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# unarchive – Unpacks an archive after (optionally) copying it from the local machine

- Synopsis

- Parameters

- Notes

- See Also

- Examples

- Status

## Synopsis

- The `unarchive` module unpacks an archive. It will not unpack a compressed file that does not contain an archive.

- By default, it will copy the source file from the local system to the target before unpacking.

- Set `remote_src=yes` to unpack an archive which already exists on the target.

- If checksum validation is desired, use get_url or uri instead to fetch the file and set `remote_src=yes`.

- For Windows targets, use the win_unzip module instead.

## Parameters

Parameter | Choices/Defaults | Comments
--- | --- | ---
attributes string |  | The attributes the resulting file or directory should have. To get supported flags look at the man page for chattr on the target system. This string should contain the attributes in the same order as the one displayed by lsattr. The `=` operator is assumed as default, otherwise `+` or `-` operators need to be included in the string. aliases: attr
copy boolean | Choices: no yes ← | If true, the file is copied from local 'master' to the target machine, otherwise, the plugin will look for src archive at the target machine. This option has been deprecated in favor of `remote_src`. This option is mutually exclusive with `remote_src`.
creates path |  | If the specified absolute path (file or directory) already exists, this step will not be run.
decrypt boolean added in 2.4 | Choices: no yes ← | This option controls the autodecryption of source files using vault.
dest path / required |  | Remote absolute path where the archive should be unpacked.
exclude list |  | List the directory and file entries that you would like to exclude from the unarchive action.
extra_opts list | Default: "" | Specify additional options by passing in an array. Each space-separated command-line option should be a new element of the array. See examples. Command-line options with multiple elements must use multiple lines in the array, one for each element.
group string |  | Name of the group that should own the file/directory, as would be fed to chown.
keep_newer boolean | Choices: no ← yes | Do not replace existing files that are newer than files from the archive.
list_files boolean | Choices: no ← yes | If set to True, return the list of files that are contained in the tarball.
mode string |  | The permissions the resulting file or directory should have. For those used to /usr/bin/chmod remember that modes are actually octal numbers. You must either add a leading zero so that Ansible's YAML parser knows it is an octal number (like `0644` or `01777`) or quote it (like `'644'` or `'1777'`) so Ansible receives a string and can do its own conversion from string into number. Giving Ansible a number without following one of these rules will end up with a decimal number which will have unexpected results. As of Ansible 1.8, the mode may be specified as a symbolic mode (for example, `u+rwx` or `u=rw,g=r,o=r`).
owner string |  | Name of the user that should own the file/directory, as would be fed to chown.
remote_src boolean | Choices: no ← yes | Set to `yes` to indicate the archived file is already on the remote system and not local to the Ansible controller. This option is mutually exclusive with `copy`.
selevel string | Default: "s0" | The level part of the SELinux file context. This is the MLS/MCS attribute, sometimes known as the `range`. When set to `_default`, it will use the `level` portion of the policy if available.
serole string |  | The role part of the SELinux file context. When set to `_default`, it will use the `role` portion of the policy if available.
setype string |  | The type part of the SELinux file context. When set to `_default`, it will use the `type` portion of the policy if available.
seuser string |  | The user part of the SELinux file context. By default it uses the `system` policy, where applicable. When set to `_default`, it will use the `user` portion of the policy if available.
src path / required |  | If `remote_src=no` (default), local path to archive file to copy to the target server; can be absolute or relative. If `remote_src=yes`, path on the target server to existing archive file to unpack. If `remote_src=yes` and `src` contains `://`, the remote machine will download the file from the URL first. (version_added 2.0). This is only for simple cases, for full download support use the get_url module.
unsafe_writes boolean | Choices: no ← yes | Influence when to use atomic operation to prevent data corruption or inconsistent reads from the target file. By default this module uses atomic operations to prevent data corruption or inconsistent reads from the target files, but sometimes systems are configured or just broken in ways that prevent this. One example is docker mounted files, which cannot be updated atomically from inside the container and can only be written in an unsafe manner. This option allows Ansible to fall back to unsafe methods of updating files when atomic operations fail (however, it doesn't force Ansible to perform unsafe writes). IMPORTANT! Unsafe writes are subject to race conditions and can lead to data corruption.
validate_certs boolean | Choices: no yes ← | This only applies if using a https URL as the source of the file. This should only set to `no` used on personally controlled sites using self-signed certificate. Prior to 2.2 the code worked as if this was set to `yes`.

## Notes

Note

- Requires `zipinfo` and `gtar`/`unzip` command on target host.

- Can handle .zip files using `unzip` as well as .tar, .tar.gz, .tar.bz2 and .tar.xz files using `gtar`.

- Does not handle .gz files, .bz2 files or .xz files that do not contain a .tar archive.

- Uses gtar’s `--diff` arg to calculate if changed or not. If this `arg` is not supported, it will always unpack the archive.

- Existing files/directories in the destination which are not in the archive are not touched. This is the same behavior as a normal archive extraction.

- Existing files/directories in the destination which are not in the archive are ignored for purposes of deciding if the archive should be unpacked or not.

## See Also

See also

archive – Creates a compressed archive of one or more files or trees

  The official documentation on the archive module.

iso_extract – Extract files from an ISO image

  The official documentation on the iso_extract module.

win_unzip – Unzips compressed files and archives on the Windows node

  The official documentation on the win_unzip module.

## Examples

    - name: Extract foo.tgz into /var/lib/foo
      unarchive:
        src: foo.tgz
        dest: /var/lib/foo

    - name: Unarchive a file that is already on the remote machine
      unarchive:
        src: /tmp/foo.zip
        dest: /usr/local/bin
        remote_src: yes

    - name: Unarchive a file that needs to be downloaded (added in 2.0)
      unarchive:
        src: https://example.com/example.zip
        dest: /usr/local/bin
        remote_src: yes

    - name: Unarchive a file with extra options
      unarchive:
        src: /tmp/foo.zip
        dest: /usr/local/bin
        extra_opts:
        - --transform
        - s/^xxx/yyy/

## Status

- This module is not guaranteed to have a backwards compatible interface. [preview]

- This module is maintained by the Ansible Core Team. [core]

### Red Hat Support

More information about Red Hat’s support of this module is available from this Red Hat Knowledge Base article.

### Authors

- Michael DeHaan

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