When the tree check finds differing entries, pack exactly the differing files into one tar archive in source walk order, transfer it once into the remote tmpdir and let the new copy_batch module write each file through atomic_move with the copy module's directory, mode and unsafe_writes semantics. Mode-only drift and leaf directories settle in the same call; unchanged files are not sent.
Every shape the regular copy treats differently makes the module refuse before it writes: a symlink, directory or other non-regular entry at a destination, a missing path below a non-directory or a symlink loop, and two source paths reaching one remote entry. The regular copy then runs. Check mode, diff mode, unprivileged become, a dest holding $ and an archive above 16 MiB keep the regular copy. A write failure fails the task and names the file.
Executed with ansible-playbook -c local, pipelining on and off: the trees this action leaves equal the builtin copy's, including the symlink fallback; a 6-file changed tree took 2 module calls and 1 transfer instead of 14 and 4. Unit: a flat 15-file tree with every file changed drops from 31 module calls and 15 transfers to 2 and 1. Two dialectic rounds with three independent skeptics; every hole they found is fixed and tested. A third independent review compared end state, changed, check and diff mode against the builtin copy in a real playbook run and found them equal; one deliberate difference remains: a write failing partway reports changed=true with the files already written, where the builtin copy reports changed=false.
| 🎯 Fix | 💥 Break | 🌱 Efficiency | ⚡ Speed | 🛡️ Security | 🏆 Score | Gate |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 90 % | 2 % | 100 % | 15 % (estimated from round trips) | ~100 % | 100 | ⏳ score passes, gate.py not run |
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
Development worktrees carry empty .claude/.cc-writes directories in role source trees; the one-call unchanged check gave up on any directory without files, so the docs tooling copy fell back to per-file stat and copy round trips (about 56 s on the echoserver production deploy). file_checksums now also reports directories (isdir, mode), and the check asks for every leaf directory in the same remote call: it settles only when each leaf exists as a real directory and, when directory_mode is set, carries exactly that mode. With directory_mode unset the stock copy would not touch an existing directory either (file module with mode None). A missing directory, a mode mismatch, a file or symlink in its place, or a symbolic directory_mode with leaves still runs the regular copy.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
Source trees in a development worktree carry __pycache__ next to their sources (web-app-docs python/: 76 .pyc beside 42 .py). They defeated the one-call unchanged check and were copied file by file over SSH; on the echoserver production deploy the docs tooling staging took 155.9 s at about 1.27 s per file. The plugin now walks the tree without __pycache__ for both the unchanged check and the stock copy, which reads _walk_dirs as a module global; the swap is restored in finally and each task runs in its own forked worker. Sourceless .pyc outside a cache directory stay in the copy.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
Ansible's copy action runs one stat and one file module per file of a
directory source even when nothing changed, about 0.6 s each over SSH.
The echoserver deploy paid it on 31 branding renders and the docs
tooling tree (~770 s and 169.5 s, deploy -9). Before falling through to
the stock copy, hash the tree locally and compare it with one
file_checksums call on the target; when every file matches in type,
content and mode, return the stock copy's unchanged result. Any
difference, symlink, empty directory, owner or symbolic mode falls
through to the stock copy unchanged.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
Every script a role ships now lives under `files/<language>/`, and the unit
suite is split the same way: `tests/unit/python/` beside new sibling trees for
the other languages. `tests/lint/filesystem/test_role_files_layout.py` keeps it
that way; directories whose shape is dictated from outside carry a `.nocheck`
naming the constraint (Docker build contexts, WordPress mu-plugins, the Joomla
extension, Odoo addons, Playwright suites, the `files/test/test.sh` harness
that `test-e2e-cli` resolves generically).
This cannot be applied in halves. Moving a file and repointing what names it
are the same change: 14 references resolve only at deploy time, so the tree is
green either before or after, never between.
Those 14 were found by static resolution over every reference class, not by the
test suite -- a full `make quality-high` was green while all of them were
broken:
* 7 `src:` values built from a role variable holding a bare filename
(svc-bkp-remote-2-local, decidim, espocrm, friendica, joomla, pixelfed x2).
The variable doubles as the destination name inside the container, so the
language segment belongs at the call site, not in the variable.
* `sys-service/tasks/04_base.yml` resolved every consumer's systemd script
through `first_found(..., errors='strict')` over `files/script.{sh,py}`.
18 roles ship exactly that and have no template fallback: the play would
have died on each.
* `sys-front-inj-javascript` fell back to `<role>/files/javascript.js`; the
interface now reads `files/javascript/javascript.js`.
* `sys-front-inj-logout/templates/head_sub.j2` built the cache-busting mtime
path through `path_absolute(... 'files', ...)`.
* 4 `ansible.builtin.script:` invocations naming a bare command
(pull.py, prune.sh, set_postgres_superuser_password.sh, ganesha-serve.sh).
* `dev-python/files/shell/install.sh` pointed at a sibling role's script.
Depth-dependent paths inside the moved trees were bumped accordingly: 59
`parents[N]` computations, 12 relative climbs, and the per-role recover CLI,
whose path `cli/administration/recover/recoverers.py` still assembled from the
pre-move location.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
kevinveenbirkenbachandClaude Opus 5.5