Check is a package exists - Ansible

Question

I would like to check if a specific package exists in my ansible. Also, I do not want to update it? How do I do it?

Answer 1

Hey @Kavya, to ensure a package is installed, but don’t update it, you can use the following command:

$ ansible webservers -m yum -a "name=acme state=present"

It checks for a yum package called acme in all the servers listed under the group webservers.

Answer 2

Hey There,

@here is an example for your query.

- name: "Search ntpstat package"
  shell: "apt-cache search ntpstat"
  register: package_searched

- name: "Check if ntpstat is installed or not"
  command: dpkg-query -l ntpstat
  register: dpkg_check

- name: "Install ntpstat"
  apt:
    name: ntpstat
    state: latest
    force: yes
  when: dpkg_check.stdout == ""
  ignore_errors: yes

- name: "ntp synchronisation from the server"
  command: ntpstat
  ignore_errors: true