Enable pipelining globally and modernize SSH settings

- Activated pipelining in [defaults] for better performance.
- Replaced deprecated 'scp_if_ssh' with 'transfer_method'.
- Flattened multi-line ssh_args for compatibility.
- Verified configuration parsing as discussed in https://chatgpt.com/share/68efc179-1a10-800f-9656-1e8731b40546

ansible.cfg

@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 [defaults]
 # --- Performance & Behavior ---
+pipelining = True
 forks = 25
 strategy = linear
 gathering = smart
@@ -14,19 +15,14 @@ stdout_callback = yaml
 callbacks_enabled = profile_tasks,timer
 
 # --- Plugin paths ---
-filter_plugins = ./filter_plugins
+filter_plugins  = ./filter_plugins
 lookup_plugins  = ./lookup_plugins
 module_utils    = ./module_utils
 
 [ssh_connection]
-# Multiplexing: safer socket path in HOME instead of /tmp
-ssh_args = -o ControlMaster=auto -o ControlPersist=20s -o ControlPath=~/.ssh/ansible-%h-%p-%r \
-           -o ServerAliveInterval=15 -o ServerAliveCountMax=3 -o StrictHostKeyChecking=accept-new \
-           -o PreferredAuthentications=publickey,password,keyboard-interactive
-
-# Pipelining boosts speed; works fine if sudoers does not enforce "requiretty"
+ssh_args = -o ControlMaster=auto -o ControlPersist=20s -o ControlPath=~/.ssh/ansible-%h-%p-%r -o ServerAliveInterval=15 -o ServerAliveCountMax=3 -o StrictHostKeyChecking=accept-new -o PreferredAuthentications=publickey,password,keyboard-interactive
 pipelining = True
-scp_if_ssh = smart
+transfer_method = smart
 
 [persistent_connection]
 connect_timeout = 30