Interview › Infrastructure as Code (Terraform, Ansible)
What is ansible-lint, and what does it catch?
Infrastructure as Code (Terraform, Ansible) · Advanced level
Answer
ansible-lint is a static analysis tool for Ansible content. It catches risky patterns, style issues, deprecated syntax, missing names, non-idempotent commands, YAML issues, and best-practice violations before playbooks reach production.
Technical explanation
ansible-lint codifies team standards and Ansible best practices.
Rule violations should either be fixed or explicitly justified with narrow skips.
Run it locally and in CI so feedback is early.
Prefer idempotent modules over shell so repeated runs are safe and change reporting is meaningful.
Separate reusable role logic from inventory-specific variables so the same automation works across environments.
Run lint, syntax checks, check mode where useful, and staged rollouts before production-wide changes.
Hands-on example
1. Add Ansible safety checks for: What is ansible-lint, and what does it catch?
2. CI commands:
ansible-playbook --syntax-check site.yml
ansible-lint .
yamllint .
ansible-playbook -i inventory/stage site.yml --check --diff
3. Avoid state: latest in production unless the rollout is explicitly an upgrade window. Prefer pinned versions or approved repositories:
- name: Install approved app version
ansible.builtin.package:
name: myapp-1.8.4
state: present
4. For mixed fleets, drive differences through group_vars, host_vars, and facts rather than copied playbooks.
5. Gate production runs behind review and record playbook version, inventory, operator, and output artifact.
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