Tower settings fails with stacktrace - expected to exit gracefully

[kedark3]

ISSUE TYPE

• Bug Report

SUMMARY

Running awx.awx.settings module throws AttributeError: 'NoneType' object has no attribute 'startswith'

ENVIRONMENT

• AWX version: 11.2.0
• AWX install method: setup.sh
• Ansible version: 2.9.7
• Operating System: Tower on RHEL, Ansible on Fedora

STEPS TO REPRODUCE

---
# tasks file for ansible_tower_genie_settings- name: Update Ansible Tower Settings
  awx.awx.tower_settings:
    name:                "{{ tower_setting_item.name | default(omit) }}"
    value:               "{{ tower_setting_item.value | default(omit) }}"
    tower_config_file:   "{{ tower_config_file | default(omit) }}"
    tower_host:          "{{ tower_hostname | default(omit) }}"
    tower_password:      "{{ tower_password | default(omit) }}"
    tower_username:      "{{ tower_username | default(omit) }}"
    validate_certs:      "{{ validate_certs | default('false') }}"
  loop: "{{ tower_settings }}"
  loop_control:
    loop_var: tower_setting_item
...

Data:

---
tower_settings:
  - name: AWX_TASK_ENV
    setting: {'GIT_SSL_NO_VERIFY': 'True'}

EXPECTED RESULTS

Error should be more helpful, gracefully handled vs flat out traceback if possible.

ACTUAL RESULTS

The full traceback is:
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/home/kkulkarni/.ansible/tmp/ansible-tmp-1591366383.968238-878504-224766098821440/AnsiballZ_tower_settings.py", line 102, in <module>
    _ansiballz_main()
  File "/home/kkulkarni/.ansible/tmp/ansible-tmp-1591366383.968238-878504-224766098821440/AnsiballZ_tower_settings.py", line 94, in _ansiballz_main
    invoke_module(zipped_mod, temp_path, ANSIBALLZ_PARAMS)
  File "/home/kkulkarni/.ansible/tmp/ansible-tmp-1591366383.968238-878504-224766098821440/AnsiballZ_tower_settings.py", line 40, in invoke_module
    runpy.run_module(mod_name='ansible_collections.awx.awx.plugins.modules.tower_settings', init_globals=None, run_name='__main__', alter_sys=True)
  File "/usr/lib64/python3.8/runpy.py", line 206, in run_module
    return _run_module_code(code, init_globals, run_name, mod_spec)
  File "/usr/lib64/python3.8/runpy.py", line 96, in _run_module_code
    _run_code(code, mod_globals, init_globals,
  File "/usr/lib64/python3.8/runpy.py", line 86, in _run_code
    exec(code, run_globals)
  File "/tmp/ansible_awx.awx.tower_settings_payload_x13vlw6v/ansible_awx.awx.tower_settings_payload.zip/ansible_collections/awx/awx/plugins/modules/tower_settings.py", line 184, in <module>
  File "/tmp/ansible_awx.awx.tower_settings_payload_x13vlw6v/ansible_awx.awx.tower_settings_payload.zip/ansible_collections/awx/awx/plugins/modules/tower_settings.py", line 136, in main
  File "/tmp/ansible_awx.awx.tower_settings_payload_x13vlw6v/ansible_awx.awx.tower_settings_payload.zip/ansible_collections/awx/awx/plugins/modules/tower_settings.py", line 95, in coerce_type
AttributeError: 'NoneType' object has no attribute 'startswith'
failed: [localhost] (item={'name': 'AWX_TASK_ENV', 'setting': {'GIT_SSL_NO_VERIFY': 'True'}}) => {
    "ansible_loop_var": "tower_setting_item",
    "changed": false,
    "module_stderr": "Traceback (most recent call last):\n  File \"/home/kkulkarni/.ansible/tmp/ansible-tmp-1591366383.968238-878504-224766098821440/AnsiballZ_tower_settings.py\", line 102, in <module>\n    _ansiballz_main()\n  File \"/home/kkulkarni/.ansible/tmp/ansible-tmp-1591366383.968238-878504-224766098821440/AnsiballZ_tower_settings.py\", line 94, in _ansiballz_main\n    invoke_module(zipped_mod, temp_path, ANSIBALLZ_PARAMS)\n  File \"/home/kkulkarni/.ansible/tmp/ansible-tmp-1591366383.968238-878504-224766098821440/AnsiballZ_tower_settings.py\", line 40, in invoke_module\n    runpy.run_module(mod_name='ansible_collections.awx.awx.plugins.modules.tower_settings', init_globals=None, run_name='__main__', alter_sys=True)\n  File \"/usr/lib64/python3.8/runpy.py\", line 206, in run_module\n    return _run_module_code(code, init_globals, run_name, mod_spec)\n  File \"/usr/lib64/python3.8/runpy.py\", line 96, in _run_module_code\n    _run_code(code, mod_globals, init_globals,\n  File \"/usr/lib64/python3.8/runpy.py\", line 86, in _run_code\n    exec(code, run_globals)\n  File \"/tmp/ansible_awx.awx.tower_settings_payload_x13vlw6v/ansible_awx.awx.tower_settings_payload.zip/ansible_collections/awx/awx/plugins/modules/tower_settings.py\", line 184, in <module>\n  File \"/tmp/ansible_awx.awx.tower_settings_payload_x13vlw6v/ansible_awx.awx.tower_settings_payload.zip/ansible_collections/awx/awx/plugins/modules/tower_settings.py\", line 136, in main\n  File \"/tmp/ansible_awx.awx.tower_settings_payload_x13vlw6v/ansible_awx.awx.tower_settings_payload.zip/ansible_collections/awx/awx/plugins/modules/tower_settings.py\", line 95, in coerce_type\nAttributeError: 'NoneType' object has no attribute 'startswith'\n",
    "module_stdout": "",
    "msg": "MODULE FAILURE\nSee stdout/stderr for the exact error",
    "rc": 1,
    "tower_setting_item": {
        "name": "AWX_TASK_ENV",
        "setting": {
            "GIT_SSL_NO_VERIFY": "True"
        }
    }
}

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

[sumkincpp]

You are using module incorrecly. See documentation at the top of module source.
Either name + value or settings properties should be used.

Perhaps, you mean:

tower_settings:
  - name: AWX_TASK_ENV
    value: "{'GIT_SSL_NO_VERIFY': 'True'}"

or

tower_settings:
  - settings:
      AWX_TASK_ENV: "{'GIT_SSL_NO_VERIFY': 'True'}"

Latest devel already have a requirement for one use case, though type for input value is not explicitly checked to be string.

https://github.com/ansible/awx/blob/devel/awx_collection/plugins/modules/tower_settings.py

[wenottingham]

Marking as low, it's an incorrect invocation, but we may consider a nicer error.

[kedark3]

@wenottingham @sumkincpp I am aware that the invocation was wrong and I know the correct way but I pasted wrong version here so that you can see how to reproduce that error. Thanks.

[kdelee]

Tried this out in a local playbook and this is working for me now. Let me know if you need something further @kedark3, closing for now