In FreeBSD, the module sysctl always reports changed when sysctl_file is not /etc/sysctl.conf or /etc/sysctl.conf.local

[vbotka]

SUMMARY

In FreeBSD, this module can reload only /etc/sysctl.conf and /etc/sysctl.conf.local

    def reload_sysctl(self):                                                                                         
        if self.platform == 'freebsd':                                                                               
            # freebsd doesn't support -p, so reload the sysctl service                                               
            rc, out, err = self.module.run_command('/etc/rc.d/sysctl reload', environ_update=self.LANG_ENV)

(The problem is also in OpenBSD.)

shell> /etc/rc.d/sysctl rcvar
# sysctl : Set sysctl variables from /etc/sysctl.conf and /etc/sysctl.conf.local

The default option is reload=True. As a result, /etc/sysctl.conf and /etc/sysctl.conf.local are reloaded even when the option is, for example, sysctl_file=/boot/loader.conf. As a result, _values_is_equal is always False, because proc_value is not updated in the system

        # use the sysctl command or not?                                                                             
        if self.args['sysctl_set'] and self.args['state'] == "present":                                              
            if self.proc_value is None:                                                                              
                self.changed = True                                                                                  
            elif not self._values_is_equal(self.proc_value, self.args['value']):                                     
                self.changed = True                                                                                  
                self.set_proc = True

        # Do the work                                                                                                
        if not self.module.check_mode:                                                                               
            if self.set_proc:                                                                                        
                self.set_token_value(self.args['name'], self.args['value'])                                          
            if self.write_file:                                                                                      
                self.write_sysctl()                                                                                  
            if self.changed and self.args['reload']:                                                                 
                self.reload_sysctl()

ISSUE TYPE

• Bug Report

COMPONENT NAME

sysctl

ANSIBLE VERSION

ansible [core 2.18.6]
  config file = /home/vlado/.ansible.cfg
  configured module search path = ['/home/vlado/.ansible/plugins/modules', '/usr/share/ansible/plugins/modules']
  ansible python module location = /home/vlado/env/lib/python3.12/site-packages/ansible
  ansible collection location = /home/vlado/.ansible/collections:/usr/share/ansible/collections
  executable location = /home/vlado/env/bin/ansible
  python version = 3.12.3 (main, Feb  4 2025, 14:48:35) [GCC 13.3.0] (/home/vlado/env/bin/python3)
  jinja version = 3.1.4
  libyaml = True

COLLECTION VERSION

# /home/vlado/env/lib/python3.12/site-packages/ansible_collections
Collection    Version
------------- -------
ansible.posix 1.6.2 

CONFIGURATION

ANSIBLE_PIPELINING(/export/scratch/sandbox/tmp1/test-176/ansible.cfg) = True
CONFIG_FILE() = /export/scratch/sandbox/tmp1/test-176/ansible.cfg
DEFAULT_HOST_LIST(/export/scratch/sandbox/tmp1/test-176/ansible.cfg) = ['/scratch/sandbox/tmp1/test-176/hosts']
RETRY_FILES_ENABLED(/export/scratch/sandbox/tmp1/test-176/ansible.cfg) = False

GALAXY_SERVERS:

OS / ENVIRONMENT

shell> uname -a
FreeBSD srv.example.org 14.3-RELEASE FreeBSD 14.3-RELEASE releng/14.3-n271432-8c9ce319fef7 GENERIC amd64

STEPS TO REPRODUCE

    - name: Update loader.conf
      ansible.posix.sysctl:
        sysctl_file: /boot/loader.conf
        name: security.jail.param.jid
        value: '"1"'

Notes:

• Quoting man loader.conf:

     All settings have the following format:

           variable="value"

• Read only tunables.

shell> sysctl security.jail.param.jid=1
sysctl: oid 'security.jail.param.jid' is a read only tunable
sysctl: Tunable values are set in /boot/loader.conf

shell> echo $?
1

EXPECTED RESULTS

The task is idempotent

TASK [Update loader.conf] *******************************************************************************************
ok: [srv]

ACTUAL RESULTS

The task is not idempotent

TASK [Update loader.conf] *******************************************************************************************
changed: [srv]