when using lookup(file, "") the lookup fails when done as a local_action

this is tested using lineinfile, but also fails to lookup for (eg) addng ssh keys

results:

expected: both local and remote work

actual: remote works but local fails with [WARNING]: Unable to find 'user1.pub' in expected paths.

NOTE2: works with older ansible 2.1.1 but fails with 2.3.2

reproduce:

$ cd playbooks/ $ chmod +x ssh-test.yml $ ./ssh-test.yml

$ ansible --version ansible 2.3.2.0 config file = /etc/ansible/ansible.cfg configured module search path = Default w/o overrides python version = 2.7.12 (default, Nov 19 2016, 06:48:10) [GCC 5.4.0 20160609]

playbooks $ ./ssh-test.yml SUDO password:

PLAY [172.16.176.142] **************************************************************************************************************************************************

TASK [Gathering Facts] ************************************************************************************************************************************************* ok: [172.16.176.142]

TASK [doSSH : LOCAL blank temp file] *********************************************************************************************************************************** changed: [172.16.176.142]

TASK [doSSH : REMOTE blank temp file] ********************************************************************************************************************************** ok: [172.16.176.142 -> localhost]

TASK [doSSH : Write users to temp REMOTE file] ************************************************************************************************************************* changed: [172.16.176.142] => (item={u'key': u'user1 line one\nuser1 line two', u'grp_ops': True, u'name': u'user1', u'groups': u'ops'}) changed: [172.16.176.142] => (item={u'key': u'user two, line 1\nuser two, line 2\nuser two, line 3', u'grp_ops': True, u'name': u'user2', u'groups': u'ops'}) changed: [172.16.176.142] => (item={u'key': u'ssh-rsa AAABBBCCC sshdevuser@nogroup', u'name': u'devuser', u'groups': u'dev'}) [WARNING]: Unable to find 'user1.pub' in expected paths.

ERROR! [{u'groups': u'ops', u'grp_ops': True, u'name': u'user1', u'key': u"{{ lookup('file', 'user1.pub') }}"}, {u'groups': u'ops', u'grp_ops': True, u'name': u'user2', u'key': u"{{ lookup('file', 'user2.pub') }}"}, {u'groups': u'dev', u'name': u'devuser', u'key': u'ssh-rsa AAABBBCCC sshdevuser@nogroup'}]: An unhandled exception occurred while running the lookup plugin 'file'. Error was a <class 'ansible.errors.AnsibleError'>, original message: could not locate file in lookup: user1.pub

playbooks $ ansible --version ansible 2.1.1.0 config file = /etc/ansible/ansible.cfg configured module search path = Default w/o overrides

playbooks $ ./ssh-test.yml SUDO password:

PLAY [172.16.176.142] **********************************************************

TASK [setup] ******************************************************************* ok: [172.16.176.142]

TASK [doSSH : LOCAL blank temp file] ******************************************* ok: [172.16.176.142]

TASK [doSSH : REMOTE blank temp file] ****************************************** ok: [172.16.176.142 -> localhost]

TASK [doSSH : Write users to temp REMOTE file] ********************************* changed: [172.16.176.142] => (item={u'groups': u'ops', u'grp_ops': True, u'name': u'user1', u'key': u'user1 line one\nuser1 line two'}) changed: [172.16.176.142] => (item={u'groups': u'ops', u'grp_ops': True, u'name': u'user2', u'key': u'user two, line 1\nuser two, line 2\nuser two, line 3'}) changed: [172.16.176.142] => (item={u'groups': u'dev', u'name': u'devuser', u'key': u'ssh-rsa AAABBBCCC sshdevuser@nogroup'})

TASK [doSSH : Write users to LOCAL temp file] ********************************** changed: [172.16.176.142 -> localhost] => (item={u'groups': u'ops', u'grp_ops': True, u'name': u'user1', u'key': u'user1 line one\nuser1 line two'}) changed: [172.16.176.142 -> localhost] => (item={u'groups': u'ops', u'grp_ops': True, u'name': u'user2', u'key': u'user two, line 1\nuser two, line 2\nuser two, line 3'}) changed: [172.16.176.142 -> localhost] => (item={u'groups': u'dev', u'name': u'devuser', u'key': u'ssh-rsa AAABBBCCC sshdevuser@nogroup'})

PLAY RECAP ********************************************************************* 172.16.176.142 : ok=5 changed=2 unreachable=0 failed=0