I don’t particularly like yaml as a data storage language because of its use of significant whitespaces, but for the minimal complexity of my own playbooks, I don’t mind it.
What would you consider to be an ideal language for playbooks?
Am not sure to be honest. I always liked JSON even though it’s very rigid. Even so, most of software I write stores config in JSON simply because it’s easy to parse and it’s supported by literally everything. It’s also pretty minimalist.
Perhaps something more strict and defined would be better. I think I’d even prefer XML to YAML.
yq can take either JSON or Yaml (or maybe others, I haven’t checked) as input, then it converts it to JSON before passing it to jq. yq outputs JSON by default, or Yaml if you pass it the --yaml-output option.
I don’t particularly like yaml as a data storage language because of its use of significant whitespaces, but for the minimal complexity of my own playbooks, I don’t mind it.
What would you consider to be an ideal language for playbooks?
Am not sure to be honest. I always liked JSON even though it’s very rigid. Even so, most of software I write stores config in JSON simply because it’s easy to parse and it’s supported by literally everything. It’s also pretty minimalist.
Perhaps something more strict and defined would be better. I think I’d even prefer XML to YAML.
You can use JSON to write the playbooks, then use a program like
yq(which is a Yaml wrapper forjq) to convert it to Yaml. Something likecat playbook.json | yq --yaml-output > .temp_playbook.yml ansible-playbook .temp_playbook.ymlI did not know that. That’s a useful one. Does it work the other way around?
Yes, both
yqandjqare fantastic programs.yqcan take either JSON or Yaml (or maybe others, I haven’t checked) as input, then it converts it to JSON before passing it tojq.yqoutputs JSON by default, or Yaml if you pass it the--yaml-outputoption.