New release v2.18.4rc1 (#84842)

Fixes: #84773

Signed-off-by: Abhijeet Kasurde <Akasurde@redhat.com>
(cherry picked from commit 50b4e0d279)

.azure-pipelines/azure-pipelines.yml

@@ -27,14 +27,11 @@ variables:
   - name: coverageBranches
     value: devel
   - name: entryPoint
-    value: test/utils/shippable/shippable.sh
+    value: .azure-pipelines/commands/entry-point.sh
   - name: fetchDepth
     value: 500
-
-resources:
-  containers:
-    - container: default
-      image: quay.io/ansible/azure-pipelines-test-container:1.9.0
+  - name: defaultContainer
+    value: quay.io/ansible/azure-pipelines-test-container:6.0.0
 
 pool: Standard
 
@@ -49,9 +46,6 @@ stages:
           targets:
             - test: 1
             - test: 2
-            - test: 3
-            - test: 4
-            - test: 5
   - stage: Units
     dependsOn: []
     jobs:
@@ -60,13 +54,12 @@ stages:
           nameFormat: Python {0}
           testFormat: units/{0}
           targets:
-            - test: 2.7
-            - test: 3.5
-            - test: 3.6
-            - test: 3.7
             - test: 3.8
             - test: 3.9
             - test: '3.10'
+            - test: 3.11
+            - test: 3.12
+            - test: 3.13
   - stage: Windows
     dependsOn: []
     jobs:
@@ -75,61 +68,92 @@ stages:
           nameFormat: Server {0}
           testFormat: windows/{0}/1
           targets:
-            - test: 2012
-            - test: 2012-R2
-            - test: 2016
-            - test: 2019
-            - test: 2022
+            - name: 2016 WinRM HTTP
+              test: 2016/winrm/http
+            - name: 2019 WinRM HTTPS
+              test: 2019/winrm/https
+            - name: 2022 WinRM HTTPS
+              test: 2022/winrm/https
+            - name: 2022 PSRP HTTP
+              test: 2022/psrp/http
+            - name: 2022 SSH Key
+              test: 2022/ssh/key
   - stage: Remote
     dependsOn: []
     jobs:
-      - template: templates/matrix.yml
+      - template: templates/matrix.yml  # context/target
         parameters:
           targets:
-            - name: macOS 12.0
-              test: macos/12.0
-            - name: RHEL 7.9
-              test: rhel/7.9
-            - name: RHEL 8.5 py36
-              test: rhel/8.5@3.6
-            - name: RHEL 8.5 py38
-              test: rhel/8.5@3.8
-            - name: FreeBSD 12.3
-              test: freebsd/12.3
-            - name: FreeBSD 13.0
-              test: freebsd/13.0
+            - name: macOS 14.3
+              test: macos/14.3
+            - name: RHEL 9.4 py39
+              test: rhel/9.4@3.9
+            - name: RHEL 9.4 py312
+              test: rhel/9.4@3.12
+            - name: FreeBSD 13.3
+              test: freebsd/13.3
+            - name: FreeBSD 14.1
+              test: freebsd/14.1
           groups:
             - 1
             - 2
+      - template: templates/matrix.yml  # context/controller
+        parameters:
+          targets:
+            - name: macOS 14.3
+              test: macos/14.3
+            - name: RHEL 9.4
+              test: rhel/9.4
+            - name: FreeBSD 13.3
+              test: freebsd/13.3
+            - name: FreeBSD 14.1
+              test: freebsd/14.1
+          groups:
             - 3
             - 4
             - 5
+      - template: templates/matrix.yml  # context/controller (ansible-test container management)
+        parameters:
+          targets:
+            - name: Alpine 3.20
+              test: alpine/3.20
+            - name: Fedora 40
+              test: fedora/40
+            - name: RHEL 9.4
+              test: rhel/9.4
+            - name: Ubuntu 24.04
+              test: ubuntu/24.04
+          groups:
+            - 6
   - stage: Docker
     dependsOn: []
     jobs:
-      - template: templates/matrix.yml
+      - template: templates/matrix.yml  # context/target
         parameters:
           testFormat: linux/{0}
           targets:
-            - name: Alpine 3
-              test: alpine3
-            - name: CentOS 7
-              test: centos7
-            - name: Fedora 34
-              test: fedora34
-            - name: Fedora 35
-              test: fedora35
-            - name: openSUSE 15 py2
-              test: opensuse15py2
-            - name: openSUSE 15 py3
-              test: opensuse15
-            - name: Ubuntu 18.04
-              test: ubuntu1804
-            - name: Ubuntu 20.04
-              test: ubuntu2004
+            - name: Alpine 3.20
+              test: alpine320
+            - name: Fedora 40
+              test: fedora40
+            - name: Ubuntu 22.04
+              test: ubuntu2204
+            - name: Ubuntu 24.04
+              test: ubuntu2404
           groups:
             - 1
             - 2
+      - template: templates/matrix.yml  # context/controller
+        parameters:
+          testFormat: linux/{0}
+          targets:
+            - name: Alpine 3.20
+              test: alpine320
+            - name: Fedora 40
+              test: fedora40
+            - name: Ubuntu 24.04
+              test: ubuntu2404
+          groups:
             - 3
             - 4
             - 5
@@ -141,9 +165,9 @@ stages:
           nameFormat: Python {0}
           testFormat: galaxy/{0}/1
           targets:
-            - test: 3.8
-            - test: 3.9
-            - test: '3.10'
+            - test: 3.11
+            - test: 3.12
+            - test: 3.13
   - stage: Generic
     dependsOn: []
     jobs:
@@ -152,21 +176,9 @@ stages:
           nameFormat: Python {0}
           testFormat: generic/{0}/1
           targets:
-            - test: 3.8
-            - test: 3.9
-            - test: '3.10'
-  - stage: Incidental_Remote
-    displayName: Incidental Remote
-    dependsOn: []
-    jobs:
-      - template: templates/matrix.yml
-        parameters:
-          testFormat: i/{0}
-          targets:
-            - name: RHEL 8.5 py36
-              test: rhel/8.5@3.6
-            - name: RHEL 8.5 py38
-              test: rhel/8.5@3.8
+            - test: 3.11
+            - test: 3.12
+            - test: 3.13
   - stage: Incidental_Windows
     displayName: Incidental Windows
     dependsOn: []
@@ -176,11 +188,16 @@ stages:
           nameFormat: Server {0}
           testFormat: i/windows/{0}
           targets:
-            - test: 2012
-            - test: 2012-R2
-            - test: 2016
-            - test: 2019
-            - test: 2022
+            - name: 2016 WinRM HTTP
+              test: 2016/winrm/http
+            - name: 2019 WinRM HTTPS
+              test: 2019/winrm/https
+            - name: 2022 WinRM HTTPS
+              test: 2022/winrm/https
+            - name: 2022 PSRP HTTP
+              test: 2022/psrp/http
+            - name: 2022 SSH Key
+              test: 2022/ssh/key
   - stage: Incidental
     dependsOn: []
     jobs:
@@ -190,14 +207,6 @@ stages:
           targets:
             - name: IOS Python
               test: ios/csr1000v/
-            - name: VyOS Python
-              test: vyos/1.1.8/
-            - name: AWS Python 2.7
-              test: aws/2.7
-            - name: AWS Python 3.6
-              test: aws/3.6
-            - name: Cloud Python
-              test: cloud/
   - stage: Summary
     condition: succeededOrFailed()
     dependsOn:
@@ -208,7 +217,6 @@ stages:
       - Docker
       - Galaxy
       - Generic
-      - Incidental_Remote
       - Incidental_Windows
       - Incidental
     jobs:

.azure-pipelines/commands/entry-point.sh

@@ -0,0 +1,62 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+
+set -o pipefail -eux
+
+declare -a args
+IFS='/:' read -ra args <<< "$1"
+
+script="${args[0]}"
+
+test="$1"
+
+docker images
+docker ps
+
+for container in $(docker ps --format '{{.Image}} {{.ID}}' | grep -v -e '^quay.io/ansible/azure-pipelines-test-container:' | sed 's/^.* //'); do
+    docker rm -f "${container}" || true  # ignore errors
+done
+
+docker ps
+
+export PATH="${PWD}/bin:${PATH}"
+export PYTHONIOENCODING='utf-8'
+
+if [ -n "${COVERAGE:-}" ]; then
+    # on-demand coverage reporting triggered by setting the COVERAGE environment variable to a non-empty value
+    export COVERAGE="--coverage"
+elif [[ "${COMMIT_MESSAGE}" =~ ci_coverage ]]; then
+    # on-demand coverage reporting triggered by having 'ci_coverage' in the latest commit message
+    export COVERAGE="--coverage"
+else
+    # on-demand coverage reporting disabled (default behavior, always-on coverage reporting remains enabled)
+    export COVERAGE="--coverage-check"
+fi
+
+if [ -n "${COMPLETE:-}" ]; then
+    # disable change detection triggered by setting the COMPLETE environment variable to a non-empty value
+    export CHANGED=""
+elif [[ "${COMMIT_MESSAGE}" =~ ci_complete ]]; then
+    # disable change detection triggered by having 'ci_complete' in the latest commit message
+    export CHANGED=""
+else
+    # enable change detection (default behavior)
+    export CHANGED="--changed"
+fi
+
+if [ "${IS_PULL_REQUEST:-}" == "true" ]; then
+    # run unstable tests which are targeted by focused changes on PRs
+    export UNSTABLE="--allow-unstable-changed"
+else
+    # do not run unstable tests outside PRs
+    export UNSTABLE=""
+fi
+
+if [[ "${COVERAGE:-}" == "--coverage" ]]; then
+    timeout=60
+else
+    timeout=50
+fi
+
+ansible-test env --dump --show --timeout "${timeout}" --color -v
+
+".azure-pipelines/commands/${script}.sh" "${test}"

.azure-pipelines/commands/i.sh

@@ -11,4 +11,4 @@ script="${args[1]}"
 
 IFS='/' test="${args[*]:1}"
 
-"test/utils/shippable/incidental/${script}.sh" "${test}"
+".azure-pipelines/commands/incidental/${script}.sh" "${test}"

.azure-pipelines/commands/incidental/windows.sh

@@ -0,0 +1,46 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+
+set -o pipefail -eux
+
+declare -a args
+IFS='/:' read -ra args <<< "$1"
+
+version="${args[1]}"
+connection="${args[2]}"
+connection_setting="${args[3]}"
+
+target="shippable/windows/incidental/"
+
+stage="${S:-prod}"
+provider="${P:-default}"
+
+# python version to run full tests on while other versions run minimal tests
+python_default="$(PYTHONPATH="${PWD}/test/lib" python -c 'from ansible_test._internal import constants; print(constants.CONTROLLER_MIN_PYTHON_VERSION)')"
+
+# version to test when only testing a single version
+single_version=2022
+
+# shellcheck disable=SC2086
+ansible-test windows-integration --list-targets -v ${CHANGED:+"$CHANGED"} ${UNSTABLE:+"$UNSTABLE"} > /tmp/explain.txt 2>&1 || { cat /tmp/explain.txt && false; }
+{ grep ' windows-integration: .* (targeted)$' /tmp/explain.txt || true; } > /tmp/windows.txt
+
+if [ -s /tmp/windows.txt ] || [ "${CHANGED:+$CHANGED}" == "" ]; then
+    echo "Detected changes requiring integration tests specific to Windows:"
+    cat /tmp/windows.txt
+
+    echo "Running Windows integration tests for the version ${version}."
+else
+    echo "No changes requiring integration tests specific to Windows were detected."
+    echo "Running Windows integration tests for a single version only: ${single_version}"
+
+    if [ "${version}" != "${single_version}" ]; then
+        echo "Skipping this job since it is for: ${version}"
+        exit 0
+    fi
+fi
+
+# shellcheck disable=SC2086
+ansible-test windows-integration --color -v --retry-on-error "${target}" ${COVERAGE:+"$COVERAGE"} ${CHANGED:+"$CHANGED"} ${UNSTABLE:+"$UNSTABLE"} \
+    --controller "docker:default,python=${python_default}" \
+    --target "remote:windows/${version},connection=${connection}+${connection_setting},provider=${provider}" \
+    --remote-terminate always --remote-stage "${stage}"

.azure-pipelines/commands/sanity.sh

@@ -0,0 +1,41 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+
+set -o pipefail -eux
+
+declare -a args
+IFS='/:' read -ra args <<< "$1"
+
+group="${args[1]}"
+
+group2_include=(
+    ansible-doc
+    changelog
+    package-data
+    pep8
+    pylint
+    validate-modules
+)
+
+group1_exclude=(
+    "${group2_include[@]}"
+)
+
+options=()
+
+case "${group}" in
+    1)
+        for name in "${group1_exclude[@]}"; do
+            options+=(--skip-test "${name}")
+        done
+        ;;
+    2)
+        for name in "${group2_include[@]}"; do
+            options+=(--test "${name}")
+        done
+        ;;
+esac
+
+# shellcheck disable=SC2086
+ansible-test sanity --color -v --junit ${COVERAGE:+"$COVERAGE"} ${CHANGED:+"$CHANGED"} \
+    --docker \
+    "${options[@]}" --allow-disabled

.azure-pipelines/commands/windows.sh

@@ -0,0 +1,89 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+
+set -o pipefail -eux
+
+declare -a args
+IFS='/:' read -ra args <<< "$1"
+
+version="${args[1]}"
+connection="${args[2]}"
+connection_setting="${args[3]}"
+group="${args[4]}"
+
+target="shippable/windows/group${group}/"
+
+stage="${S:-prod}"
+provider="${P:-default}"
+
+# python versions to test in order
+IFS=' ' read -r -a python_versions <<< \
+    "$(PYTHONPATH="${PWD}/test/lib" python -c 'from ansible_test._internal import constants; print(" ".join(constants.CONTROLLER_PYTHON_VERSIONS))')"
+
+# python version to run full tests on while other versions run minimal tests
+python_default="$(PYTHONPATH="${PWD}/test/lib" python -c 'from ansible_test._internal import constants; print(constants.CONTROLLER_MIN_PYTHON_VERSION)')"
+
+# version to test when only testing a single version
+single_version=2022
+
+# shellcheck disable=SC2086
+ansible-test windows-integration --list-targets -v ${CHANGED:+"$CHANGED"} ${UNSTABLE:+"$UNSTABLE"} > /tmp/explain.txt 2>&1 || { cat /tmp/explain.txt && false; }
+{ grep ' windows-integration: .* (targeted)$' /tmp/explain.txt || true; } > /tmp/windows.txt
+
+if [ -s /tmp/windows.txt ] || [ "${CHANGED:+$CHANGED}" == "" ]; then
+    echo "Detected changes requiring integration tests specific to Windows:"
+    cat /tmp/windows.txt
+
+    echo "Running Windows integration tests for the version ${version}."
+else
+    echo "No changes requiring integration tests specific to Windows were detected."
+    echo "Running Windows integration tests for a single version only: ${single_version}"
+
+    if [ "${version}" != "${single_version}" ]; then
+        echo "Skipping this job since it is for: ${version}"
+        exit 0
+    fi
+fi
+
+for py_version in "${python_versions[@]}"; do
+    changed_all_target="all"
+    changed_all_mode="default"
+
+    if [ "${py_version}" == "${python_default}" ]; then
+        # smoketest tests
+        if [ "${CHANGED}" ]; then
+            # with change detection enabled run tests for anything changed
+            # use the smoketest tests for any change that triggers all tests
+            ci="${target}"
+            changed_all_target="shippable/windows/smoketest/"
+            if [ "${target}" == "shippable/windows/group1/" ]; then
+                # only run smoketest tests for group1
+                changed_all_mode="include"
+            else
+                # smoketest tests already covered by group1
+                changed_all_mode="exclude"
+            fi
+        else
+            # without change detection enabled run entire test group
+            ci="${target}"
+        fi
+    else
+        # only run minimal tests for group1
+        if [ "${target}" != "shippable/windows/group1/" ]; then continue; fi
+        # minimal tests for other python versions
+        ci="shippable/windows/minimal/"
+    fi
+
+    # terminate remote instances on the final python version tested
+    if [ "${py_version}" = "${python_versions[-1]}" ]; then
+        terminate="always"
+    else
+        terminate="never"
+    fi
+
+    # shellcheck disable=SC2086
+    ansible-test windows-integration --color -v --retry-on-error "${ci}" ${COVERAGE:+"$COVERAGE"} ${CHANGED:+"$CHANGED"} ${UNSTABLE:+"$UNSTABLE"} \
+        --changed-all-target "${changed_all_target}" --changed-all-mode "${changed_all_mode}" \
+        --controller "docker:default,python=${py_version}" \
+        --target "remote:windows/${version},connection=${connection}+${connection_setting},provider=${provider}" \
+        --remote-terminate "${terminate}" --remote-stage "${stage}"
+done

.azure-pipelines/scripts/combine-coverage.py

@@ -7,8 +7,7 @@ Keep in mind that Azure Pipelines does not enforce unique job display names (onl
 It is up to pipeline authors to avoid name collisions when deviating from the recommended format.
 """
 
-from __future__ import (absolute_import, division, print_function)
-__metaclass__ = type
+from __future__ import annotations
 
 import os
 import re

.azure-pipelines/scripts/publish-codecov.py

@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@ Upload code coverage reports to codecov.io.
 Multiple coverage files from multiple languages are accepted and aggregated after upload.
 Python coverage, as well as PowerShell and Python stubs can all be uploaded.
 """
+from __future__ import annotations
 
 import argparse
 import dataclasses

.azure-pipelines/scripts/time-command.py

@@ -1,8 +1,7 @@
 #!/usr/bin/env python
 """Prepends a relative timestamp to each input line from stdin and writes it to stdout."""
 
-from __future__ import (absolute_import, division, print_function)
-__metaclass__ = type
+from __future__ import annotations
 
 import sys
 import time

.azure-pipelines/templates/coverage.yml

@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@
 jobs:
   - job: Coverage
     displayName: Code Coverage
-    container: default
+    container: $[ variables.defaultContainer ]
     workspace:
       clean: all
     steps:

.azure-pipelines/templates/test.yml

@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@ jobs:
   - ${{ each job in parameters.jobs }}:
     - job: test_${{ replace(replace(replace(replace(job.test, '/', '_'), '.', '_'), '-', '_'), '@', '_') }}
       displayName: ${{ job.name }}
-      container: default
+      container: $[ variables.defaultContainer ]
       workspace:
         clean: all
       steps:

.git-blame-ignore-revs

@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
+# .git-blame-ignore-revs
+# Bulk PowerShell sanity fixes
+6def4a3180fe03981ba64c6d8db28fed3bb39c0c
+716631189cb5a3f66b3add98f39e64e98bc17bf7

.github/BOTMETA.yml

@@ -1,151 +0,0 @@
-automerge: false
-collection_redirect: true
-notifications: false
-files:
-  $module_utils/csharp: &id001
-    labels: windows
-    maintainers: $team_windows_core
-    support: core
-  $module_utils/network:
-    labels: networking
-  $module_utils/network/common:
-    maintainers: $team_networking
-    support: network
-  $module_utils/powershell: *id001
-  $modules:
-    ignored: ryansb tomaszkiewicz
-  $modules/lineinfile.py: $team_ansible samdoran
-  $modules/stat.py:
-    ignored: bpennypacker
-  $modules/unarchive.py:
-    ignored: dagwieers
-    labels: m:unarchive
-    maintainers: pileofrogs
-  $modules/add_host.py:
-    ignored: skvidal
-    maintainers: $team_ansible
-  $modules/get_url.py: ptux
-  $modules/uri.py:
-    ignored: romeotheriault
-    maintainers: $team_ansible
-  $modules/pip.py: Lujeni webknjaz
-  $modules//yum.py:
-    ignored: skvidal
-    maintainers: $team_ansible kustodian
-  $modules/user.py: $team_ansible samdoran
-  $modules/pause.py: samdoran
-  $modules/wait_for.py: gregswift
-  $plugins/cliconf/:
-    labels: networking
-  $plugins/connection/psrp.py: *id001
-  $plugins/connection/winrm.py: *id001
-  $plugins/doc_fragments/url_windows.py:
-    labels: windows
-    maintainers: $team_windows_core
-    support: core
-  $plugins/httpapi:
-    labels: networking
-    maintainers: $team_networking
-    support: network
-  $plugins/netconf/:
-    labels: networking
-    maintainers: $team_networking
-    support: network
-  $plugins/shell/powershell.py: *id001
-  $plugins/terminal/:
-    labels: networking
-  $plugins/terminal/__init__.py:
-    support: network
-  .github/BOTMETA.yml:
-    labels: botmeta
-    support: core
-  docs/:
-    maintainers:
-    - acozine
-  docs/docsite/rst/community/:
-    maintainers:
-    - gundalow
-  docs/docsite/rst/dev_guide/:
-    maintainers:
-    - gundalow
-  docs/docsite/rst/network/:
-    labels: networking
-    maintainers:
-    - samccann
-  docs/docsite/rst/user_guide/windows: *id001
-  hacking/report.py:
-    notified: mattclay
-  hacking/shippable/:
-    notified: mattclay
-  lib/ansible/cli/scripts/ansible_connection_cli_stub.py:
-    keywords:
-    - persistent connection
-    labels: networking
-  lib/ansible/config/ansible_builtin_runtime.yml:
-    labels: runtime
-    maintainers: gundalow
-  lib/ansible/executor/powershell: *id001
-  lib/ansible/inventory:
-    keywords:
-    - core inventory
-    - inventory
-    - inventory parsing
-  lib/ansible/playbook/handler.py:
-    keywords:
-    - handlers
-  lib/ansible/playbook/role:
-    keywords:
-    - roles path
-    - roles_path
-    - role
-    - role path
-  lib/ansible/playbook/role/include.py:
-    keywords:
-    - include role
-    - include_role
-    - role include
-  lib/ansible/playbook/role/requirement.py:
-    keywords:
-    - role dependencies
-    - role dep
-    - role dependency
-  lib/ansible/release.py:
-    notified: mattclay nitzmahone
-  lib/ansible/template:
-    keywords:
-    - jinja
-    - jinja2
-  lib/ansible/utils/collection_loader.py:
-    notified: mattclay nitzmahone
-  test/integration/targets/incidental_:
-    notified: mattclay
-  test/lib/:
-    notified: mattclay
-  test/lib/ansible_test/_util/controller/sanity/validate-modules:
-    keywords:
-    - validate-modules
-    notified:
-    - mattclay
-  test/lib/ansible_test/_util/controller/sanity/validate-modules/validate_modules/main.py:
-    notified:
-    - gundalow
-    - sivel
-  test/lib/ansible_test/_util/controller/sanity/validate-modules/validate_modules/schema.py:
-    notified:
-    - gundalow
-    - sivel
-  test/sanity/:
-    notified: mattclay
-  test/sanity/ignore.txt:
-    notified: tremble
-  test/support/:
-    notified: mattclay
-  test/utils/shippable/:
-    notified: mattclay
-macros:
-  module_utils: lib/ansible/module_utils
-  modules: lib/ansible/modules
-  plugins: lib/ansible/plugins
-  team_ansible: []
-  team_networking: Qalthos ganeshrn trishnaguha justjais NilashishC danielmellado rohitthakur2590 GomathiselviS
-  team_windows_core: nitzmahone jborean93

.github/CONTRIBUTING.md

@@ -4,22 +4,75 @@ Hi! Nice to see you here!
 
 ## QUESTIONS ?
 
-Please see the [Community Guide](https://docs.ansible.com/ansible/latest/community/index.html) for information on how to ask questions on the [mailing lists](https://docs.ansible.com/ansible/latest/community/communication.html#mailing-list-information) and IRC.
+If you have questions about anything related to Ansible, get in touch with us!
+See [Communicating with the Ansible community](https://docs.ansible.com/ansible/devel/community/communication.html) to find out how.
 
-The GitHub issue tracker is not the best place for questions for various reasons, but both IRC and the mailing list are very helpful places for those things, as the community page explains best.
+The [Community Guide](https://docs.ansible.com/ansible/devel/community/index.html) also explains how to contribute
+and interact with the project, including how to submit bug reports and code to Ansible.
+
+Please note that the GitHub issue tracker is not the best place to ask questions for several reasons.
+You'll get more helpful, and quicker, responses in the forum.
 
 ## CONTRIBUTING ?
 
-By contributing you agree that these contributions are your own (or approved by your employer) and you grant a full, complete, irrevocable copyright license to all users and developers of the project, present and future, pursuant to the license of the project. You can also read the same [CLA](https://docs.ansible.com/ansible/latest/community/contributor_license_agreement.html) on the Ansible docsite.
+By contributing to this project you agree to the [Developer Certificate of Origin (DCO)](#developer-certificate-of-origin-dco).
 
-Please review the [Community Guide](https://docs.ansible.com/ansible/latest/community/index.html) for more information on contributing to Ansible.
+The Ansible project is licensed under the [GPL-3.0](COPYING) or later. Some portions of the code fall under other licenses as noted in individual files.
+
+The Ansible project accepts contributions through GitHub pull requests.
+Please review the [Community Guide](https://docs.ansible.com/ansible/devel/community/index.html) for more information on contributing to Ansible.
 
 ## BUG TO REPORT ?
 
-First and foremost, also check the [Community Guide](https://docs.ansible.com/ansible/latest/community/index.html).
+First and foremost, also check the [Community Guide](https://docs.ansible.com/ansible/devel/community/index.html).
 
-You can report bugs or make enhancement requests at the [Ansible GitHub issue page](http://github.com/ansible/ansible/issues/new/choose) by filling out the issue template that will be presented.
+You can report bugs or make enhancement requests at
+the [Ansible GitHub issue page](http://github.com/ansible/ansible/issues/new/choose) by filling out the issue template that will be presented.
 
-Also please make sure you are testing on the latest released version of Ansible or the development branch; see the [Installation Guide](https://docs.ansible.com/ansible/latest/installation_guide/intro_installation.html) for details.
+Also please make sure you are testing on the latest released version of Ansible or the development branch.
+See the [Installation Guide](https://docs.ansible.com/ansible/latest/installation_guide/intro_installation.html) for details.
 
 Thanks!
+
+## DEVELOPER CERTIFICATE OF ORIGIN (DCO)
+
+This document was created by the Linux Kernel community and is a simple statement that you, as a contributor, have the legal right to make the contribution.
+
+```text
+Developer Certificate of Origin
+Version 1.1
+
+Copyright (C) 2004, 2006 The Linux Foundation and its contributors.
+1 Letterman Drive
+Suite D4700
+San Francisco, CA, 94129
+
+Everyone is permitted to copy and distribute verbatim copies of this
+license document, but changing it is not allowed.
+
+Developer's Certificate of Origin 1.1
+
+By making a contribution to this project, I certify that:
+
+(a) The contribution was created in whole or in part by me and I
+    have the right to submit it under the open source license
+    indicated in the file; or
+
+(b) The contribution is based upon previous work that, to the best
+    of my knowledge, is covered under an appropriate open source
+    license and I have the right under that license to submit that
+    work with modifications, whether created in whole or in part
+    by me, under the same open source license (unless I am
+    permitted to submit under a different license), as indicated
+    in the file; or
+
+(c) The contribution was provided directly to me by some other
+    person who certified (a), (b) or (c) and I have not modified
+    it.
+
+(d) I understand and agree that this project and the contribution
+    are public and that a record of the contribution (including all
+    personal information I submit with it, including my sign-off) is
+    maintained indefinitely and may be redistributed consistent with
+    this project or the open source license(s) involved.
+```

.github/ISSUE_TEMPLATE/bug_report.yml

@@ -19,13 +19,14 @@ body:
       Also test if the latest release and devel branch are affected too.
 
 
-      **Tip:** If you are seeking community support, please consider
-      [starting a mailing list thread or chatting in IRC][ML||IRC].
+      **Tip:** If you are seeking community support, please see
+      [Communicating with the Ansible community][communication] to
+      get in touch and ask questions.
 
 
 
-      [ML||IRC]:
-      https://docs.ansible.com/ansible-core/devel/community/communication.html?utm_medium=github&utm_source=issue_form--bug_report.yml#mailing-list-information
+      [communication]:
+      https://docs.ansible.com/ansible/devel/community/communication.html
 
       [issue search]: ../search?q=is%3Aissue&type=issues
 
@@ -54,7 +55,7 @@ body:
           <em>Why?</em>
         </summary>
 
-        We would do it by ourselves but unfortunatelly, the curent
+        We would do it by ourselves but unfortunately, the current
         edition of GitHub Issue Forms Alpha does not support this yet 🤷
 
 
@@ -87,7 +88,7 @@ body:
 
 
       [collections org]: /ansible-collections
-    placeholder: dnf, apt, yum, pip, user etc.
+    placeholder: dnf, apt, pip, user etc.
   validations:
     required: true
 
@@ -96,7 +97,7 @@ body:
     label: Ansible Version
     description: >-
       Paste verbatim output from `ansible --version` below, under
-      the prompt line. Please don't wrap it with tripple backticks — your
+      the prompt line. Please don't wrap it with triple backticks — your
       whole input will be turned into a code snippet automatically.
     render: console
     value: |
@@ -119,15 +120,17 @@ body:
   attributes:
     label: Configuration
     description: >-
-      Paste verbatim output from `ansible-config dump --only-changed`
-      below, under the prompt line.
-      Please don't wrap it with tripple backticks — your
+      Paste verbatim output from `ansible-config dump --only-changed -t all` below, under the prompt line.
+      (if using a version older than ansible-core 2.12 you should omit the '-t all')
+      Please don't wrap it with triple backticks — your
       whole input will be turned into a code snippet automatically.
     render: console
     value: |
-      $ ansible-config dump --only-changed
+      # if using a version older than ansible-core 2.12 you should omit the '-t all'
+      $ ansible-config dump --only-changed -t all
     placeholder: |
-      $ ansible-config dump --only-changed
+      # if using a version older than ansible-core 2.12 you should omit the '-t all'
+      $ ansible-config dump --only-changed -t all
       DEFAULT_GATHERING(~/src/github/ansible/ansible/ansible.cfg) = smart
       DEFAULT_HOST_LIST(~/src/github/ansible/ansible/ansible.cfg) = ['~/src/github/ansible/ansible/hosts']
       DEFAULT_VAULT_PASSWORD_FILE(~/src/github/ansible/ansible/ansible.cfg) = ~/src/github/ansible/ansible/vault/print-password.sh
@@ -191,7 +194,7 @@ body:
     description: |
       Describe what actually happened. If possible run with extra verbosity (`-vvvv`).
 
-      Paste verbatim command output and don't wrap it with tripple backticks — your
+      Paste verbatim command output and don't wrap it with triple backticks — your
       whole input will be turned into a code snippet automatically.
     render: console
     placeholder: >-
@@ -247,7 +250,7 @@ body:
 
 
       [ansibot help]:
-      /ansible/ansibullbot/blob/master/ISSUE_HELP.md#for-issue-submitters
+      /ansible/ansibotmini#ansibotmini
 
 
 - type: checkboxes
@@ -256,7 +259,7 @@ body:
     description: |
       Read the [Ansible Code of Conduct][CoC] first.
 
-      [CoC]: https://docs.ansible.com/ansible/latest/community/code_of_conduct.html?utm_medium=github&utm_source=issue_form--bug_report.yml
+      [CoC]: https://docs.ansible.com/ansible/devel/community/code_of_conduct.html?utm_medium=github&utm_source=issue_form--bug_report.yml
     options:
     - label: I agree to follow the Ansible Code of Conduct
       required: true

.github/ISSUE_TEMPLATE/config.yml

@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
 blank_issues_enabled: false  # default: true
 contact_links:
 - name: 🔐 Security bug report 🔥
-  url: https://docs.ansible.com/ansible/latest/community/reporting_bugs_and_features.html?utm_medium=github&utm_source=issue_template_chooser
+  url: https://docs.ansible.com/ansible/devel/community/reporting_bugs_and_features.html?utm_medium=github&utm_source=issue_template_chooser
   about: |
     Please learn how to report security vulnerabilities here.
 
@@ -11,12 +11,12 @@ contact_links:
     a prompt response.
 
     For more information, see
-    https://docs.ansible.com/ansible/latest/community/reporting_bugs_and_features.html
+    https://docs.ansible.com/ansible/devel/community/reporting_bugs_and_features.html
 - name: 📝 Ansible Code of Conduct
-  url: https://docs.ansible.com/ansible/latest/community/code_of_conduct.html?utm_medium=github&utm_source=issue_template_chooser
+  url: https://docs.ansible.com/ansible/devel/community/code_of_conduct.html?utm_medium=github&utm_source=issue_template_chooser
   about: ❤ Be nice to other members of the community. ☮ Behave.
-- name: 💬 Talks to the community
-  url: https://docs.ansible.com/ansible/latest/community/communication.html?utm_medium=github&utm_source=issue_template_chooser#mailing-list-information
+- name: 💬 Talk to the community
+  url: https://docs.ansible.com/ansible/devel/community/communication.html?utm_medium=github&utm_source=issue_template_chooser#mailing-list-information
   about: Please ask and answer usage questions here
 - name: ⚡ Working groups
   url: https://github.com/ansible/community/wiki

.github/ISSUE_TEMPLATE/documentation_report.yml

@@ -22,18 +22,46 @@ body:
       Also test if the latest release and devel branch are affected too.
 
 
-      **Tip:** If you are seeking community support, please consider
-      [starting a mailing list thread or chatting in IRC][ML||IRC].
+      **Tip:** If you are seeking community support, please see
+      [Communicating with the Ansible community][communication] to
+      get in touch and ask questions.
 
 
-      [ML||IRC]:
-      https://docs.ansible.com/ansible-core/devel/community/communication.html?utm_medium=github&utm_source=issue_form--documentation_report.yml#mailing-list-information
+
+      [communication]:
+      https://docs.ansible.com/ansible/devel/community/communication.html
 
       [issue search]: ../search?q=is%3Aissue&type=issues
 
       [submit a pull request]:
       https://docs.ansible.com/ansible-core/devel/community/documentation_contributions.html
 
+- type: markdown
+  attributes:
+    value: >
+      **Check the repository for your issue.**
+
+      Source files for Ansible community documentation are
+      hosted in different repositories. Please make sure to file an
+      issue in the correct project.
+
+      Documentation for modules/plugins/etc that are officially
+      supported by the Ansible Core Engineering team is available
+      in this (`ansible/ansible`) repository.
+
+      The Installation Guide, Playbook Guide, Developer Guide,
+      and other documentation is available in the
+      [ansible/ansible-documentation] repository.
+      Documentation for other modules/plugins/etc is likely to be
+      available in one of the [Ansible Collections][collections index].
+      If available in the collection documentation, select the
+      **Issue Tracker** button to go directly to the GitHub issues.
+
+
+      [ansible/ansible-documentation]: /ansible/ansible-documentation
+
+      [collections index]:
+      https://docs.ansible.com/ansible/latest/collections/index.html
 
 - type: textarea
   attributes:
@@ -64,9 +92,6 @@ body:
           <em>Why?</em>
         </summary>
 
-        We would do it by ourselves but unfortunatelly, the curent
-        edition of GitHub Issue Forms Alpha does not support this yet 🤷
-
 
         _We will make it easier in the future, once GitHub
         supports dropdown defaults. Promise!_
@@ -85,19 +110,7 @@ body:
       Write the short name of the rst file, module, plugin, task or
       feature below, *use your best guess if unsure*.
 
-
-      **Tip:** Be advised that the source for some parts of the
-      documentation are hosted outside of this repository. If the page
-      you are reporting describes modules/plugins/etc that are not
-      officially supported by the Ansible Core Engineering team, there
-      is a good chance that it is coming from one of the [Ansible
-      Collections maintained by the community][collections org]. If this
-      is the case, please make sure to file an issue under the
-      appropriate project there instead.
-
-
-      [collections org]: /ansible-collections
-    placeholder: docs/docsite/rst/dev_guide/debugging.rst
+    placeholder: lib/ansible/modules/copy.py
   validations:
     required: true
 
@@ -106,7 +119,7 @@ body:
     label: Ansible Version
     description: >-
       Paste verbatim output from `ansible --version` below, under
-      the prompt line. Please don't wrap it with tripple backticks — your
+      the prompt line. Please don't wrap it with triple backticks — your
       whole input will be turned into a code snippet automatically.
     render: console
     value: |
@@ -129,15 +142,17 @@ body:
   attributes:
     label: Configuration
     description: >-
-      Paste verbatim output from `ansible-config dump --only-changed`
-      below, under the prompt line.
-      Please don't wrap it with tripple backticks — your
+      Paste verbatim output from `ansible-config dump --only-changed -t all` below, under the prompt line.
+      (if using a version older than ansible-core 2.12 you should omit the '-t all')
+      Please don't wrap it with triple backticks — your
       whole input will be turned into a code snippet automatically.
     render: console
     value: |
-      $ ansible-config dump --only-changed
+      # if using a version older than ansible-core 2.12 you should omit the '-t all'
+      $ ansible-config dump --only-changed -t all
     placeholder: |
-      $ ansible-config dump --only-changed
+      # if using a version older than ansible-core 2.12 you should omit the '-t all'
+      $ ansible-config dump --only-changed -t all
       DEFAULT_GATHERING(~/src/github/ansible/ansible/ansible.cfg) = smart
       DEFAULT_HOST_LIST(~/src/github/ansible/ansible/ansible.cfg) = ['~/src/github/ansible/ansible/hosts']
       DEFAULT_VAULT_PASSWORD_FILE(~/src/github/ansible/ansible/ansible.cfg) = ~/src/github/ansible/ansible/vault/print-password.sh
@@ -183,7 +198,7 @@ body:
 
 
       [ansibot help]:
-      /ansible/ansibullbot/blob/master/ISSUE_HELP.md#for-issue-submitters
+      /ansible/ansibotmini#ansibotmini
 
 
 - type: checkboxes
@@ -192,7 +207,7 @@ body:
     description: |
       Read the [Ansible Code of Conduct][CoC] first.
 
-      [CoC]: https://docs.ansible.com/ansible/latest/community/code_of_conduct.html?utm_medium=github&utm_source=issue_form--documentation_report.yml
+      [CoC]: https://docs.ansible.com/ansible/devel/community/code_of_conduct.html?utm_medium=github&utm_source=issue_form--documentation_report.yml
     options:
     - label: I agree to follow the Ansible Code of Conduct
       required: true

.github/ISSUE_TEMPLATE/feature_request.yml

@@ -21,8 +21,7 @@ body:
 
       If unsure, consider filing a [new proposal] instead outlining your
       use-cases, the research and implementation considerations. Then,
-      start a discussion on one of the public [IRC meetings] we have just
-      for this.
+      start a discussion in the [Ansible forum][forum].
 
 
       <details>
@@ -44,21 +43,22 @@ body:
       Also test if the devel branch does not already implement this.
 
 
-      **Tip:** If you are seeking community support, please consider
-      [starting a mailing list thread or chatting in IRC][ML||IRC].
+      **Tip:** If you are seeking community support, please see
+      [Communicating with the Ansible community][communication] to
+      get in touch and ask questions.
 
 
 
       [contribute to collections]:
       https://docs.ansible.com/ansible-core/devel/community/contributing_maintained_collections.html?utm_medium=github&utm_source=issue_form--feature_request.yml
 
-      [IRC meetings]:
-        https://docs.ansible.com/ansible-core/devel/community/communication.html?utm_medium=github&utm_source=issue_form--feature_request.yml#irc-meetings
+      [communication]:
+      https://docs.ansible.com/ansible/devel/community/communication.html
 
       [issue search]: ../search?q=is%3Aissue&type=issues
 
-      [ML||IRC]:
-      https://docs.ansible.com/ansible-core/devel/community/communication.html?utm_medium=github&utm_source=issue_form--feature_request.yml#mailing-list-information
+      [forum help]:
+      https://forum.ansible.com/c/help/6
 
       [new proposal]: ../../proposals/issues/new
 
@@ -109,7 +109,7 @@ body:
           <em>Why?</em>
         </summary>
 
-        We would do it by ourselves but unfortunatelly, the curent
+        We would do it by ourselves but unfortunately, the current
         edition of GitHub Issue Forms Alpha does not support this yet 🤷
 
 
@@ -139,7 +139,7 @@ body:
 
 
       [collections org]: /ansible-collections
-    placeholder: dnf, apt, yum, pip, user etc.
+    placeholder: dnf, apt, pip, user etc.
   validations:
     required: true
 
@@ -176,7 +176,7 @@ body:
 
 
       [ansibot help]:
-      /ansible/ansibullbot/blob/master/ISSUE_HELP.md#for-issue-submitters
+      /ansible/ansibotmini#ansibotmini
 
 
 - type: checkboxes
@@ -185,7 +185,7 @@ body:
     description: |
       Read the [Ansible Code of Conduct][CoC] first.
 
-      [CoC]: https://docs.ansible.com/ansible/latest/community/code_of_conduct.html?utm_medium=github&utm_source=issue_form--feature_request.yml
+      [CoC]: https://docs.ansible.com/ansible/devel/community/code_of_conduct.html?utm_medium=github&utm_source=issue_form--feature_request.yml
     options:
     - label: I agree to follow the Ansible Code of Conduct
       required: true

.github/PULL_REQUEST_TEMPLATE.md

@@ -1,23 +0,0 @@
-##### SUMMARY
-<!--- Describe the change below, including rationale and design decisions -->
-
-<!--- HINT: Include "Fixes #nnn" if you are fixing an existing issue -->
-
-##### ISSUE TYPE
-<!--- Pick one below and delete the rest -->
-- Bugfix Pull Request
-- Docs Pull Request
-- Feature Pull Request
-- Test Pull Request
-
-##### COMPONENT NAME
-<!--- Write the short name of the module, plugin, task or feature below -->
-
-##### ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
-<!--- Include additional information to help people understand the change here -->
-<!--- A step-by-step reproduction of the problem is helpful if there is no related issue -->
-
-<!--- Paste verbatim command output below, e.g. before and after your change -->
-```paste below
-
-```

.github/PULL_REQUEST_TEMPLATE.md

@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+PULL_REQUEST_TEMPLATE/Unclear purpose or motivation.md

.github/PULL_REQUEST_TEMPLATE/Bug fix.md

@@ -0,0 +1,20 @@
+##### SUMMARY
+
+<!--- Describe the change below, including rationale and design decisions -->
+
+<!--- HINT: Include "Fixes #nnn" if you are fixing an existing issue -->
+
+##### ISSUE TYPE
+
+- Bugfix Pull Request
+
+##### ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
+
+<!--- Include additional information to help people understand the change here -->
+<!--- A step-by-step reproduction of the problem is helpful if there is no related issue -->
+
+<!--- Paste verbatim command output below, e.g. before and after your change -->
+
+```paste below
+
+```

.github/PULL_REQUEST_TEMPLATE/Documentation change.md

@@ -0,0 +1,19 @@
+##### SUMMARY
+
+<!--- Describe the change below, including rationale -->
+
+<!--- HINT: Include "Closes #nnn" if you are fixing an existing issue -->
+
+##### ISSUE TYPE
+
+- Docs Pull Request
+
+##### ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
+
+<!--- Include additional information to help people understand the change here -->
+
+<!--- Paste verbatim command output below, e.g. before and after your change -->
+
+```paste below
+
+```

.github/PULL_REQUEST_TEMPLATE/New feature.md

@@ -0,0 +1,19 @@
+##### SUMMARY
+
+<!--- Describe the change below, including rationale and design decisions -->
+
+<!--- HINT: Include "Resolves #nnn" if you are fixing an existing issue -->
+
+##### ISSUE TYPE
+
+- Feature Pull Request
+
+##### ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
+
+<!--- Include additional information to help people understand the change here -->
+
+<!--- Paste verbatim command output below, e.g. before and after your change -->
+
+```paste below
+
+```

.github/PULL_REQUEST_TEMPLATE/PULL_REQUEST_TEMPLATE.md

@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+Unclear purpose or motivation.md

.github/PULL_REQUEST_TEMPLATE/Tests.md

@@ -0,0 +1,20 @@
+##### SUMMARY
+
+<!--- Describe the change below, including rationale and design decisions -->
+
+<!--- HINT: Include "Closes #nnn" if you are fixing an existing issue -->
+
+##### ISSUE TYPE
+
+- Test Pull Request
+
+##### ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
+
+<!--- Include additional information to help people understand the change here -->
+<!--- A step-by-step reproduction of the problem is helpful if there is no related issue -->
+
+<!--- Paste verbatim command output below, e.g. before and after your change -->
+
+```paste below
+
+```

.github/PULL_REQUEST_TEMPLATE/Unclear purpose or motivation.md

@@ -0,0 +1,25 @@
+##### SUMMARY
+
+<!--- Describe the change below, including rationale and design decisions -->
+
+<!--- HINT: Include "Fixes #nnn" if you are fixing an existing issue -->
+
+##### ISSUE TYPE
+
+<!--- Pick one below and delete the rest -->
+
+- Bugfix Pull Request
+- Docs Pull Request
+- Feature Pull Request
+- Test Pull Request
+
+##### ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
+
+<!--- Include additional information to help people understand the change here -->
+<!--- A step-by-step reproduction of the problem is helpful if there is no related issue -->
+
+<!--- Paste verbatim command output below, e.g. before and after your change -->
+
+```paste below
+
+```

.github/RELEASE_NAMES.txt

@@ -0,0 +1,19 @@
+2.18.0  Fool in the Rain
+2.17.0  Gallows Pole
+2.16.0  All My Love
+2.15.0  Ten Years Gone
+2.14.0  C'mon Everybody
+2.13.0  Nobody's Fault but Mine
+2.12.0  Dazed and Confused
+2.11.0  Hey Hey, What Can I Do
+2.10.0  When the Levee Breaks
+2.9.0   Immigrant Song
+2.8.0   How Many More Times
+2.7.0   In the Light
+2.6.0   Heartbreaker
+2.5.0   Kashmir
+2.4.0   Dancing Days
+2.3.0   Ramble On
+2.2.0   The Battle of Evermore
+2.1.0   The Song Remains the Same
+2.0.0   Over the Hills and Far Away

.github/RELEASE_NAMES.yml

@@ -1,15 +0,0 @@
----
-- 2.13.0  Nobody's Fault but Mine
-- 2.12.0  Dazed and Confused
-- 2.11.0  Hey Hey, What Can I Do
-- 2.10.0  When the Levee Breaks
-- 2.9.0   Immigrant Song
-- 2.8.0   How Many More Times
-- 2.7.0   In the Light
-- 2.6.0   Heartbreaker
-- 2.5.0   Kashmir
-- 2.4.0   Dancing Days
-- 2.3.0   Ramble On
-- 2.2.0   The Battle of Evermore
-- 2.1.0   The Song Remains the Same
-- 2.0.0   Over the Hills and Far Away

.gitignore

@@ -38,6 +38,7 @@ docs/docsite/rst/cli/ansible-*.rst
 docs/docsite/rst/cli/ansible.rst
 docs/docsite/rst/dev_guide/collections_galaxy_meta.rst
 docs/docsite/rst/dev_guide/testing/sanity/index.rst.new
+docs/docsite/rst/dev_guide/index.rst
 docs/docsite/rst/modules/*.rst
 docs/docsite/rst/collections/*.rst
 !docs/docsite/rst/collections/all_plugins.rst
@@ -72,7 +73,16 @@ coverage.xml
 /test/cache/*
 # Development
 /test/develop
+# Environments
+.env
+.venv
+env/
+venv/
+ENV/
+env.bak/
+venv.bak/
 venv
+env
 Vagrantfile
 .vagrant
 # Backwards compatibility with `stable-2.9` and earlier branches.
@@ -82,6 +92,8 @@ Vagrantfile
 /lib/ansible_base.egg-info/
 # First used in the `devel` branch during Ansible 2.11 development.
 /lib/ansible_core.egg-info/
+# First used in the `devel` branch during Ansible 2.18 development.
+/ansible_core.egg-info/
 # vendored lib dir
 lib/ansible/_vendor/*
 !lib/ansible/_vendor/__init__.py
@@ -89,8 +101,6 @@ lib/ansible/_vendor/*
 /test/integration/cloud-config-*.*
 !/test/integration/cloud-config-*.*.template
 .python-version
-/hacking/tests/selinux/*.mod
-/hacking/tests/selinux/*.pp
 # Release directory
 packaging/release/ansible_release
 /.cache/

COPYING

@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
                     GNU GENERAL PUBLIC LICENSE
                        Version 3, 29 June 2007
 
- Copyright (C) 2007 Free Software Foundation, Inc. <http://fsf.org/>
+ Copyright (C) 2007 Free Software Foundation, Inc. <https://fsf.org/>
  Everyone is permitted to copy and distribute verbatim copies
  of this license document, but changing it is not allowed.
 
@@ -645,7 +645,7 @@ the "copyright" line and a pointer to where the full notice is found.
     GNU General Public License for more details.
 
     You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
-    along with this program.  If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
+    along with this program.  If not, see <https://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
 
 Also add information on how to contact you by electronic and paper mail.
 
@@ -664,12 +664,11 @@ might be different; for a GUI interface, you would use an "about box".
   You should also get your employer (if you work as a programmer) or school,
 if any, to sign a "copyright disclaimer" for the program, if necessary.
 For more information on this, and how to apply and follow the GNU GPL, see
-<http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
+<https://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
 
   The GNU General Public License does not permit incorporating your program
 into proprietary programs.  If your program is a subroutine library, you
 may consider it more useful to permit linking proprietary applications with
 the library.  If this is what you want to do, use the GNU Lesser General
 Public License instead of this License.  But first, please read
-<http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/why-not-lgpl.html>.
-
+<https://www.gnu.org/licenses/why-not-lgpl.html>.

MANIFEST.in

@@ -1,50 +1,10 @@
-include README.rst
 include COPYING
-include SYMLINK_CACHE.json
-include requirements.txt
-recursive-include docs *
-include docs/docsite/rst/collections/all_plugins.rst
-exclude docs/docsite/rst_warnings
-exclude docs/docsite/rst/conf.py
-exclude docs/docsite/rst/index.rst
-exclude docs/docsite/rst/dev_guide/testing/sanity/bin-symlinks.rst
-exclude docs/docsite/rst/dev_guide/testing/sanity/botmeta.rst
-exclude docs/docsite/rst/dev_guide/testing/sanity/integration-aliases.rst
-exclude docs/docsite/rst/dev_guide/testing/sanity/release-names.rst
-recursive-exclude docs/docsite/_build *
-recursive-exclude docs/docsite/_extensions *.pyc *.pyo
-include examples/hosts
-include examples/ansible.cfg
-include examples/scripts/ConfigureRemotingForAnsible.ps1
-include examples/scripts/upgrade_to_ps3.ps1
-include lib/ansible/keyword_desc.yml
-recursive-include lib/ansible/executor/powershell *.ps1
-recursive-include lib/ansible/module_utils/csharp *.cs
-recursive-include lib/ansible/module_utils/powershell *.psm1
-recursive-include lib/ansible/modules/windows *.ps1
-recursive-include lib/ansible/galaxy/data *.yml *.j2 README.md ansible.cfg inventory .git_keep
-recursive-include lib/ansible/config *.yml
-recursive-include licenses *.txt
-recursive-include packaging *
-recursive-include test/ansible_test *.py Makefile
-recursive-include test/integration *
-recursive-include test/lib/ansible_test/config *.yml *.template
-recursive-include test/lib/ansible_test/_data *.cfg *.in *.ini *.ps1 *.txt *.yml coveragerc
-recursive-include test/lib/ansible_test/_util *.cfg *.ini *.json *.ps1 *.psd1 *.py *.sh *.txt *.yml
-recursive-include test/lib/ansible_test/_util/controller/sanity/validate-modules validate-modules
-recursive-include test/sanity *.in *.json *.py *.txt
-recursive-include test/support *.py *.ps1 *.psm1 *.cs
-exclude test/sanity/code-smell/botmeta.*
-exclude test/sanity/code-smell/release-names.*
-exclude test/lib/ansible_test/_internal/commands/sanity/bin_symlinks.py
-exclude test/lib/ansible_test/_internal/commands/sanity/integration_aliases.py
-recursive-include test/units *
-include Makefile
-include MANIFEST.in
 include changelogs/CHANGELOG*.rst
 include changelogs/changelog.yaml
-recursive-include hacking/build_library *.py
-include hacking/build-ansible.py
-include hacking/test-module.py
-include hacking/update-sanity-requirements.py
-include bin/*
+include licenses/*.txt
+include requirements.txt
+recursive-include packaging *.py *.j2
+recursive-include test/integration *
+recursive-include test/sanity *.in *.json *.py *.txt *.ini
+recursive-include test/support *.py *.ps1 *.psm1 *.cs *.md
+recursive-include test/units *

Makefile

@@ -1,154 +0,0 @@
-# WARN: gmake syntax
-########################################################
-# Makefile for Ansible
-#
-# useful targets:
-#   make clean ---------------- clean up
-#   make sdist ---------------- produce a tarball
-#   make tests ---------------- run the tests (see https://docs.ansible.com/ansible/devel/dev_guide/testing_units.html for requirements)
-
-########################################################
-# variable section
-
-NAME = ansible-core
-OS = $(shell uname -s)
-PREFIX ?= '/usr/local'
-SDIST_DIR ?= 'dist'
-
-# This doesn't evaluate until it's called. The -D argument is the
-# directory of the target file ($@), kinda like `dirname`.
-MANPAGES ?= $(patsubst %.rst.in,%,$(wildcard ./docs/man/man1/ansible*.1.rst.in))
-ifneq ($(shell which rst2man 2>/dev/null),)
-ASCII2MAN = rst2man $< $@
-else ifneq ($(shell which rst2man.py 2>/dev/null),)
-ASCII2MAN = rst2man.py $< $@
-else
-ASCII2MAN = @echo "ERROR: rst2man from docutils command is not installed but is required to build $(MANPAGES)" && exit 1
-endif
-
-PYTHON ?= python
-GENERATE_CLI = hacking/build-ansible.py generate-man
-
-# fetch version from project release.py as single source-of-truth
-VERSION := $(shell $(PYTHON) packaging/release/versionhelper/version_helper.py --raw || echo error)
-ifeq ($(findstring error,$(VERSION)), error)
-$(error "version_helper failed")
-endif
-
-# ansible-test parameters
-ANSIBLE_TEST ?= bin/ansible-test
-TEST_FLAGS ?=
-
-# ansible-test units parameters (make test / make test-py3)
-PYTHON_VERSION ?= $(shell python2 -c 'import sys; print("%s.%s" % sys.version_info[:2])')
-PYTHON3_VERSION ?= $(shell python3 -c 'import sys; print("%s.%s" % sys.version_info[:2])')
-
-# ansible-test integration parameters (make integration)
-IMAGE ?= centos7
-TARGET ?=
-
-########################################################
-
-.PHONY: all
-all: clean python
-
-.PHONY: tests
-tests:
-	$(ANSIBLE_TEST) units -v --python $(PYTHON_VERSION) $(TEST_FLAGS)
-
-.PHONY: tests-py3
-tests-py3:
-	$(ANSIBLE_TEST) units -v --python $(PYTHON3_VERSION) $(TEST_FLAGS)
-
-.PHONY: integration
-integration:
-	$(ANSIBLE_TEST) integration -v --docker $(IMAGE) $(TARGET) $(TEST_FLAGS)
-
-# Regenerate %.1.rst if %.1.rst.in has been modified more
-# recently than %.1.rst.
-%.1.rst: %.1.rst.in
-	sed "s/%VERSION%/$(VERSION)/" $< > $@
-	rm $<
-
-# Regenerate %.1 if %.1.rst or release.py has been modified more
-# recently than %.1. (Implicitly runs the %.1.rst recipe)
-%.1: %.1.rst lib/ansible/release.py
-	$(ASCII2MAN)
-
-.PHONY: clean
-clean:
-	@echo "Cleaning up distutils stuff"
-	rm -rf build
-	rm -rf dist
-	rm -rf lib/ansible*.egg-info/
-	@echo "Cleaning up byte compiled python stuff"
-	find . -type f -regex ".*\.py[co]$$" -delete
-	find . -type d -name "__pycache__" -delete
-	@echo "Cleaning up editor backup files"
-	find . -type f -not -path ./test/units/inventory_test_data/group_vars/noparse/all.yml~ \( -name "*~" -or -name "#*" \) -delete
-	find . -type f \( -name "*.swp" \) -delete
-	@echo "Cleaning up manpage stuff"
-	find ./docs/man -type f -name "*.xml" -delete
-	find ./docs/man -type f -name "*.rst" -delete
-	find ./docs/man/man3 -type f -name "*.3" -delete
-	rm -f ./docs/man/man1/*
-	@echo "Cleaning up output from test runs"
-	rm -rf test/test_data
-	rm -rf logs/
-	rm -rf .cache/
-	rm -f test/units/.coverage*
-	rm -rf test/results/*/*
-	find test/ -type f -name '*.retry' -delete
-	@echo "Cleaning up symlink cache"
-	rm -f SYMLINK_CACHE.json
-	rm -rf docs/json
-	rm -rf docs/js
-	@echo "Cleaning up docsite"
-	$(MAKE) -C docs/docsite clean
-
-.PHONY: python
-python:
-	$(PYTHON) setup.py build
-
-.PHONY: install
-install:
-	$(PYTHON) setup.py install
-
-install_manpages:
-	gzip -9 $(wildcard ./docs/man/man1/ansible*.1)
-	cp $(wildcard ./docs/man/man1/ansible*.1.gz) $(PREFIX)/man/man1/
-
-.PHONY: sdist_check
-sdist_check:
-	$(PYTHON) -c 'import setuptools, sys; sys.exit(int(not (tuple(map(int, setuptools.__version__.split("."))) > (39, 2, 0))))'
-	$(PYTHON) packaging/sdist/check-link-behavior.py
-
-.PHONY: sdist
-sdist: sdist_check clean docs
-	_ANSIBLE_SDIST_FROM_MAKEFILE=1 $(PYTHON) setup.py sdist --dist-dir=$(SDIST_DIR)
-
-# Official releases generate the changelog as the last commit before the release.
-# Snapshots shouldn't result in new checkins so the changelog is generated as
-# part of creating the tarball.
-.PHONY: snapshot
-snapshot: sdist_check clean docs changelog
-	_ANSIBLE_SDIST_FROM_MAKEFILE=1 $(PYTHON) setup.py sdist --dist-dir=$(SDIST_DIR)
-
-.PHONY: sdist_upload
-sdist_upload: clean docs
-	$(PYTHON) setup.py sdist upload 2>&1 |tee upload.log
-
-.PHONY: changelog
-changelog:
-	PYTHONPATH=./lib antsibull-changelog release -vv --use-ansible-doc && PYTHONPATH=./lib antsibull-changelog generate -vv --use-ansible-doc
-
-.PHONY: generate_rst
-generate_rst: lib/ansible/cli/*.py
-	mkdir -p ./docs/man/man1/ ; \
-	$(PYTHON) $(GENERATE_CLI) --template-file=docs/templates/man.j2 --output-dir=docs/man/man1/ --output-format man lib/ansible/cli/*.py
-
-docs: generate_rst
-	$(MAKE) $(MANPAGES)
-
-version:
-	@echo $(VERSION)

README.md

@@ -0,0 +1,101 @@
+[![PyPI version](https://img.shields.io/pypi/v/ansible-core.svg)](https://pypi.org/project/ansible-core)
+[![Docs badge](https://img.shields.io/badge/docs-latest-brightgreen.svg)](https://docs.ansible.com/ansible/latest/)
+[![Chat badge](https://img.shields.io/badge/chat-IRC-brightgreen.svg)](https://docs.ansible.com/ansible/devel/community/communication.html)
+[![Build Status](https://dev.azure.com/ansible/ansible/_apis/build/status/CI?branchName=devel)](https://dev.azure.com/ansible/ansible/_build/latest?definitionId=20&branchName=devel)
+[![Ansible Code of Conduct](https://img.shields.io/badge/code%20of%20conduct-Ansible-silver.svg)](https://docs.ansible.com/ansible/devel/community/code_of_conduct.html)
+[![Ansible mailing lists](https://img.shields.io/badge/mailing%20lists-Ansible-orange.svg)](https://docs.ansible.com/ansible/devel/community/communication.html#mailing-list-information)
+[![Repository License](https://img.shields.io/badge/license-GPL%20v3.0-brightgreen.svg)](COPYING)
+[![Ansible CII Best Practices certification](https://bestpractices.coreinfrastructure.org/projects/2372/badge)](https://bestpractices.coreinfrastructure.org/projects/2372)
+
+# Ansible
+
+Ansible is a radically simple IT automation system. It handles
+configuration management, application deployment, cloud provisioning,
+ad-hoc task execution, network automation, and multi-node orchestration. Ansible makes complex
+changes like zero-downtime rolling updates with load balancers easy. More information on the Ansible [website](https://ansible.com/).
+
+## Design Principles
+
+* Have an extremely simple setup process with a minimal learning curve.
+* Manage machines quickly and in parallel.
+* Avoid custom-agents and additional open ports, be agentless by
+  leveraging the existing SSH daemon.
+* Describe infrastructure in a language that is both machine and human
+  friendly.
+* Focus on security and easy auditability/review/rewriting of content.
+* Manage new remote machines instantly, without bootstrapping any
+  software.
+* Allow module development in any dynamic language, not just Python.
+* Be usable as non-root.
+* Be the easiest IT automation system to use, ever.
+
+## Use Ansible
+
+You can install a released version of Ansible with `pip` or a package manager. See our
+[installation guide](https://docs.ansible.com/ansible/latest/installation_guide/intro_installation.html) for details on installing Ansible
+on a variety of platforms.
+
+Power users and developers can run the `devel` branch, which has the latest
+features and fixes, directly. Although it is reasonably stable, you are more likely to encounter
+breaking changes when running the `devel` branch. We recommend getting involved
+in the Ansible community if you want to run the `devel` branch.
+
+## Communication
+
+Join the Ansible forum to ask questions, get help, and interact with the
+community.
+
+* [Get Help](https://forum.ansible.com/c/help/6): Find help or share your Ansible knowledge to help others.
+  Use tags to filter and subscribe to posts, such as the following:
+  * Posts tagged with [ansible](https://forum.ansible.com/tag/ansible)
+  * Posts tagged with [ansible-core](https://forum.ansible.com/tag/ansible-core)
+  * Posts tagged with [playbook](https://forum.ansible.com/tag/playbook)
+* [Social Spaces](https://forum.ansible.com/c/chat/4): Meet and interact with fellow enthusiasts.
+* [News & Announcements](https://forum.ansible.com/c/news/5): Track project-wide announcements including social events.
+* [Bullhorn newsletter](https://docs.ansible.com/ansible/devel/community/communication.html#the-bullhorn): Get release announcements and important changes.
+
+For more ways to get in touch, see [Communicating with the Ansible community](https://docs.ansible.com/ansible/devel/community/communication.html).
+
+## Contribute to Ansible
+
+* Check out the [Contributor's Guide](./.github/CONTRIBUTING.md).
+* Read [Community Information](https://docs.ansible.com/ansible/devel/community) for all
+  kinds of ways to contribute to and interact with the project,
+  including how to submit bug reports and code to Ansible.
+* Submit a proposed code update through a pull request to the `devel` branch.
+* Talk to us before making larger changes
+  to avoid duplicate efforts. This not only helps everyone
+  know what is going on, but it also helps save time and effort if we decide
+  some changes are needed.
+
+## Coding Guidelines
+
+We document our Coding Guidelines in the [Developer Guide](https://docs.ansible.com/ansible/devel/dev_guide/). We particularly suggest you review:
+
+* [Contributing your module to Ansible](https://docs.ansible.com/ansible/devel/dev_guide/developing_modules_checklist.html)
+* [Conventions, tips, and pitfalls](https://docs.ansible.com/ansible/devel/dev_guide/developing_modules_best_practices.html)
+
+## Branch Info
+
+* The `devel` branch corresponds to the release actively under development.
+* The `stable-2.X` branches correspond to stable releases.
+* Create a branch based on `devel` and set up a [dev environment](https://docs.ansible.com/ansible/devel/dev_guide/developing_modules_general.html#common-environment-setup) if you want to open a PR.
+* See the [Ansible release and maintenance](https://docs.ansible.com/ansible/devel/reference_appendices/release_and_maintenance.html) page for information about active branches.
+
+## Roadmap
+
+Based on team and community feedback, an initial roadmap will be published for a major or minor version (ex: 2.7, 2.8).
+The [Ansible Roadmap page](https://docs.ansible.com/ansible/devel/roadmap/) details what is planned and how to influence the roadmap.
+
+## Authors
+
+Ansible was created by [Michael DeHaan](https://github.com/mpdehaan)
+and has contributions from over 5000 users (and growing). Thanks everyone!
+
+[Ansible](https://www.ansible.com) is sponsored by [Red Hat, Inc.](https://www.redhat.com)
+
+## License
+
+GNU General Public License v3.0 or later
+
+See [COPYING](COPYING) to see the full text.

README.rst

@@ -1,115 +0,0 @@
-|PyPI version| |Docs badge| |Chat badge| |Build Status| |Code Of Conduct| |Mailing Lists| |License| |CII Best Practices|
-
-*******
-Ansible
-*******
-
-Ansible is a radically simple IT automation system. It handles
-configuration management, application deployment, cloud provisioning,
-ad-hoc task execution, network automation, and multi-node orchestration. Ansible makes complex
-changes like zero-downtime rolling updates with load balancers easy. More information on the Ansible `website <https://ansible.com/>`_.
-
-Design Principles
-=================
-
-*  Have an extremely simple setup process with a minimal learning curve.
-*  Manage machines quickly and in parallel.
-*  Avoid custom-agents and additional open ports, be agentless by
-   leveraging the existing SSH daemon.
-*  Describe infrastructure in a language that is both machine and human
-   friendly.
-*  Focus on security and easy auditability/review/rewriting of content.
-*  Manage new remote machines instantly, without bootstrapping any
-   software.
-*  Allow module development in any dynamic language, not just Python.
-*  Be usable as non-root.
-*  Be the easiest IT automation system to use, ever.
-
-Use Ansible
-===========
-
-You can install a released version of Ansible with ``pip`` or a package manager. See our
-`installation guide <https://docs.ansible.com/ansible/latest/installation_guide/intro_installation.html>`_ for details on installing Ansible
-on a variety of platforms.
-
-Power users and developers can run the ``devel`` branch, which has the latest
-features and fixes, directly. Although it is reasonably stable, you are more likely to encounter
-breaking changes when running the ``devel`` branch. We recommend getting involved
-in the Ansible community if you want to run the ``devel`` branch.
-
-Get Involved
-============
-
-*  Read `Community
-   Information <https://docs.ansible.com/ansible/latest/community>`_ for all
-   kinds of ways to contribute to and interact with the project,
-   including mailing list information and how to submit bug reports and
-   code to Ansible.
-*  Join a `Working Group
-   <https://github.com/ansible/community/wiki>`_, an organized community devoted to a specific technology domain or platform.
-*  Submit a proposed code update through a pull request to the ``devel`` branch.
-*  Talk to us before making larger changes
-   to avoid duplicate efforts. This not only helps everyone
-   know what is going on, but it also helps save time and effort if we decide
-   some changes are needed.
-*  For a list of email lists, IRC channels and Working Groups, see the
-   `Communication page <https://docs.ansible.com/ansible/latest/community/communication.html>`_
-
-Coding Guidelines
-=================
-
-We document our Coding Guidelines in the `Developer Guide <https://docs.ansible.com/ansible/devel/dev_guide/>`_. We particularly suggest you review:
-
-* `Contributing your module to Ansible <https://docs.ansible.com/ansible/devel/dev_guide/developing_modules_checklist.html>`_
-* `Conventions, tips, and pitfalls <https://docs.ansible.com/ansible/devel/dev_guide/developing_modules_best_practices.html>`_
-
-Branch Info
-===========
-
-*  The ``devel`` branch corresponds to the release actively under development.
-*  The ``stable-2.X`` branches correspond to stable releases.
-*  Create a branch based on ``devel`` and set up a `dev environment <https://docs.ansible.com/ansible/latest/dev_guide/developing_modules_general.html#common-environment-setup>`_ if you want to open a PR.
-*  See the `Ansible release and maintenance <https://docs.ansible.com/ansible/devel/reference_appendices/release_and_maintenance.html>`_ page for information about active branches.
-
-Roadmap
-=======
-
-Based on team and community feedback, an initial roadmap will be published for a major or minor version (ex: 2.7, 2.8).
-The `Ansible Roadmap page <https://docs.ansible.com/ansible/devel/roadmap/>`_ details what is planned and how to influence the roadmap.
-
-Authors
-=======
-
-Ansible was created by `Michael DeHaan <https://github.com/mpdehaan>`_
-and has contributions from over 5000 users (and growing). Thanks everyone!
-
-`Ansible <https://www.ansible.com>`_ is sponsored by `Red Hat, Inc.
-<https://www.redhat.com>`_
-
-License
-=======
-
-GNU General Public License v3.0 or later
-
-See `COPYING <COPYING>`_ to see the full text.
-
-.. |PyPI version| image:: https://img.shields.io/pypi/v/ansible-core.svg
-   :target: https://pypi.org/project/ansible-core
-.. |Docs badge| image:: https://img.shields.io/badge/docs-latest-brightgreen.svg
-   :target: https://docs.ansible.com/ansible/latest/
-.. |Build Status| image:: https://dev.azure.com/ansible/ansible/_apis/build/status/CI?branchName=devel
-   :target: https://dev.azure.com/ansible/ansible/_build/latest?definitionId=20&branchName=devel
-.. |Chat badge| image:: https://img.shields.io/badge/chat-IRC-brightgreen.svg
-   :target: https://docs.ansible.com/ansible/latest/community/communication.html
-.. |Code Of Conduct| image:: https://img.shields.io/badge/code%20of%20conduct-Ansible-silver.svg
-   :target: https://docs.ansible.com/ansible/latest/community/code_of_conduct.html
-   :alt: Ansible Code of Conduct
-.. |Mailing Lists| image:: https://img.shields.io/badge/mailing%20lists-Ansible-orange.svg
-   :target: https://docs.ansible.com/ansible/latest/community/communication.html#mailing-list-information
-   :alt: Ansible mailing lists
-.. |License| image:: https://img.shields.io/badge/license-GPL%20v3.0-brightgreen.svg
-   :target: COPYING
-   :alt: Repository License
-.. |CII Best Practices| image:: https://bestpractices.coreinfrastructure.org/projects/2372/badge
-   :target: https://bestpractices.coreinfrastructure.org/projects/2372
-   :alt: Ansible CII Best Practices certification

bin/ansible-connection

@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-../lib/ansible/cli/scripts/ansible_connection_cli_stub.py

changelogs/CHANGELOG-v2.18.rst

@@ -0,0 +1,360 @@
+==================================================
+ansible-core 2.18 "Fool in the Rain" Release Notes
+==================================================
+
+.. contents:: Topics
+
+v2.18.4rc1
+==========
+
+Release Summary
+---------------
+
+| Release Date: 2025-03-17
+| `Porting Guide <https://docs.ansible.com/ansible-core/2.18/porting_guides/porting_guide_core_2.18.html>`__
+
+Bugfixes
+--------
+
+- Windows - add support for running on system where WDAC is in audit mode with ``Dynamic Code Security`` enabled.
+- dnf5 - fix ``is_installed`` check for packages that are not installed but listed as provided by an installed package (https://github.com/ansible/ansible/issues/84578)
+- dnf5 - libdnf5 - use ``conf.pkg_gpgcheck`` instead of deprecated ``conf.gpgcheck`` which is used only as a fallback
+- facts - gather pagesize and calculate respective values depending upon architecture (https://github.com/ansible/ansible/issues/84773).
+- module respawn - limit to supported Python versions
+
+v2.18.3
+=======
+
+Release Summary
+---------------
+
+| Release Date: 2025-02-24
+| `Porting Guide <https://docs.ansible.com/ansible-core/2.18/porting_guides/porting_guide_core_2.18.html>`__
+
+Minor Changes
+-------------
+
+- ansible-test - Automatically retry HTTP GET/PUT/DELETE requests on exceptions.
+- ansible-test - Use Python's ``urllib`` instead of ``curl`` for HTTP requests.
+
+Bugfixes
+--------
+
+- include_vars - fixed erroneous warning if an unreserved variable name contains a single character that matches a reserved variable. (https://github.com/ansible/ansible/issues/84623)
+- linear strategy - fix executing ``end_role`` meta tasks for each host, instead of handling these as implicit run_once tasks (https://github.com/ansible/ansible/issues/84660).
+
+v2.18.2
+=======
+
+Release Summary
+---------------
+
+| Release Date: 2025-01-27
+| `Porting Guide <https://docs.ansible.com/ansible-core/2.18/porting_guides/porting_guide_core_2.18.html>`__
+
+Bugfixes
+--------
+
+- Ansible will now also warn when reserved keywords are set via a module (set_fact, include_vars, etc).
+- Ansible.Basic - Fix ``required_if`` check when the option value to check is unset or set to null.
+- Use consistent multiprocessing context for action write locks
+- ansible-test - Fix up coverage reporting to properly translate the temporary path of integration test modules to the expected static test module path.
+- ansible-vault will now correctly handle `--prompt`, previously it would issue an error about stdin if no 2nd argument was passed
+- copy action now prevents user from setting internal options.
+- gather_facts action now defaults to `ansible.legacy.setup` if `smart` was set, no network OS was found and no other alias for `setup` was present.
+- gather_facts action will now issues errors and warnings as appropriate if a network OS is detected but no facts modules are defined for it.
+- ssh - Improve the logic for parsing CLIXML data in stderr when working with Windows host. This fixes issues when the raw stderr contains invalid UTF-8 byte sequences and improves embedded CLIXML sequences.
+- ssh - connection options were incorrectly templated during ``reset_connection`` tasks (https://github.com/ansible/ansible/pull/84238).
+
+v2.18.1
+=======
+
+Release Summary
+---------------
+
+| Release Date: 2024-12-02
+| `Porting Guide <https://docs.ansible.com/ansible-core/2.18/porting_guides/porting_guide_core_2.18.html>`__
+
+Minor Changes
+-------------
+
+- ansible-test - When detection of the current container network fails, a warning is now issued and execution continues. This simplifies usage in cases where the current container cannot be inspected, such as when running in GitHub Codespaces.
+
+Security Fixes
+--------------
+
+- Templating will not prefer AnsibleUnsafe when a variable is referenced via hostvars - CVE-2024-11079
+
+Bugfixes
+--------
+
+- Fix returning 'unreachable' for the overall task result. This prevents false positives when a looped task has unignored unreachable items (https://github.com/ansible/ansible/issues/84019).
+- ansible-test - Fix traceback that occurs after an interactive command fails.
+- dnf5 - fix installing a package using ``state=latest`` when a binary of the same name as the package is already installed (https://github.com/ansible/ansible/issues/84259)
+- dnf5 - matching on a binary can be achieved only by specifying a full path (https://github.com/ansible/ansible/issues/84334)
+- runas become - Fix up become logic to still get the SYSTEM token with the most privileges when running as SYSTEM.
+
+v2.18.0
+=======
+
+Release Summary
+---------------
+
+| Release Date: 2024-11-04
+| `Porting Guide <https://docs.ansible.com/ansible-core/2.18/porting_guides/porting_guide_core_2.18.html>`__
+
+Minor Changes
+-------------
+
+- Add ``gid_min``, ``gid_max`` to the group plugin to overwrite the defaults provided by the ``/etc/login.defs`` file (https://github.com/ansible/ansible/pull/81770).
+- Add ``python3.13`` to the default ``INTERPRETER_PYTHON_FALLBACK`` list.
+- Add ``uid_min``, ``uid_max`` to the user plugin to overwrite the defaults provided by the ``/etc/login.defs`` file (https://github.com/ansible/ansible/pull/81770).
+- Add a new meta task ``end_role`` (https://github.com/ansible/ansible/issues/22286)
+- Add a new mount_facts module to support gathering information about mounts that are excluded by default fact gathering.
+- Introducing COLOR_INCLUDED parameter. This can set a specific color for "included" events.
+- Removed the shell ``environment`` config entry as this is already covered by the play/task directives documentation and the value itself is not used in the shell plugins. This should remove any confusion around how people set the environment for a task.
+- Suppress cryptography deprecation warnings for Blowfish and TripleDES when the ``paramiko`` Python module is installed.
+- The minimum supported Python version on targets is now Python 3.8.
+- ``ansible-galaxy collection publish`` - add configuration options for the initial poll interval and the exponential when checking the import status of a collection, since the default is relatively slow.
+- ansible-config has new 'validate' option to find mispelled/forgein configurations in ini file or environment variables.
+- ansible-doc - show examples in role entrypoint argument specs (https://github.com/ansible/ansible/pull/82671).
+- ansible-galaxy - Handle authentication errors and token expiration
+- ansible-test - Add Ubuntu 24.04 remote.
+- ansible-test - Add support for Python 3.13.
+- ansible-test - An ``ansible_core.egg-info`` directory is no longer generated when running tests.
+- ansible-test - Connection options can be set for ansible-test managed remote Windows instances.
+- ansible-test - Default to Python 3.13 in the ``base`` and ``default`` containers.
+- ansible-test - Disable the ``deprecated-`` prefixed ``pylint`` rules as their results vary by Python version.
+- ansible-test - Improve container runtime probe error handling. When unexpected probe output is encountered, an error with more useful debugging information is provided.
+- ansible-test - Improve the error message shown when an unknown ``--remote`` or ``--docker`` option is given.
+- ansible-test - Remove Python 2.7 compatibility imports.
+- ansible-test - Removed the ``vyos/1.1.8`` network remote as it is no longer functional.
+- ansible-test - Replace Alpine 3.19 container and remote with Alpine 3.20.
+- ansible-test - Replace Fedora 39 container and remote with Fedora 40.
+- ansible-test - Replace FreeBSD 14.0 remote with FreeBSD 14.1.
+- ansible-test - Replace RHEL 9.3 remote with RHEL 9.4.
+- ansible-test - Replace Ubuntu 20.04 container with Ubuntu 24.04 container.
+- ansible-test - The ``empty-init`` sanity test no longer applies to ``module_utils`` packages.
+- ansible-test - Update ``ansible-test-utility-container`` to version 3.1.0.
+- ansible-test - Update ``base`` and ``default`` containers to omit Python 3.7.
+- ansible-test - Update ``coverage`` to version 7.6.1.
+- ansible-test - Update ``http-test-container`` to version 3.0.0.
+- ansible-test - Update ``nios-test-container`` to version 5.0.0.
+- ansible-test - Update ``pylint`` sanity test to use version 3.3.1.
+- ansible-test - Update ``pypi-test-container`` to version 3.2.0.
+- ansible-test - Update the ``base`` and ``default`` containers.
+- ansible-test - Updated the frozen requirements for all sanity tests.
+- ansible-test - Upgrade ``pip`` used in ansible-test managed virtual environments from version 24.0 to 24.2.
+- ansible-test - Virtual environments created by ansible-test no longer include the ``wheel`` or ``setuptools`` packages.
+- ansible-test - update HTTP test container to 3.2.0 (https://github.com/ansible/ansible/pull/83469).
+- ansible.log now also shows log severity field
+- distribution.py - Added SL-Micro in Suse OS Family. (https://github.com/ansible/ansible/pull/83541)
+- dnf - minor internal changes in how the errors from the dnf API are handled; rely solely on the exceptions rather than inspecting text embedded in them
+- dnf - remove legacy code for unsupported dnf versions
+- dnf5 - implement ``enable_plugin`` and ``disable_plugin`` options
+- fact gathering - Gather /proc/sysinfo facts on s390 Linux on Z
+- facts - add systemd version and features
+- find - change the datatype of ``elements`` to ``path`` in option ``paths`` (https://github.com/ansible/ansible/pull/83575).
+- ini lookup - add new ``interpolation`` option (https://github.com/ansible/ansible/issues/83755)
+- isidentifier - remove unwanted Python 2 specific code.
+- loop_control - add a break_when option to to break out of a task loop early based on Jinja2 expressions (https://github.com/ansible/ansible/issues/83442).
+- package_facts module now supports using aliases for supported package managers, for example managers=yum or managers=dnf will resolve to using the underlying rpm.
+- plugins, deprecations and warnings concerning configuration are now displayed to the user, technical issue that prevented 'de-duplication' have been resolved.
+- psrp - Remove connection plugin extras vars lookup. This should have no affect on existing users as all options have been documented.
+- remove extraneous selinux import (https://github.com/ansible/ansible/issues/83657).
+- replace random with secrets library.
+- rpm_key - allow validation of gpg key with a subkey fingerprint
+- rpm_key - enable gpg validation that requires presence of multiple fingerprints
+- service_mgr - add support for dinit service manager (https://github.com/ansible/ansible/pull/83489).
+- task timeout now returns timedout key with frame/code that was in execution when the timeout is triggered.
+- timedout test for checking if a task result represents a 'timed out' task.
+- unarchive - Remove Python 2.7 compatibility imports.
+- validate-modules sanity test - detect if names of an option (option name + aliases) do not match between argument spec and documentation (https://github.com/ansible/ansible/issues/83598, https://github.com/ansible/ansible/pull/83599).
+- validate-modules sanity test - reject option/aliases names that are identical up to casing but belong to different options (https://github.com/ansible/ansible/pull/83530).
+- vaulted_file test filter added, to test if the provided path is an 'Ansible vaulted' file
+- yum_repository - add ``excludepkgs`` alias to the ``exclude`` option.
+
+Breaking Changes / Porting Guide
+--------------------------------
+
+- Stopped wrapping all commands sent over SSH on a Windows target with a ``powershell.exe`` executable. This results in one less process being started on each command for Windows to improve efficiency, simplify the code, and make ``raw`` an actual raw command run with the default shell configured on the Windows sshd settings. This should have no affect on most tasks except for ``raw`` which now is not guaranteed to always be running in a PowerShell shell and from having the console output codepage set to UTF-8. To avoid this issue either swap to using ``ansible.windows.win_command``, ``ansible.windows.win_shell``, ``ansible.windows.win_powershell`` or manually wrap the raw command with the shell commands needed to set the output console encoding.
+- persistent connection plugins - The ``ANSIBLE_CONNECTION_PATH`` config option no longer has any effect.
+
+Deprecated Features
+-------------------
+
+- Deprecate ``ansible.module_utils.basic.AnsibleModule.safe_eval`` and ``ansible.module_utils.common.safe_eval`` as they are no longer used.
+- persistent connection plugins - The ``ANSIBLE_CONNECTION_PATH`` config option no longer has any effect, and will be removed in a future release.
+- yum_repository - deprecate ``async`` option as it has been removed in RHEL 8 and will be removed in ansible-core 2.22.
+- yum_repository - the following options are deprecated: ``deltarpm_metadata_percentage``, ``gpgcakey``, ``http_caching``, ``keepalive``, ``metadata_expire_filter``, ``mirrorlist_expire``, ``protect``, ``ssl_check_cert_permissions``, ``ui_repoid_vars`` as they have no effect for dnf as an underlying package manager. The options will be removed in ansible-core 2.22.
+
+Removed Features (previously deprecated)
+----------------------------------------
+
+- Play - removed deprecated ``ROLE_CACHE`` property in favor of ``role_cache``.
+- Remove deprecated `VariableManager._get_delegated_vars` method (https://github.com/ansible/ansible/issues/82950)
+- Removed Python 3.10 as a supported version on the controller. Python 3.11 or newer is required.
+- Removed support for setting the ``vars`` keyword to lists of dictionaries. It is now required to be a single dictionary.
+- loader - remove deprecated non-inclusive words (https://github.com/ansible/ansible/issues/82947).
+- paramiko_ssh - removed deprecated ssh_args from the paramiko_ssh connection plugin (https://github.com/ansible/ansible/issues/82939).
+- paramiko_ssh - removed deprecated ssh_common_args from the paramiko_ssh connection plugin (https://github.com/ansible/ansible/issues/82940).
+- paramiko_ssh - removed deprecated ssh_extra_args from the paramiko_ssh connection plugin (https://github.com/ansible/ansible/issues/82941).
+- play_context - remove deprecated PlayContext.verbosity property (https://github.com/ansible/ansible/issues/82945).
+- utils/listify - remove deprecated 'loader' argument from listify_lookup_plugin_terms API (https://github.com/ansible/ansible/issues/82949).
+
+Security Fixes
+--------------
+
+- include_vars action - Ensure that result masking is correctly requested when vault-encrypted files are read. (CVE-2024-8775)
+- task result processing - Ensure that action-sourced result masking (``_ansible_no_log=True``) is preserved. (CVE-2024-8775)
+- user action won't allow ssh-keygen, chown and chmod to run on existing ssh public key file, avoiding traversal on existing symlinks (CVE-2024-9902).
+
+Bugfixes
+--------
+
+- -> runas become - Generate new token for the SYSTEM token to use for become. This should result in the full SYSTEM token being used and problems starting the process that fails with ``The process creation has been blocked``.
+- Add a version ceiling constraint for pypsrp to avoid potential breaking changes in the 1.0.0 release.
+- Add descriptions for ``ansible-galaxy install --help` and ``ansible-galaxy role|collection install --help``.
+- Avoid truncating floats when casting into int, as it can lead to truncation and unexpected results. 0.99999 will be 0, not 1.
+- COLOR_SKIP will not alter "included" events color display anymore.
+- Callbacks now correctly get the resolved connection plugin name as the connection used.
+- Darwin - add unit tests for Darwin hardware fact gathering.
+- Errors now preserve stacked error messages even when YAML is involved.
+- Fix ``SemanticVersion.parse()`` to store the version string so that ``__repr__`` reports it instead of ``None`` (https://github.com/ansible/ansible/pull/83831).
+- Fix a traceback when an environment variable contains certain special characters (https://github.com/ansible/ansible/issues/83498)
+- Fix an issue when setting a plugin name from an unsafe source resulted in ``ValueError: unmarshallable object`` (https://github.com/ansible/ansible/issues/82708)
+- Fix an issue where registered variable was not available for templating in ``loop_control.label`` on skipped looped tasks (https://github.com/ansible/ansible/issues/83619)
+- Fix disabling SSL verification when installing collections and roles from git repositories. If ``--ignore-certs`` isn't provided, the value for the ``GALAXY_IGNORE_CERTS`` configuration option will be used (https://github.com/ansible/ansible/issues/83326).
+- Fix for ``meta`` tasks breaking host/fork affinity with ``host_pinned`` strategy (https://github.com/ansible/ansible/issues/83294)
+- Fix handlers not being executed in lockstep using the linear strategy in some cases (https://github.com/ansible/ansible/issues/82307)
+- Fix rapid memory usage growth when notifying handlers using the ``listen`` keyword (https://github.com/ansible/ansible/issues/83392)
+- Fix the task attribute ``resolved_action`` to show the FQCN instead of ``None`` when ``action`` or ``local_action`` is used in the playbook.
+- Fix using ``module_defaults`` with ``local_action``/``action`` (https://github.com/ansible/ansible/issues/81905).
+- Fix using the current task's directory for looking up relative paths within roles (https://github.com/ansible/ansible/issues/82695).
+- Improve performance on large inventories by reducing the number of implicit meta tasks.
+- Remove deprecated config options DEFAULT_FACT_PATH, DEFAULT_GATHER_SUBSET, and DEFAULT_GATHER_TIMEOUT in favor of setting ``fact_path``, ``gather_subset`` and ``gather_timeout`` as ``module_defaults`` for ``ansible.builtin.setup``.
+  These will apply to both the ``gather_facts`` play keyword, and any ``ansible.builtin.setup`` tasks.
+  To configure these options only for the ``gather_facts`` keyword, set these options as play keywords also.
+- Set LANGUAGE environment variable is set to a non-English locale (https://github.com/ansible/ansible/issues/83608).
+- Use the requested error message in the ansible.module_utils.facts.timeout timeout function instead of hardcoding one.
+- ``ansible-galaxy install --help`` - Fix the usage text and document that the requirements file passed to ``-r`` can include collections and roles.
+- ``ansible-galaxy role install`` - update the default timeout to download archive URLs from 20 seconds to 60 (https://github.com/ansible/ansible/issues/83521).
+- ``end_host`` - fix incorrect return code when executing ``end_host`` in the ``rescue`` section (https://github.com/ansible/ansible/issues/83447)
+- ``package``/``dnf`` action plugins - provide the reason behind the failure to gather the ``ansible_pkg_mgr`` fact to identify the package backend
+- addressed issue of trailing text been ignored, non-ASCII characters are parsed, enhance white space handling and fixed overly permissive issue of human_to_bytes filter(https://github.com/ansible/ansible/issues/82075)
+- ansible-config will now properly template defaults before dumping them.
+- ansible-doc - fixed "inicates" typo in output
+- ansible-doc - format top-level descriptions with multiple paragraphs as multiple paragraphs, instead of concatenating them (https://github.com/ansible/ansible/pull/83155).
+- ansible-doc - handle no_fail condition for role.
+- ansible-doc - make colors configurable.
+- ansible-galaxy collection install - remove old installation info when installing collections (https://github.com/ansible/ansible/issues/83182).
+- ansible-galaxy role install - fix symlinks (https://github.com/ansible/ansible/issues/82702, https://github.com/ansible/ansible/issues/81965).
+- ansible-test - Enable the ``sys.unraisablehook`` work-around for the ``pylint`` sanity test on Python 3.11. Previously the work-around was only enabled for Python 3.12 and later. However, the same issue has been discovered on Python 3.11.
+- ansible-test - The ``pylint`` sanity test now includes the controller/target context of files when grouping them. This allows the ``--py-version`` option to be passed to ``pylint`` to indicate the minimum supported Python version for each test context, preventing ``pylint`` from defaulting to the Python version used to invoke the test.
+- ansible-test action-plugin-docs - Fix to check for sidecar documentation for action plugins
+- ansible_managed restored it's 'templatability' by ensuring the possible injection routes are cut off earlier in the process.
+- apt - report changed=True when some packages are being removed (https://github.com/ansible/ansible/issues/46314).
+- apt_* - add more info messages raised while updating apt cache (https://github.com/ansible/ansible/issues/77941).
+- assemble - update argument_spec with 'decrypt' option which is required by action plugin (https://github.com/ansible/ansible/issues/80840).
+- atomic_move - fix using the setgid bit on the parent directory when creating files (https://github.com/ansible/ansible/issues/46742, https://github.com/ansible/ansible/issues/67177).
+- config, restored the ability to set module compression via a variable
+- connection plugins using the 'extras' option feature would need variables to match the plugin's loaded name, sometimes requiring fqcn, which is not the same as the documented/declared/expected variables. Now we fall back to the 'basename' of the fqcn, but plugin authors can still set the expected value directly.
+- copy - mtime/atime not updated. Fix now update mtime/atime(https://github.com/ansible/ansible/issues/83013)
+- csvfile lookup - give an error when no search term is provided using modern config syntax (https://github.com/ansible/ansible/issues/83689).
+- debconf - fix normalization of value representation for boolean vtypes in new packages (https://github.com/ansible/ansible/issues/83594)
+- debconf - set empty password values (https://github.com/ansible/ansible/issues/83214).
+- delay keyword is now a float, matching the underlying 'time' API and user expectations.
+- display - warn user about empty log filepath (https://github.com/ansible/ansible/issues/79959).
+- display now does a better job of mapping warnings/errors to the proper log severity when using ansible.log. We still use color as a fallback mapping (now prioritiezed by severity) but mostly rely on it beind directly set by warnning/errors calls.
+- distro package - update the distro package version from 1.8.0 to 1.9.0  (https://github.com/ansible/ansible/issues/82935)
+- dnf - Ensure that we are handling DownloadError properly in the dnf module
+- dnf - Substitute variables in DNF cache path (https://github.com/ansible/ansible/pull/80094).
+- dnf - fix an issue where two packages of the same ``evr`` but different arch failed to install (https://github.com/ansible/ansible/issues/83406)
+- dnf - honor installroot for ``cachedir``, ``logdir`` and ``persistdir``
+- dnf - perform variable substitutions in ``logdir`` and ``persistdir``
+- dnf, dnf5 - fix for installing a set of packages by specifying them using a wildcard character (https://github.com/ansible/ansible/issues/83373)
+- dnf5 - fix traceback when ``enable_plugins``/``disable_plugins`` is used on ``python3-libdnf5`` versions that do not support this functionality
+- dnf5 - re-introduce the ``state: installed`` alias to ``state: present`` (https://github.com/ansible/ansible/issues/83960)
+- dnf5 - replace removed API calls
+- ensure we have logger before we log when we have increased verbosity.
+- facts - `support_discard` now returns `0` if either `discard_granularity` or `discard_max_hw_bytes` is zero; otherwise it returns the value of `discard_granularity`, as before (https://github.com/ansible/ansible/pull/83480).
+- facts - add a generic detection for VMware in product name.
+- facts - add facts about x86_64 flags to detect microarchitecture (https://github.com/ansible/ansible/issues/83331).
+- facts - skip if distribution file path is directory, instead of raising error (https://github.com/ansible/ansible/issues/84006).
+- fetch - add error message when using ``dest`` with a trailing slash that becomes a local directory - https://github.com/ansible/ansible/issues/82878
+- file - retrieve the link's full path when hard linking a soft link with follow (https://github.com/ansible/ansible/issues/33911).
+- fixed the issue of creating user directory using tilde(~) always reported "changed".(https://github.com/ansible/ansible/issues/82490)
+- fixed unit test test_borken_cowsay to address mock not been properly applied when existing unix system already have cowsay installed.
+- freebsd - refactor dmidecode fact gathering code for simplicity.
+- freebsd - update disk and slices regex for fact gathering (https://github.com/ansible/ansible/pull/82081).
+- get_url - Verify checksum using tmpsrc, not dest (https://github.com/ansible/ansible/pull/64092)
+- git - check if git version is available or not before using it for comparison (https://github.com/ansible/ansible/issues/72321).
+- include_tasks - Display location when attempting to load a task list where ``include_*`` did not specify any value - https://github.com/ansible/ansible/issues/83874
+- known_hosts - the returned module invocation now accurately reflects the module arguments.
+- linear strategy now provides a properly templated task name to the v2_runner_on_started callback event.
+- linear strategy: fix handlers included via ``include_tasks`` handler to be executed in lockstep (https://github.com/ansible/ansible/issues/83019)
+- linux - remove extraneous get_bin_path API call.
+- local - handle error while parsing values in ini files (https://github.com/ansible/ansible/issues/82717).
+- lookup - Fixed examples of csv lookup plugin (https://github.com/ansible/ansible/issues/83031).
+- module_defaults - do not display action/module deprecation warnings when using an action_group that contains a deprecated plugin (https://github.com/ansible/ansible/issues/83490).
+- module_utils atomic_move (used by most file based modules), now correctly handles permission copy and setting mtime correctly across all paths
+- package_facts - apk fix when cache is empty (https://github.com/ansible/ansible/issues/83126).
+- package_facts - no longer fails silently when the selected package manager is unable to list packages.
+- package_facts - returns the correct warning when package listing fails.
+- persistent connection plugins - The correct Ansible persistent connection helper is now always used. Previously, the wrong script could be used, depending on the value of the ``PATH`` environment variable. As a result, users were sometimes required to set ``ANSIBLE_CONNECTION_PATH`` to use the correct script.
+- powershell - Implement more robust deletion mechanism for C# code compilation temporary files. This should avoid scenarios where the underlying temporary directory may be temporarily locked by antivirus tools or other IO problems. A failure to delete one of these temporary directories will result in a warning rather than an outright failure.
+- powershell - Improve CLIXML decoding to decode all control characters and unicode characters that are encoded as surrogate pairs.
+- psrp - Fix bug when attempting to fetch a file path that contains special glob characters like ``[]``
+- replace - Updated before/after example (https://github.com/ansible/ansible/issues/83390).
+- runtime-metadata sanity test - do not crash on deprecations if ``galaxy.yml`` contains an empty ``version`` field (https://github.com/ansible/ansible/pull/83831).
+- service - fix order of CLI arguments on FreeBSD (https://github.com/ansible/ansible/pull/81377).
+- service_facts - don't crash if OpenBSD rcctl variable contains '=' character (https://github.com/ansible/ansible/issues/83457)
+- service_facts will now detect failed services more accurately across systemd implementations.
+- setup module (fact gathering), added fallbcak code path to handle mount fact gathering in linux when threading is not available
+- setup/gather_facts will skip missing ``sysctl`` instead of being a fatal error (https://github.com/ansible/ansible/pull/81297).
+- shell plugin - properly quote all needed components of shell commands (https://github.com/ansible/ansible/issues/82535)
+- ssh - Fix bug when attempting to fetch a file path with characters that should be quoted when using the ``piped`` transfer method
+- support the countme option when using yum_repository
+- systemd - extend systemctl is-enabled check to handle "enabled-runtime" (https://github.com/ansible/ansible/pull/77754).
+- systemd facts - handle AttributeError raised while gathering facts on non-systemd hosts.
+- systemd_service - handle mask operation failure (https://github.com/ansible/ansible/issues/81649).
+- templating hostvars under native jinja will not cause serialization errors anymore.
+- the raw arguments error now just displays the short names of modules instead of every possible variation
+- unarchive - Better handling of files with an invalid timestamp in zip file (https://github.com/ansible/ansible/issues/81092).
+- unarchive - trigger change when size and content differ when other properties are unchanged (https://github.com/ansible/ansible/pull/83454).
+- unsafe data - Address an incompatibility when iterating or getting a single index from ``AnsibleUnsafeBytes``
+- unsafe data - Address an incompatibility with ``AnsibleUnsafeText`` and ``AnsibleUnsafeBytes`` when pickling with ``protocol=0``
+- unsafe data - Enable directly using ``AnsibleUnsafeText`` with Python ``pathlib`` (https://github.com/ansible/ansible/issues/82414)
+- uri - deprecate 'yes' and 'no' value for 'follow_redirects' parameter.
+- user action will now require O(force) to overwrite the public part of an ssh key when generating ssh keys, as was already the case for the private part.
+- user module now avoids changing ownership of files symlinked in provided home dir skeleton
+- vault - handle vault password file value when it is directory (https://github.com/ansible/ansible/issues/42960).
+- vault.is_encrypted_file is now optimized to be called in runtime and not for being called in tests
+- vault_encrypted test documentation, name and examples have been fixed, other parts were clarified
+- winrm - Add retry after exceeding commands per user quota that can occur in loops and action plugins running multiple commands.
+
+Known Issues
+------------
+
+- ansible-test - When using ansible-test containers with Podman on a Ubuntu 24.04 host, ansible-test must be run as a non-root user to avoid permission issues caused by AppArmor.
+- ansible-test - When using the Fedora 40 container with Podman on a Ubuntu 24.04 host, the ``unix-chkpwd`` AppArmor profile must be disabled on the host to allow SSH connections to the container.
+
+New Plugins
+-----------
+
+Test
+~~~~
+
+- timedout - did the task time out
+- vaulted_file - Is this file an encrypted vault
+
+New Modules
+-----------
+
+Lib
+~~~
+
+ansible.modules
+^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
+
+- mount_facts - Retrieve mount information.

changelogs/CHANGELOG.rst

@@ -1,6 +0,0 @@
-Placeholder changelog
-=====================
-
-This file is a placeholder; a version-specific ``CHANGELOG-vX.Y.rst`` will be generated during releases from fragments
-under changelogs/fragments. On release branches once a release has been created, consult the branch's version-specific
-file for changes that have occurred in that branch.

changelogs/README.md

@@ -0,0 +1,8 @@
+Changelogs
+==========
+
+As part of the release process a version-specific `CHANGELOG-vX.Y.rst` will be generated from fragments in
+the `fragments` directory.
+
+On release branches once a release has been created, consult the branch's version-specific file for changes that have
+occurred in that branch. The `devel` branch does not have a generated changelog, only changelog fragments.

changelogs/changelog.yaml

@@ -1,2 +1,771 @@
-ancestor: 2.12.0
-releases: {}
+ancestor: 2.17.0
+releases:
+  2.18.0:
+    changes:
+      release_summary: '| Release Date: 2024-11-04
+
+        | `Porting Guide <https://docs.ansible.com/ansible-core/2.18/porting_guides/porting_guide_core_2.18.html>`__
+
+        '
+    codename: Fool in the Rain
+    fragments:
+    - 2.18.0_summary.yaml
+    release_date: '2024-11-04'
+  2.18.0b1:
+    changes:
+      breaking_changes:
+      - Stopped wrapping all commands sent over SSH on a Windows target with a ``powershell.exe``
+        executable. This results in one less process being started on each command
+        for Windows to improve efficiency, simplify the code, and make ``raw`` an
+        actual raw command run with the default shell configured on the Windows sshd
+        settings. This should have no affect on most tasks except for ``raw`` which
+        now is not guaranteed to always be running in a PowerShell shell and from
+        having the console output codepage set to UTF-8. To avoid this issue either
+        swap to using ``ansible.windows.win_command``, ``ansible.windows.win_shell``,
+        ``ansible.windows.win_powershell`` or manually wrap the raw command with the
+        shell commands needed to set the output console encoding.
+      - persistent connection plugins - The ``ANSIBLE_CONNECTION_PATH`` config option
+        no longer has any effect.
+      bugfixes:
+      - -> runas become - Generate new token for the SYSTEM token to use for become.
+        This should result in the full SYSTEM token being used and problems starting
+        the process that fails with ``The process creation has been blocked``.
+      - Add a version ceiling constraint for pypsrp to avoid potential breaking changes
+        in the 1.0.0 release.
+      - Add descriptions for ``ansible-galaxy install --help` and ``ansible-galaxy
+        role|collection install --help``.
+      - Avoid truncating floats when casting into int, as it can lead to truncation
+        and unexpected results. 0.99999 will be 0, not 1.
+      - COLOR_SKIP will not alter "included" events color display anymore.
+      - Callbacks now correctly get the resolved connection plugin name as the connection
+        used.
+      - Darwin - add unit tests for Darwin hardware fact gathering.
+      - Fix ``SemanticVersion.parse()`` to store the version string so that ``__repr__``
+        reports it instead of ``None`` (https://github.com/ansible/ansible/pull/83831).
+      - Fix a traceback when an environment variable contains certain special characters
+        (https://github.com/ansible/ansible/issues/83498)
+      - 'Fix an issue when setting a plugin name from an unsafe source resulted in
+        ``ValueError: unmarshallable object`` (https://github.com/ansible/ansible/issues/82708)'
+      - Fix an issue where registered variable was not available for templating in
+        ``loop_control.label`` on skipped looped tasks (https://github.com/ansible/ansible/issues/83619)
+      - Fix for ``meta`` tasks breaking host/fork affinity with ``host_pinned`` strategy
+        (https://github.com/ansible/ansible/issues/83294)
+      - Fix handlers not being executed in lockstep using the linear strategy in some
+        cases (https://github.com/ansible/ansible/issues/82307)
+      - Fix rapid memory usage growth when notifying handlers using the ``listen``
+        keyword (https://github.com/ansible/ansible/issues/83392)
+      - Fix the task attribute ``resolved_action`` to show the FQCN instead of ``None``
+        when ``action`` or ``local_action`` is used in the playbook.
+      - Fix using ``module_defaults`` with ``local_action``/``action`` (https://github.com/ansible/ansible/issues/81905).
+      - Fix using the current task's directory for looking up relative paths within
+        roles (https://github.com/ansible/ansible/issues/82695).
+      - 'Remove deprecated config options DEFAULT_FACT_PATH, DEFAULT_GATHER_SUBSET,
+        and DEFAULT_GATHER_TIMEOUT in favor of setting ``fact_path``, ``gather_subset``
+        and ``gather_timeout`` as ``module_defaults`` for ``ansible.builtin.setup``.
+
+        These will apply to both the ``gather_facts`` play keyword, and any ``ansible.builtin.setup``
+        tasks.
+
+        To configure these options only for the ``gather_facts`` keyword, set these
+        options as play keywords also.'
+      - Set LANGUAGE environment variable is set to a non-English locale (https://github.com/ansible/ansible/issues/83608).
+      - '``ansible-galaxy install --help`` - Fix the usage text and document that
+        the requirements file passed to ``-r`` can include collections and roles.'
+      - '``ansible-galaxy role install`` - update the default timeout to download
+        archive URLs from 20 seconds to 60 (https://github.com/ansible/ansible/issues/83521).'
+      - '``end_host`` - fix incorrect return code when executing ``end_host`` in the
+        ``rescue`` section (https://github.com/ansible/ansible/issues/83447)'
+      - addressed issue of trailing text been ignored, non-ASCII characters are parsed,
+        enhance white space handling and fixed overly permissive issue of human_to_bytes
+        filter(https://github.com/ansible/ansible/issues/82075)
+      - ansible-config will now properly template defaults before dumping them.
+      - ansible-doc - fixed "inicates" typo in output
+      - ansible-doc - format top-level descriptions with multiple paragraphs as multiple
+        paragraphs, instead of concatenating them (https://github.com/ansible/ansible/pull/83155).
+      - ansible-doc - handle no_fail condition for role.
+      - ansible-doc - make colors configurable.
+      - ansible-galaxy collection install - remove old installation info when installing
+        collections (https://github.com/ansible/ansible/issues/83182).
+      - ansible-galaxy role install - fix symlinks (https://github.com/ansible/ansible/issues/82702,
+        https://github.com/ansible/ansible/issues/81965).
+      - ansible-test - The ``pylint`` sanity test now includes the controller/target
+        context of files when grouping them. This allows the ``--py-version`` option
+        to be passed to ``pylint`` to indicate the minimum supported Python version
+        for each test context, preventing ``pylint`` from defaulting to the Python
+        version used to invoke the test.
+      - ansible-test action-plugin-docs - Fix to check for sidecar documentation for
+        action plugins
+      - ansible_managed restored it's 'templatability' by ensuring the possible injection
+        routes are cut off earlier in the process.
+      - apt - report changed=True when some packages are being removed (https://github.com/ansible/ansible/issues/46314).
+      - apt_* - add more info messages raised while updating apt cache (https://github.com/ansible/ansible/issues/77941).
+      - assemble - update argument_spec with 'decrypt' option which is required by
+        action plugin (https://github.com/ansible/ansible/issues/80840).
+      - atomic_move - fix using the setgid bit on the parent directory when creating
+        files (https://github.com/ansible/ansible/issues/46742, https://github.com/ansible/ansible/issues/67177).
+      - config, restored the ability to set module compression via a variable
+      - connection plugins using the 'extras' option feature would need variables
+        to match the plugin's loaded name, sometimes requiring fqcn, which is not
+        the same as the documented/declared/expected variables. Now we fall back to
+        the 'basename' of the fqcn, but plugin authors can still set the expected
+        value directly.
+      - copy - mtime/atime not updated. Fix now update mtime/atime(https://github.com/ansible/ansible/issues/83013)
+      - csvfile lookup - give an error when no search term is provided using modern
+        config syntax (https://github.com/ansible/ansible/issues/83689).
+      - debconf - fix normalization of value representation for boolean vtypes in
+        new packages (https://github.com/ansible/ansible/issues/83594)
+      - delay keyword is now a float, matching the underlying 'time' API and user
+        expectations.
+      - display - warn user about empty log filepath (https://github.com/ansible/ansible/issues/79959).
+      - display now does a better job of mapping warnings/errors to the proper log
+        severity when using ansible.log. We still use color as a fallback mapping
+        (now prioritiezed by severity) but mostly rely on it beind directly set by
+        warnning/errors calls.
+      - distro package - update the distro package version from 1.8.0 to 1.9.0  (https://github.com/ansible/ansible/issues/82935)
+      - dnf - Ensure that we are handling DownloadError properly in the dnf module
+      - dnf - Substitute variables in DNF cache path (https://github.com/ansible/ansible/pull/80094).
+      - dnf - fix an issue where two packages of the same ``evr`` but different arch
+        failed to install (https://github.com/ansible/ansible/issues/83406)
+      - dnf - honor installroot for ``cachedir``, ``logdir`` and ``persistdir``
+      - dnf - perform variable substitutions in ``logdir`` and ``persistdir``
+      - dnf, dnf5 - fix for installing a set of packages by specifying them using
+        a wildcard character (https://github.com/ansible/ansible/issues/83373)
+      - 'dnf5 - re-introduce the ``state: installed`` alias to ``state: present``
+        (https://github.com/ansible/ansible/issues/83960)'
+      - dnf5 - replace removed API calls
+      - ensure we have logger before we log when we have increased verbosity.
+      - facts - `support_discard` now returns `0` if either `discard_granularity`
+        or `discard_max_hw_bytes` is zero; otherwise it returns the value of `discard_granularity`,
+        as before (https://github.com/ansible/ansible/pull/83480).
+      - facts - add a generic detection for VMware in product name.
+      - facts - add facts about x86_64 flags to detect microarchitecture (https://github.com/ansible/ansible/issues/83331).
+      - fetch - add error message when using ``dest`` with a trailing slash that becomes
+        a local directory - https://github.com/ansible/ansible/issues/82878
+      - file - retrieve the link's full path when hard linking a soft link with follow
+        (https://github.com/ansible/ansible/issues/33911).
+      - fixed the issue of creating user directory using tilde(~) always reported
+        "changed".(https://github.com/ansible/ansible/issues/82490)
+      - fixed unit test test_borken_cowsay to address mock not been properly applied
+        when existing unix system already have cowsay installed.
+      - freebsd - refactor dmidecode fact gathering code for simplicity.
+      - freebsd - update disk and slices regex for fact gathering (https://github.com/ansible/ansible/pull/82081).
+      - get_url - Verify checksum using tmpsrc, not dest (https://github.com/ansible/ansible/pull/64092)
+      - git - check if git version is available or not before using it for comparison
+        (https://github.com/ansible/ansible/issues/72321).
+      - include_tasks - Display location when attempting to load a task list where
+        ``include_*`` did not specify any value - https://github.com/ansible/ansible/issues/83874
+      - known_hosts - the returned module invocation now accurately reflects the module
+        arguments.
+      - linear strategy now provides a properly templated task name to the v2_runner_on_started
+        callback event.
+      - 'linear strategy: fix handlers included via ``include_tasks`` handler to be
+        executed in lockstep (https://github.com/ansible/ansible/issues/83019)'
+      - linux - remove extraneous get_bin_path API call.
+      - local - handle error while parsing values in ini files (https://github.com/ansible/ansible/issues/82717).
+      - lookup - Fixed examples of csv lookup plugin (https://github.com/ansible/ansible/issues/83031).
+      - module_defaults - do not display action/module deprecation warnings when using
+        an action_group that contains a deprecated plugin (https://github.com/ansible/ansible/issues/83490).
+      - module_utils atomic_move (used by most file based modules), now correctly
+        handles permission copy and setting mtime correctly across all paths
+      - package_facts - apk fix when cache is empty (https://github.com/ansible/ansible/issues/83126).
+      - package_facts - no longer fails silently when the selected package manager
+        is unable to list packages.
+      - package_facts - returns the correct warning when package listing fails.
+      - persistent connection plugins - The correct Ansible persistent connection
+        helper is now always used. Previously, the wrong script could be used, depending
+        on the value of the ``PATH`` environment variable. As a result, users were
+        sometimes required to set ``ANSIBLE_CONNECTION_PATH`` to use the correct script.
+      - powershell - Implement more robust deletion mechanism for C# code compilation
+        temporary files. This should avoid scenarios where the underlying temporary
+        directory may be temporarily locked by antivirus tools or other IO problems.
+        A failure to delete one of these temporary directories will result in a warning
+        rather than an outright failure.
+      - powershell - Improve CLIXML decoding to decode all control characters and
+        unicode characters that are encoded as surrogate pairs.
+      - psrp - Fix bug when attempting to fetch a file path that contains special
+        glob characters like ``[]``
+      - replace - Updated before/after example (https://github.com/ansible/ansible/issues/83390).
+      - runtime-metadata sanity test - do not crash on deprecations if ``galaxy.yml``
+        contains an empty ``version`` field (https://github.com/ansible/ansible/pull/83831).
+      - service - fix order of CLI arguments on FreeBSD (https://github.com/ansible/ansible/pull/81377).
+      - service_facts - don't crash if OpenBSD rcctl variable contains '=' character
+        (https://github.com/ansible/ansible/issues/83457)
+      - service_facts will now detect failed services more accurately across systemd
+        implementations.
+      - setup module (fact gathering), added fallbcak code path to handle mount fact
+        gathering in linux when threading is not available
+      - setup/gather_facts will skip missing ``sysctl`` instead of being a fatal error
+        (https://github.com/ansible/ansible/pull/81297).
+      - shell plugin - properly quote all needed components of shell commands (https://github.com/ansible/ansible/issues/82535)
+      - ssh - Fix bug when attempting to fetch a file path with characters that should
+        be quoted when using the ``piped`` transfer method
+      - support the countme option when using yum_repository
+      - systemd - extend systemctl is-enabled check to handle "enabled-runtime" (https://github.com/ansible/ansible/pull/77754).
+      - systemd facts - handle AttributeError raised while gathering facts on non-systemd
+        hosts.
+      - systemd_service - handle mask operation failure (https://github.com/ansible/ansible/issues/81649).
+      - templating hostvars under native jinja will not cause serialization errors
+        anymore.
+      - the raw arguments error now just displays the short names of modules instead
+        of every possible variation
+      - unarchive - Better handling of files with an invalid timestamp in zip file
+        (https://github.com/ansible/ansible/issues/81092).
+      - unarchive - trigger change when size and content differ when other properties
+        are unchanged (https://github.com/ansible/ansible/pull/83454).
+      - unsafe data - Address an incompatibility when iterating or getting a single
+        index from ``AnsibleUnsafeBytes``
+      - unsafe data - Address an incompatibility with ``AnsibleUnsafeText`` and ``AnsibleUnsafeBytes``
+        when pickling with ``protocol=0``
+      - unsafe data - Enable directly using ``AnsibleUnsafeText`` with Python ``pathlib``
+        (https://github.com/ansible/ansible/issues/82414)
+      - uri - deprecate 'yes' and 'no' value for 'follow_redirects' parameter.
+      - vault - handle vault password file value when it is directory (https://github.com/ansible/ansible/issues/42960).
+      - vault.is_encrypted_file is now optimized to be called in runtime and not for
+        being called in tests
+      - vault_encrypted test documentation, name and examples have been fixed, other
+        parts were clarified
+      - winrm - Add retry after exceeding commands per user quota that can occur in
+        loops and action plugins running multiple commands.
+      deprecated_features:
+      - Deprecate ``ansible.module_utils.basic.AnsibleModule.safe_eval`` and ``ansible.module_utils.common.safe_eval``
+        as they are no longer used.
+      - persistent connection plugins - The ``ANSIBLE_CONNECTION_PATH`` config option
+        no longer has any effect, and will be removed in a future release.
+      - yum_repository - deprecate ``async`` option as it has been removed in RHEL
+        8 and will be removed in ansible-core 2.22.
+      - 'yum_repository - the following options are deprecated: ``deltarpm_metadata_percentage``,
+        ``gpgcakey``, ``http_caching``, ``keepalive``, ``metadata_expire_filter``,
+        ``mirrorlist_expire``, ``protect``, ``ssl_check_cert_permissions``, ``ui_repoid_vars``
+        as they have no effect for dnf as an underlying package manager. The options
+        will be removed in ansible-core 2.22.'
+      known_issues:
+      - ansible-test - When using ansible-test containers with Podman on a Ubuntu
+        24.04 host, ansible-test must be run as a non-root user to avoid permission
+        issues caused by AppArmor.
+      - ansible-test - When using the Fedora 40 container with Podman on a Ubuntu
+        24.04 host, the ``unix-chkpwd`` AppArmor profile must be disabled on the host
+        to allow SSH connections to the container.
+      minor_changes:
+      - Add ``gid_min``, ``gid_max`` to the group plugin to overwrite the defaults
+        provided by the ``/etc/login.defs`` file (https://github.com/ansible/ansible/pull/81770).
+      - Add ``python3.13`` to the default ``INTERPRETER_PYTHON_FALLBACK`` list.
+      - Add ``uid_min``, ``uid_max`` to the user plugin to overwrite the defaults
+        provided by the ``/etc/login.defs`` file (https://github.com/ansible/ansible/pull/81770).
+      - Add a new meta task ``end_role`` (https://github.com/ansible/ansible/issues/22286)
+      - Add a new mount_facts module to support gathering information about mounts
+        that are excluded by default fact gathering.
+      - Introducing COLOR_INCLUDED parameter. This can set a specific color for "included"
+        events.
+      - Removed the shell ``environment`` config entry as this is already covered
+        by the play/task directives documentation and the value itself is not used
+        in the shell plugins. This should remove any confusion around how people set
+        the environment for a task.
+      - Suppress cryptography deprecation warnings for Blowfish and TripleDES when
+        the ``paramiko`` Python module is installed.
+      - The minimum supported Python version on targets is now Python 3.8.
+      - '``ansible-galaxy collection publish`` - add configuration options for the
+        initial poll interval and the exponential when checking the import status
+        of a collection, since the default is relatively slow.'
+      - ansible-config has new 'validate' option to find mispelled/forgein configurations
+        in ini file or environment variables.
+      - ansible-doc - show examples in role entrypoint argument specs (https://github.com/ansible/ansible/pull/82671).
+      - ansible-galaxy - Handle authentication errors and token expiration
+      - ansible-test - Add Ubuntu 24.04 remote.
+      - ansible-test - Add support for Python 3.13.
+      - ansible-test - An ``ansible_core.egg-info`` directory is no longer generated
+        when running tests.
+      - ansible-test - Connection options can be set for ansible-test managed remote
+        Windows instances.
+      - ansible-test - Improve the error message shown when an unknown ``--remote``
+        or ``--docker`` option is given.
+      - ansible-test - Remove Python 2.7 compatibility imports.
+      - ansible-test - Removed the ``vyos/1.1.8`` network remote as it is no longer
+        functional.
+      - ansible-test - Replace Alpine 3.19 container and remote with Alpine 3.20.
+      - ansible-test - Replace Fedora 39 container and remote with Fedora 40.
+      - ansible-test - Replace FreeBSD 14.0 remote with FreeBSD 14.1.
+      - ansible-test - Replace RHEL 9.3 remote with RHEL 9.4.
+      - ansible-test - Replace Ubuntu 20.04 container with Ubuntu 24.04 container.
+      - ansible-test - The ``empty-init`` sanity test no longer applies to ``module_utils``
+        packages.
+      - ansible-test - Update ``ansible-test-utility-container`` to version 3.1.0.
+      - ansible-test - Update ``base`` and ``default`` containers to omit Python 3.7.
+      - ansible-test - Update ``coverage`` to version 7.6.1.
+      - ansible-test - Update ``http-test-container`` to version 3.0.0.
+      - ansible-test - Update ``nios-test-container`` to version 5.0.0.
+      - ansible-test - Update ``pypi-test-container`` to version 3.2.0.
+      - ansible-test - Updated the frozen requirements for all sanity tests.
+      - ansible-test - Upgrade ``pip`` used in ansible-test managed virtual environments
+        from version 24.0 to 24.2.
+      - ansible-test - Virtual environments created by ansible-test no longer include
+        the ``wheel`` or ``setuptools`` packages.
+      - ansible-test - update HTTP test container to 3.2.0 (https://github.com/ansible/ansible/pull/83469).
+      - ansible.log now also shows log severity field
+      - distribution.py - Added SL-Micro in Suse OS Family. (https://github.com/ansible/ansible/pull/83541)
+      - dnf - minor internal changes in how the errors from the dnf API are handled;
+        rely solely on the exceptions rather than inspecting text embedded in them
+      - dnf - remove legacy code for unsupported dnf versions
+      - dnf5 - implement ``enable_plugin`` and ``disable_plugin`` options
+      - fact gathering - Gather /proc/sysinfo facts on s390 Linux on Z
+      - facts - add systemd version and features
+      - find - change the datatype of ``elements`` to ``path`` in option ``paths``
+        (https://github.com/ansible/ansible/pull/83575).
+      - ini lookup - add new ``interpolation`` option (https://github.com/ansible/ansible/issues/83755)
+      - isidentifier - remove unwanted Python 2 specific code.
+      - loop_control - add a break_when option to to break out of a task loop early
+        based on Jinja2 expressions (https://github.com/ansible/ansible/issues/83442).
+      - package_facts module now supports using aliases for supported package managers,
+        for example managers=yum or managers=dnf will resolve to using the underlying
+        rpm.
+      - plugins, deprecations and warnings concerning configuration are now displayed
+        to the user, technical issue that prevented 'de-duplication' have been resolved.
+      - psrp - Remove connection plugin extras vars lookup. This should have no affect
+        on existing users as all options have been documented.
+      - remove extraneous selinux import (https://github.com/ansible/ansible/issues/83657).
+      - replace random with secrets library.
+      - rpm_key - allow validation of gpg key with a subkey fingerprint
+      - rpm_key - enable gpg validation that requires presence of multiple fingerprints
+      - service_mgr - add support for dinit service manager (https://github.com/ansible/ansible/pull/83489).
+      - task timeout now returns timedout key with frame/code that was in execution
+        when the timeout is triggered.
+      - timedout test for checking if a task result represents a 'timed out' task.
+      - unarchive - Remove Python 2.7 compatibility imports.
+      - validate-modules sanity test - detect if names of an option (option name +
+        aliases) do not match between argument spec and documentation (https://github.com/ansible/ansible/issues/83598,
+        https://github.com/ansible/ansible/pull/83599).
+      - validate-modules sanity test - reject option/aliases names that are identical
+        up to casing but belong to different options (https://github.com/ansible/ansible/pull/83530).
+      - vaulted_file test filter added, to test if the provided path is an 'Ansible
+        vaulted' file
+      - yum_repository - add ``excludepkgs`` alias to the ``exclude`` option.
+      release_summary: '| Release Date: 2024-09-24
+
+        | `Porting Guide <https://docs.ansible.com/ansible-core/2.18/porting_guides/porting_guide_core_2.18.html>`__
+
+        '
+      removed_features:
+      - Play - removed deprecated ``ROLE_CACHE`` property in favor of ``role_cache``.
+      - Remove deprecated `VariableManager._get_delegated_vars` method (https://github.com/ansible/ansible/issues/82950)
+      - Removed Python 3.10 as a supported version on the controller. Python 3.11
+        or newer is required.
+      - Removed support for setting the ``vars`` keyword to lists of dictionaries.
+        It is now required to be a single dictionary.
+      - loader - remove deprecated non-inclusive words (https://github.com/ansible/ansible/issues/82947).
+      - paramiko_ssh - removed deprecated ssh_args from the paramiko_ssh connection
+        plugin (https://github.com/ansible/ansible/issues/82939).
+      - paramiko_ssh - removed deprecated ssh_common_args from the paramiko_ssh connection
+        plugin (https://github.com/ansible/ansible/issues/82940).
+      - paramiko_ssh - removed deprecated ssh_extra_args from the paramiko_ssh connection
+        plugin (https://github.com/ansible/ansible/issues/82941).
+      - play_context - remove deprecated PlayContext.verbosity property (https://github.com/ansible/ansible/issues/82945).
+      - utils/listify - remove deprecated 'loader' argument from listify_lookup_plugin_terms
+        API (https://github.com/ansible/ansible/issues/82949).
+    codename: Fool in the Rain
+    fragments:
+    - 2.18.0b1_summary.yaml
+    - 42960_vault_password.yml
+    - 46314.yml
+    - 46742-atomic_move-fix-setgid.yml
+    - 62151-loop_control-until.yml
+    - 64092-get_url_verify_tmpsrc_checksum.yml
+    - 72321_git.yml
+    - 81770-add-uid-guid-minmax-keys.yml
+    - 82075.yml
+    - 82307-handlers-lockstep-linear-fix.yml
+    - 82490_creating_user_dir_using_tilde_always_reports_changed.yml
+    - 82535-properly-quote-shell.yml
+    - 82671-ansible-doc-role-examples.yml
+    - 82708-unsafe-plugin-name-error.yml
+    - 82831_countme_yum_repository.yml
+    - 82878-fetch-dest-is-dir.yml
+    - 82941.yml
+    - 82946.yml
+    - 82947.yml
+    - 83019-linear-handlers-lockstep-fix.yml
+    - 83031.yml
+    - 83155-ansible-doc-paragraphs.yml
+    - 83235-copy-module-update-mtime.yml
+    - 83294-meta-host_pinned-affinity.yml
+    - 83327.yml
+    - 83331.yml
+    - 83373-dnf5-wildcard.yml
+    - 83392-fix-memory-issues-handlers.yml
+    - 83406-dnf-fix-arch-cmp.yml
+    - 83447-end_host-rescue-rc.yml
+    - 83457-service_facts-openbsd-dont-crash-in-equals.yml
+    - 83469-http-test-container.yml
+    - 83480-fix-support-discard.yml
+    - 83498-command-tb-env.yml
+    - 83508_mount_facts.yml
+    - 83530-validate-modules-casing.yml
+    - 83540-update_disto_version.yml
+    - 83541-add-sl-micro-suse-family.yaml
+    - 83575-fix-sanity-ignore-for-find.yml
+    - 83599-validate-modules-aliases.yml
+    - 83601-debconf-normalize-bools.yml
+    - 83619-loop-label-register.yml
+    - 83716-enable-subkey-fingerprint-validation-in-rpm-key-module.yml
+    - 83755-ini-new-interpolation-option.yml
+    - 83803-collection-import-poll-interval.yml
+    - 83831-runtime-metadata-fix.yml
+    - 83874-include-parse-error-location.yml
+    - 83960-dnf5-state-installed-fix.yml
+    - PowerShell-AddType-temp.yml
+    - action-plugin-docs-sidecar.yml
+    - add_systemd_facts.yml
+    - ansible-config-validate.yml
+    - ansible-doc-color.yml
+    - ansible-doc-inicate.yml
+    - ansible-doc.yml
+    - ansible-drop-python-3.7.yml
+    - ansible-galaxy-install-archive-url-timeout.yml
+    - ansible-galaxy-install-help.yml
+    - ansible-galaxy-role-install-symlink.yml
+    - ansible-test-container-update.yml
+    - ansible-test-coverage-update.yml
+    - ansible-test-error-message-improvement.yml
+    - ansible-test-http-test-container-update.yml
+    - ansible-test-nios-container.yml
+    - ansible-test-no-egg-info.yml
+    - ansible-test-platform-updates.yml
+    - ansible-test-pylint-py-version.yml
+    - ansible-test-pypi-test-container-update.yml
+    - ansible-test-sanity-empty-init.yml
+    - ansible-test-sanity-test-requirements.yml
+    - ansible-test-utility-container-update.yml
+    - ansible-test-venv-bootstrap.yml
+    - ansible-test-vyos.yml
+    - ansible-test-windows-remote.yml
+    - ansible_connection_path.yml
+    - ansible_managed_restore.yml
+    - apk_package_facts.yml
+    - apt_cache.yml
+    - assemble.yml
+    - atomic_update_perms_time.yml
+    - become-runas-system.yml
+    - cleanup-outdated-galaxy-install-info.yml
+    - colors_for_included_events.yml
+    - config_init_fix.yml
+    - correct-callback-fqcn-old-style-action-invocation.yml
+    - correct_connection_callback.yml
+    - darwin_facts.yml
+    - delay_type.yml
+    - deprecate-safe-evals.yml
+    - dinit.yml
+    - display_fix_log_severity.yml
+    - dnf-exceptions-vs-text.yml
+    - dnf-installroot-substitutions.yml
+    - dnf-remove-legacy-code.yml
+    - dnf5-api-breaks.yml
+    - dnf5-enable-disable-plugins.yml
+    - dnf_cache_path.yml
+    - dnf_handle_downloaderror.yml
+    - dwim_is_role_fix_task_relative.yml
+    - empty_log_path.yml
+    - enabled_runtime.yml
+    - end_role.yml
+    - extras_fix.yml
+    - fetch-filename.yml
+    - file_hardlink.yml
+    - fix-inconsistent-csvfile-missing-search-error.yml
+    - fix-module-defaults-deprecations.yml
+    - fix_floating_ints.yml
+    - fix_log_verbosity.yml
+    - freebsd_disk_regex.yml
+    - freebsd_facts_refactor.yml
+    - freebsd_service.yml
+    - galaxy-reauth-error-handling.yml
+    - gather-s390-sysinfo.yml
+    - gather_facts_single.yml
+    - getoffmylawn.yml
+    - hostvars_fix.yml
+    - isidentifier.yml
+    - known_hosts_module_args.yml
+    - language.yml
+    - linear_started_name.yml
+    - linux_network_get.yml
+    - listify.yml
+    - local_facts_d.yml
+    - mask_me.yml
+    - mc_fix.yml
+    - package_facts_aliases.yml
+    - package_facts_warnings.yml
+    - powershell-clixml.yml
+    - psrp-extras.yml
+    - psrp-version-req.yml
+    - python-3.13.yml
+    - raw_clean_msg.yml
+    - remove-deprecated-gather-facts-config.yml
+    - remove-deprecated-get_delegated_vars.yml
+    - remove-deprecated-role-cache.yml
+    - remove-deprecated-vars-syntax.yml
+    - remove-python-2-compat.yml
+    - remove-python3.10-controller-support.yml
+    - replace_regex.yml
+    - secrets.yml
+    - selinux_import.yml
+    - service_facts_systemd_fix.yml
+    - shell-environment.yml
+    - ssh-windows.yml
+    - suppress-paramiko-warnings.yml
+    - sysctl_fact_fix.yml
+    - systemd_facts.yml
+    - timedout_test.yml
+    - timeout_show_frame.yml
+    - unarchive_differs.yml
+    - unarchive_timestamp.yml
+    - unsafe-fixes-2.yml
+    - unsafe-intern.yml
+    - uri_follow_redirect.yml
+    - v2.18.0-initial-commit.yaml
+    - vaulted_file_and_fixes.yml
+    - vmware_facts.yml
+    - winrm-quota.yml
+    - yum_repository.yml
+    modules:
+    - description: Retrieve mount information.
+      name: mount_facts
+      namespace: lib.ansible.modules
+    plugins:
+      test:
+      - description: did the task time out
+        name: timedout
+        namespace: null
+      - description: Is this file an encrypted vault
+        name: vaulted_file
+        namespace: null
+    release_date: '2024-09-24'
+  2.18.0rc1:
+    changes:
+      bugfixes:
+      - Errors now preserve stacked error messages even when YAML is involved.
+      - Fix disabling SSL verification when installing collections and roles from
+        git repositories. If ``--ignore-certs`` isn't provided, the value for the
+        ``GALAXY_IGNORE_CERTS`` configuration option will be used (https://github.com/ansible/ansible/issues/83326).
+      - Improve performance on large inventories by reducing the number of implicit
+        meta tasks.
+      - Use the requested error message in the ansible.module_utils.facts.timeout
+        timeout function instead of hardcoding one.
+      - '``package``/``dnf`` action plugins - provide the reason behind the failure
+        to gather the ``ansible_pkg_mgr`` fact to identify the package backend'
+      - ansible-test - Enable the ``sys.unraisablehook`` work-around for the ``pylint``
+        sanity test on Python 3.11. Previously the work-around was only enabled for
+        Python 3.12 and later. However, the same issue has been discovered on Python
+        3.11.
+      - debconf - set empty password values (https://github.com/ansible/ansible/issues/83214).
+      - dnf5 - fix traceback when ``enable_plugins``/``disable_plugins`` is used on
+        ``python3-libdnf5`` versions that do not support this functionality
+      - facts - skip if distribution file path is directory, instead of raising error
+        (https://github.com/ansible/ansible/issues/84006).
+      - user module now avoids changing ownership of files symlinked in provided home
+        dir skeleton
+      minor_changes:
+      - ansible-test - Default to Python 3.13 in the ``base`` and ``default`` containers.
+      - ansible-test - Disable the ``deprecated-`` prefixed ``pylint`` rules as their
+        results vary by Python version.
+      - ansible-test - Improve container runtime probe error handling. When unexpected
+        probe output is encountered, an error with more useful debugging information
+        is provided.
+      - ansible-test - Update ``pylint`` sanity test to use version 3.3.1.
+      - ansible-test - Update the ``base`` and ``default`` containers.
+      release_summary: '| Release Date: 2024-10-14
+
+        | `Porting Guide <https://docs.ansible.com/ansible-core/2.18/porting_guides/porting_guide_core_2.18.html>`__
+
+        '
+    codename: Fool in the Rain
+    fragments:
+    - 2.18.0rc1_summary.yaml
+    - ansible-test-probe-error-handling.yml
+    - ansible-test-pylint-fix.yml
+    - ansible-test-update.yml
+    - debconf_empty_password.yml
+    - dnf5-plugins-compat.yml
+    - fix-ansible-galaxy-ignore-certs.yml
+    - fix-module-utils-facts-timeout.yml
+    - fix_errors.yml
+    - os_family.yml
+    - package-dnf-action-plugins-facts-fail-msg.yml
+    - skip-implicit-flush_handlers-no-notify.yml
+    - user_action_fix.yml
+    release_date: '2024-10-14'
+  2.18.0rc2:
+    changes:
+      bugfixes:
+      - user action will now require O(force) to overwrite the public part of an ssh
+        key when generating ssh keys, as was already the case for the private part.
+      release_summary: '| Release Date: 2024-10-29
+
+        | `Porting Guide <https://docs.ansible.com/ansible-core/2.18/porting_guides/porting_guide_core_2.18.html>`__
+
+        '
+      security_fixes:
+      - include_vars action - Ensure that result masking is correctly requested when
+        vault-encrypted files are read. (CVE-2024-8775)
+      - task result processing - Ensure that action-sourced result masking (``_ansible_no_log=True``)
+        is preserved. (CVE-2024-8775)
+      - user action won't allow ssh-keygen, chown and chmod to run on existing ssh
+        public key file, avoiding traversal on existing symlinks (CVE-2024-9902).
+    codename: Fool in the Rain
+    fragments:
+    - 2.18.0rc2_summary.yaml
+    - cve-2024-8775.yml
+    - user_ssh_fix.yml
+    release_date: '2024-10-29'
+  2.18.1:
+    changes:
+      release_summary: '| Release Date: 2024-12-02
+
+        | `Porting Guide <https://docs.ansible.com/ansible-core/2.18/porting_guides/porting_guide_core_2.18.html>`__
+
+        '
+    codename: Fool in the Rain
+    fragments:
+    - 2.18.1_summary.yaml
+    release_date: '2024-12-02'
+  2.18.1rc1:
+    changes:
+      bugfixes:
+      - Fix returning 'unreachable' for the overall task result. This prevents false
+        positives when a looped task has unignored unreachable items (https://github.com/ansible/ansible/issues/84019).
+      - ansible-test - Fix traceback that occurs after an interactive command fails.
+      - dnf5 - fix installing a package using ``state=latest`` when a binary of the
+        same name as the package is already installed (https://github.com/ansible/ansible/issues/84259)
+      - dnf5 - matching on a binary can be achieved only by specifying a full path
+        (https://github.com/ansible/ansible/issues/84334)
+      - runas become - Fix up become logic to still get the SYSTEM token with the
+        most privileges when running as SYSTEM.
+      minor_changes:
+      - ansible-test - When detection of the current container network fails, a warning
+        is now issued and execution continues. This simplifies usage in cases where
+        the current container cannot be inspected, such as when running in GitHub
+        Codespaces.
+      release_summary: '| Release Date: 2024-11-25
+
+        | `Porting Guide <https://docs.ansible.com/ansible-core/2.18/porting_guides/porting_guide_core_2.18.html>`__
+
+        '
+      security_fixes:
+      - Templating will not prefer AnsibleUnsafe when a variable is referenced via
+        hostvars - CVE-2024-11079
+    codename: Fool in the Rain
+    fragments:
+    - 2.18.1rc1_summary.yaml
+    - 84019-ignore_unreachable-loop.yml
+    - 84259-dnf5-latest-fix.yml
+    - 84334-dnf5-consolidate-settings.yml
+    - ansible-test-fix-command-traceback.yml
+    - ansible-test-network-detection.yml
+    - become-runas-system-deux.yml
+    - unsafe_hostvars_fix.yml
+    release_date: '2024-11-25'
+  2.18.2:
+    changes:
+      release_summary: '| Release Date: 2025-01-27
+
+        | `Porting Guide <https://docs.ansible.com/ansible-core/2.18/porting_guides/porting_guide_core_2.18.html>`__
+
+        '
+    codename: Fool in the Rain
+    fragments:
+    - 2.18.2_summary.yaml
+    release_date: '2025-01-27'
+  2.18.2rc1:
+    changes:
+      bugfixes:
+      - Ansible will now also warn when reserved keywords are set via a module (set_fact,
+        include_vars, etc).
+      - Ansible.Basic - Fix ``required_if`` check when the option value to check is
+        unset or set to null.
+      - Use consistent multiprocessing context for action write locks
+      - ansible-test - Fix up coverage reporting to properly translate the temporary
+        path of integration test modules to the expected static test module path.
+      - ansible-vault will now correctly handle `--prompt`, previously it would issue
+        an error about stdin if no 2nd argument was passed
+      - copy action now prevents user from setting internal options.
+      - gather_facts action now defaults to `ansible.legacy.setup` if `smart` was
+        set, no network OS was found and no other alias for `setup` was present.
+      - gather_facts action will now issues errors and warnings as appropriate if
+        a network OS is detected but no facts modules are defined for it.
+      - ssh - Improve the logic for parsing CLIXML data in stderr when working with
+        Windows host. This fixes issues when the raw stderr contains invalid UTF-8
+        byte sequences and improves embedded CLIXML sequences.
+      - ssh - connection options were incorrectly templated during ``reset_connection``
+        tasks (https://github.com/ansible/ansible/pull/84238).
+      release_summary: '| Release Date: 2025-01-20
+
+        | `Porting Guide <https://docs.ansible.com/ansible-core/2.18/porting_guides/porting_guide_core_2.18.html>`__
+
+        '
+    codename: Fool in the Rain
+    fragments:
+    - 2.18.2rc1_summary.yaml
+    - 84238-fix-reset_connection-ssh_executable-templated.yml
+    - Ansible.Basic-required_if-null.yml
+    - ansible-test-coverage-test-files.yml
+    - copy_validate_input.yml
+    - gather_facts_netos_fixes.yml
+    - macos-correct-lock.yml
+    - reserved_module_chekc.yml
+    - ssh-clixml.yml
+    - vault_cli_fix.yml
+    release_date: '2025-01-20'
+  2.18.3:
+    changes:
+      release_summary: '| Release Date: 2025-02-24
+
+        | `Porting Guide <https://docs.ansible.com/ansible-core/2.18/porting_guides/porting_guide_core_2.18.html>`__
+
+        '
+    codename: Fool in the Rain
+    fragments:
+    - 2.18.3_summary.yaml
+    release_date: '2025-02-24'
+  2.18.3rc1:
+    changes:
+      bugfixes:
+      - include_vars - fixed erroneous warning if an unreserved variable name contains
+        a single character that matches a reserved variable. (https://github.com/ansible/ansible/issues/84623)
+      - linear strategy - fix executing ``end_role`` meta tasks for each host, instead
+        of handling these as implicit run_once tasks (https://github.com/ansible/ansible/issues/84660).
+      minor_changes:
+      - ansible-test - Automatically retry HTTP GET/PUT/DELETE requests on exceptions.
+      - ansible-test - Use Python's ``urllib`` instead of ``curl`` for HTTP requests.
+      release_summary: '| Release Date: 2025-02-17
+
+        | `Porting Guide <https://docs.ansible.com/ansible-core/2.18/porting_guides/porting_guide_core_2.18.html>`__
+
+        '
+    codename: Fool in the Rain
+    fragments:
+    - 2.18.3rc1_summary.yaml
+    - 84660-fix-meta-end_role-linear-strategy.yml
+    - ansible-test-curl.yml
+    - fix-include_vars-reserved-warning.yml
+    release_date: '2025-02-17'
+  2.18.4rc1:
+    changes:
+      bugfixes:
+      - Windows - add support for running on system where WDAC is in audit mode with
+        ``Dynamic Code Security`` enabled.
+      - dnf5 - fix ``is_installed`` check for packages that are not installed but
+        listed as provided by an installed package (https://github.com/ansible/ansible/issues/84578)
+      - dnf5 - libdnf5 - use ``conf.pkg_gpgcheck`` instead of deprecated ``conf.gpgcheck``
+        which is used only as a fallback
+      - facts - gather pagesize and calculate respective values depending upon architecture
+        (https://github.com/ansible/ansible/issues/84773).
+      - module respawn - limit to supported Python versions
+      release_summary: '| Release Date: 2025-03-17
+
+        | `Porting Guide <https://docs.ansible.com/ansible-core/2.18/porting_guides/porting_guide_core_2.18.html>`__
+
+        '
+    codename: Fool in the Rain
+    fragments:
+    - 2.18.4rc1_summary.yaml
+    - 84578-dnf5-is_installed-provides.yml
+    - darwin_pagesize.yml
+    - dnf5-remove-usage-deprecated-option.yml
+    - respawn-min-python.yml
+    - win-wdac-audit.yml
+    release_date: '2025-03-17'

changelogs/fragments/ 75876-fix-parsing-of-device-serial-number-for-rhel-8.yaml

@@ -1,2 +0,0 @@
-bugfixes:
-  - ansible_facts.devices - Fix parsing of device serial number detected via sg_inq for rhel8 (https://github.com/ansible/ansible/issues/75420)

changelogs/fragments/2.18.0_summary.yaml

@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+release_summary: |
+   | Release Date: 2024-11-04
+   | `Porting Guide <https://docs.ansible.com/ansible-core/2.18/porting_guides/porting_guide_core_2.18.html>`__

changelogs/fragments/2.18.0b1_summary.yaml

@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+release_summary: |
+   | Release Date: 2024-09-24
+   | `Porting Guide <https://docs.ansible.com/ansible-core/2.18/porting_guides/porting_guide_core_2.18.html>`__

changelogs/fragments/2.18.0rc1_summary.yaml

@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+release_summary: |
+   | Release Date: 2024-10-14
+   | `Porting Guide <https://docs.ansible.com/ansible-core/2.18/porting_guides/porting_guide_core_2.18.html>`__

changelogs/fragments/2.18.0rc2_summary.yaml

@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+release_summary: |
+   | Release Date: 2024-10-29
+   | `Porting Guide <https://docs.ansible.com/ansible-core/2.18/porting_guides/porting_guide_core_2.18.html>`__

changelogs/fragments/2.18.1_summary.yaml

@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+release_summary: |
+   | Release Date: 2024-12-02
+   | `Porting Guide <https://docs.ansible.com/ansible-core/2.18/porting_guides/porting_guide_core_2.18.html>`__

changelogs/fragments/2.18.1rc1_summary.yaml

@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+release_summary: |
+   | Release Date: 2024-11-25
+   | `Porting Guide <https://docs.ansible.com/ansible-core/2.18/porting_guides/porting_guide_core_2.18.html>`__

changelogs/fragments/2.18.2_summary.yaml

@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+release_summary: |
+   | Release Date: 2025-01-27
+   | `Porting Guide <https://docs.ansible.com/ansible-core/2.18/porting_guides/porting_guide_core_2.18.html>`__

changelogs/fragments/2.18.2rc1_summary.yaml

@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+release_summary: |
+   | Release Date: 2025-01-20
+   | `Porting Guide <https://docs.ansible.com/ansible-core/2.18/porting_guides/porting_guide_core_2.18.html>`__

changelogs/fragments/2.18.3_summary.yaml

@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+release_summary: |
+   | Release Date: 2025-02-24
+   | `Porting Guide <https://docs.ansible.com/ansible-core/2.18/porting_guides/porting_guide_core_2.18.html>`__

changelogs/fragments/2.18.3rc1_summary.yaml

@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+release_summary: |
+   | Release Date: 2025-02-17
+   | `Porting Guide <https://docs.ansible.com/ansible-core/2.18/porting_guides/porting_guide_core_2.18.html>`__

changelogs/fragments/2.18.4rc1_summary.yaml

@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+release_summary: |
+   | Release Date: 2025-03-17
+   | `Porting Guide <https://docs.ansible.com/ansible-core/2.18/porting_guides/porting_guide_core_2.18.html>`__

changelogs/fragments/42960_vault_password.yml

@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+---
+bugfixes:
+- vault - handle vault password file value when it is directory (https://github.com/ansible/ansible/issues/42960).

changelogs/fragments/46314.yml

@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+---
+bugfixes:
+  - apt - report changed=True when some packages are being removed (https://github.com/ansible/ansible/issues/46314).

changelogs/fragments/46742-atomic_move-fix-setgid.yml

@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+bugfixes:
+  - atomic_move - fix using the setgid bit on the parent directory when creating files (https://github.com/ansible/ansible/issues/46742, https://github.com/ansible/ansible/issues/67177).

changelogs/fragments/47277-fails-to-deploy-deb-when-has-no-architecture-attribute.yml

@@ -1,2 +0,0 @@
-bugfixes:
-  - apt - fails to deploy deb file to old debian systems using python-apt < 0.8.9 (https://github.com/ansible/ansible/issues/47277)

changelogs/fragments/50771-uri-improvements.yml

@@ -1,3 +0,0 @@
-minor_changes:
-- uri - Eliminate multiple requests to determine the final URL for file naming with ``dest``
-- uri - Avoid reading the response body when not needed

changelogs/fragments/50897-include_role-any_errors_fatal.yaml

@@ -1,2 +0,0 @@
-bugfixes:
-  - Make include_role/include_tasks work with any_errors_fatal (https://github.com/ansible/ansible/issues/50897)

changelogs/fragments/62151-loop_control-until.yml

@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+minor_changes:
+  - loop_control - add a break_when option to to break out of a task loop early based on Jinja2 expressions (https://github.com/ansible/ansible/issues/83442).

changelogs/fragments/64092-get_url_verify_tmpsrc_checksum.yml

@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+bugfixes:
+  - get_url - Verify checksum using tmpsrc, not dest (https://github.com/ansible/ansible/pull/64092)

changelogs/fragments/67616-galaxy-scm-cloning-ignore-certs.yml

@@ -1,2 +0,0 @@
-minor_changes:
-- ansible-galaxy - the option to skip certificate verification now also applies when cloning via SCM (git/hg) (https://github.com/ansible/ansible/issues/41077)

changelogs/fragments/69776-add-aix-root-ca-certs-paths.yml

@@ -1,3 +0,0 @@
----
-minor_changes:
-- Added AIX root CA certs folders - enhance the TLS support in ``uri`` task on AIX

changelogs/fragments/71627-add_host-group_by-fix-changed_when-in-loop.yml

@@ -1,2 +0,0 @@
-bugfixes:
-  - "add_host/group_by: fix using changed_when in a loop (https://github.com/ansible/ansible/issues/71627)"

changelogs/fragments/71734-validate-plugins.yml

@@ -1,2 +0,0 @@
-minor_changes:
-  - "ansible-test sanity validate-modules - the validate-modules sanity test now also checks the documentation of documentable plugin types (https://github.com/ansible/ansible/pull/71734)."

changelogs/fragments/72321_git.yml

@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+---
+bugfixes:
+- git - check if git version is available or not before using it for comparison (https://github.com/ansible/ansible/issues/72321).

changelogs/fragments/72405-git-module-local_mods-show-conflict-destination-directory.yml

@@ -1,2 +0,0 @@
-minor_changes:
-  - git - display the destination directory path in error msg when local_mods detects local modifications conflict so that users see the exact location

changelogs/fragments/72592-catch-broken-cowsay.yaml

@@ -1,2 +0,0 @@
-bugfixes:
-  - catch the case that cowsay is broken which would lead to missing output

changelogs/fragments/73024-unarchive-apply-permissions-top-folder.yml

@@ -1,2 +0,0 @@
-bugfixes:
-  - unarchive - apply ``owner`` and ``group`` permissions to top folder (https://github.com/ansible/ansible/issues/35426)

changelogs/fragments/73629_allow-change-held-packages.yml

@@ -1,3 +0,0 @@
-minor_changes:
-  - apt - Adds APT option ``--allow-change-held-packages`` as module parameter ``allow_change_held_packages`` to allow APT up- or
-    downgrading a package which is on APTs hold list (https://github.com/ansible/ansible/issues/65325)

changelogs/fragments/73657-include-parser-error-fail.yml

@@ -1,2 +0,0 @@
-bugfixes:
-  - Parser errors from within includes should not be rescueable (https://github.com/ansible/ansible/issues/73657)

changelogs/fragments/74127-bad-filter-2.yml

@@ -1,5 +0,0 @@
-bugfixes:
-- Templating - Ensure we catch exceptions when getting ``.filters`` and
-  ``.tests`` attributes on their respective plugins and properly error,
-  instead of aborting which results in no filters being added to the
-  jinja2 environment

changelogs/fragments/74349-improve-docker-detection.yml

@@ -1,2 +0,0 @@
-bugfixes:
-  - setup - detect docker container with check for ./dockerenv or ./dockinit (https://github.com/ansible/ansible/pull/74349).

changelogs/fragments/74416-PlayIterator-_host_states-setters.yml

@@ -1,2 +0,0 @@
-minor_changes:
-  - "PlayIterator - introduce public methods to access ``PlayIterator._host_states`` (https://github.com/ansible/ansible/pull/74416)"

changelogs/fragments/74511-PlayIterator-states-enums.yml

@@ -1,2 +0,0 @@
-minor_changes:
-  - "PlayIterator - use enums for Iterating and Failed states (https://github.com/ansible/ansible/pull/74511)"

changelogs/fragments/75002-apt_min_version.yml

@@ -1,2 +0,0 @@
-minor_changes:
-  - apt - Add support for using ">=" in package version number matching.

changelogs/fragments/75015-ca-path-bundle.yml

@@ -1,3 +0,0 @@
-bugfixes:
-- urls - Allow ``ca_path`` to point to a bundle containing multiple PEM certs
-  (https://github.com/ansible/ansible/issues/75015)

changelogs/fragments/75017-user-password-expiry.yml

@@ -1,3 +0,0 @@
-bugfixes:
-  - user - allow ``password_expiry_min`` and ``password_expiry_min`` to be set to ``0`` (https://github.com/ansible/ansible/issues/75017)
-  - user - allow password min and max to be set at the same time (https://github.com/ansible/ansible/issues/75017)

changelogs/fragments/75101-ansible-vault-encrypt_string-output-file.yml

@@ -1,2 +0,0 @@
-bugfixes:
-  - "ansible-vault encrypt_string - fix ``--output`` option to correctly write encrypted string into given file (https://github.com/ansible/ansible/issues/75101)"

changelogs/fragments/75538-systemd-alias-check.yml

@@ -1,2 +0,0 @@
-bugfixes:
-- systemd - check if service is alias so it gets enabled (https://github.com/ansible/ansible/issues/75538).

changelogs/fragments/75540-warn-invalid-configured-vault-secret-files.yaml

@@ -1,2 +0,0 @@
-bugfixes:
-  - vault - Warn instead of fail for missing vault IDs if at least one valid vault secret is found.

changelogs/fragments/75560-interp-discovery-family-fallback.yml

@@ -1,4 +0,0 @@
-bugfixes:
-- Interpreter Discovery - Fallback to OS family if the distro is not found in
-  ``INTERPRETER_PYTHON_DISTRO_MAP``
-  (https://github.com/ansible/ansible/issues/75560)

changelogs/fragments/75635-fix-role-argspec-suboption-validation.yml

@@ -1,2 +0,0 @@
-bugfixes:
-  - validate_argument_spec - Skip suboption validation if the top level option is an invalid type (https://github.com/ansible/ansible/issues/75612).

changelogs/fragments/75642-free-strat-fix-executing-includes.yml

@@ -1,2 +0,0 @@
-bugfixes:
-  - Fix executing includes in the always section in the free strategy (https://github.com/ansible/ansible/issues/75642)

changelogs/fragments/75671-ansible-doc-ignore-deprecations.yml

@@ -1,2 +0,0 @@
-bugfixes:
-  - ansible-doc - ignore plugin deprecation warnings (https://github.com/ansible/ansible/issues/75671)

changelogs/fragments/75823-cli-remove-deprecated-verbosity-before-sub-cmd.yml

@@ -1,2 +0,0 @@
-removed_features:
-  - cli - remove deprecated ability to set verbosity before the sub-command (https://github.com/ansible/ansible/issues/75823)

changelogs/fragments/75824-copy-remove-deprecated-thirsty-alias.yml

@@ -1,2 +0,0 @@
-removed_features:
-  - copy - remove deprecated ``thirsty`` alias (https://github.com/ansible/ansible/issues/75824)

changelogs/fragments/75825-75826-get_url-uri-remove-deprecated-thirsty-alias.yml

@@ -1,2 +0,0 @@
-removed_features:
-  - url_argument_spec - remove deprecated ``thirsty`` alias for ``get_url`` and ``uri`` modules (https://github.com/ansible/ansible/issues/75825, https://github.com/ansible/ansible/issues/75826)