Why can't I find ansible when I install it using setup.py?

Question:

Because I had some trouble with Ansible (I’m on mac) which seemed to be fixed in the latest dev version today I uninstalled ansible through pip (sudo pip uninstall ansible) and reinstalled the latest dev version from the github repo using the classic setup.py method, which seemed to end successfully (full output here.

So then I tried using it:

$ ansible --version
-bash: ansible: command not found
$ which ansible
$

I checked where it is installed. From the full output I linked to above I found that it is installed in /usr/local/lib/python2.7/site-packages, and indeed in there I find an egg:

$ ls -l /usr/local/lib/python2.7/site-packages | grep ansible
drwxr-xr-x    4 root    admin     136 Aug 22 16:33 ansible-2.4.0-py2.7.egg

When I start Python and check the site-packages folder I find a different folder:

>>> import site; print site.getsitepackages()[0]
/usr/local/Cellar/python/2.7.13_1/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.7/lib/python2.7/site-packages

but that is a symlink to the same folder:

$ ls -l /usr/local/Cellar/python/2.7.13_1/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.7/lib/python2.7/site-packages
lrwxr-xr-x  1 hielke  admin  54 Aug 13 22:36 /usr/local/Cellar/python/2.7.13_1/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.7/lib/python2.7/site-packages -> ../../../../../../../../../lib/python2.7/site-packages

So I guess the problem is that no symlink is created to the ansible package in /usr/local/bin/. But I’m unsure how I could create such a symlink and why it wouldn’t appear in the first place.

Does anybody know how I can move forward from here? All tips are welcome!

Asked By: kramer65

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Answers:

I suggest uninstalling Ansible and re-installing it using pip according to the method suggested in the Ansible docs:

Or if you are looking for the latest development version:

pip install git+https://github.com/ansible/ansible.git@devel

If you are installing on OS X Mavericks, you may encounter some noise from your compiler. A workaround is to do the following:

$ sudo CFLAGS=-Qunused-arguments CPPFLAGS=-Qunused-arguments pip install ansible

Readers that use virtualenv can also install Ansible under virtualenv, though we’d recommend to not worry about it and just install Ansible globally. Do not use easy_install to install ansible directly.

Answered By: taleinat

When you invoke ansible from the shell, bash will search in your $PATH for a file named ansible that is executable. This may not be the only issue, but this is the immediate cause for the error you’re seeing. The .egg file itself is not an executable, it’s just a file used for distributing the code.

If ansible has been installed correctly, you should be able to find it by using locate or the OSX Finder GUI. The name should match exactly, with no file extensions. You will probably also find ansible-connection, ansible-console, etc. in the same place where you find the ansible executable. If you find it, great! Test it out and add that directory to your $PATH in a terminal like so:

export PATH=$PATH:/path/to/ansible

Where /path/to/ansible is the directory where you found the executables. This change to the $PATH variable is temporary, and will go away when you close your shell. If you can now run ansible from bash, then you can make the change permanent by adding that export to the end of your $HOME/.bash_profile file, or by adding a rule in /etc/paths.d (recommended by Apple). See more on how exactly to do those here if you are unfamiliar with them.

Now, if that’s not the problem and you can’t find the ansible executable, then the installation itself is your problem. You might also try using a virtual environment (if you have it installed) to make sure that the version you’re pulling from github isn’t broken:

git clone https://github.com/ansible/ansible.git
cd ansible
virtualenv venv
source venv/bin/activate
pip install .
which ansible

As of this writing, the above gives me a working ansible install.

Answered By: rnorris

Find where ansible reside on your Mac. Most times its /Users/<yourusername>/Library/Python/3.7/bin
or /Users/<yourusername>/Library/Python/2.7/bin. Then …

export PATH=$PATH:/Users/<yourusername>/Library/Python/3.7/bin

You can store this in your .bashrc file.

Answered By: Wale

Well, I think you just need to create a soft link

ln -s /Users/${yourname}/Library/Python/${python version}/bin/ansible /usr/local/bin/ansible

Answered By: caopeng

I faced same issue when I installed ansible. Run the below commands to solve the issue. But we have to active each time when we open a bash session if we want to use ansible.

$ python -m virtualenv ansible 
$ source ansible/bin/activate
$ pip install ansible 
Answered By: user1028

I’m using zsh so in my /Users/arojas/.zshrc I add this line that’s where my Ansible got installed by Python

export PATH="$PATH:$HOME/Library/Python/3.7/bin"
Answered By: Alberto Rojas

I faced the same issue and after have installed it used pip3 install ansible it all works now.

Answered By: Dario Rusignuolo

For those using the Windows 10 Ubuntu terminal, running this command should fix the issue:

export PATH=$PATH:~/.local/bin
Answered By: swimmer
      system/instance used: ec2 RH8, as root
      # pip3 install ansible           (not recommended - should be by a user) 
      # ansible --version              ( not found - wtf?!)
      # yum install mlocate
      # update
      # locate ansible                 (long output; scroll to where you input command)
      # export PATH=$PATH:/usr/local/bin     
      # ansible --version               (success, Yes!)
Answered By: Vince
  system/instance used: ec2 RH8, as root
  # pip3 install ansible           (not recommended - should be by a user) 
  # ansible --version              ( not found - :( )
  # yum install mlocate
  # updatedb (updatedb creates or updates a database used by locate)
  # locate ansible (TL;DR)
  # export PATH=$PATH:/usr/local/bin (Add this line to .bashrc)
  # source .bashrc (To reflect the changes in the bash)  
  # ansible --version               (success, Yes!)
Answered By: user11420865
pip3 install ansible --user

this installs in ~/.local. just include this in PATH, it will work
example: export PATH="$PATH:~/.local/bin"

Answered By: SharadTalekar