    def __init__(self):
-        super().__init__(interpolation=None)
+    def __init__(self, delimiters):
+        super().__init__(interpolation=None, delimiters=delimiters)
         self.optionxform = str
 
     def as_dict(self):
@@ -74,13 +74,13 @@ class IniParser(ConfigParser):
         return d
 
 
-def from_ini(obj):
+def from_ini(obj, delimiters=set(["=", ":"])):
     """Read the given string as INI file and return a dict"""
 
     if not isinstance(obj, str):
         raise AnsibleFilterError(f"from_ini requires a str, got {type(obj)}")
 
-    parser = IniParser()
+    parser = IniParser(delimiters)
 
     try:
         parser.read_file(StringIO(obj))

[felixfontein]

You'd need more error checking, to avoid arbitrary things being passed into from_ini. Also the type is wrong, it should be a sequence, not a set. (It needs to be converted to a tuple.) And finally, the documentation needs to be updated as well.