UPD: reddit user FireReadyAim pointed out, that copy module supports remote_src parameter. It was added in ansible 2.0, I’ve missed it. It works with directories too. But it does not support copying owners, permissions, acls and xattrs, so my solution is still useful in some cases.

Ansible doesn’t have a convenient way to copy files within target host. Directly using cp command is not the best option. Files will be copied every time and task will always be marked as changed. Other downside is that check mode won’t work for command and shell modules.

To make this properly, you can use rsync command on target host with some hacks:

- set_fact : rsync_dry_run : "--dry-run" when : ansible_check_mode - name : copy files within target host shell : rsync -- itemize - changes -- archive -- acls -- xattrs {{ rsync_dry_run | default ( '' ) }} / src / directory / / dest / directory / # always run check_mode : no register : rsync_result changed_when : rsync_result . stdout != ''

Check mode will show, whether the task is to change files, and files won’t be copied if they already are in place.

--itemize-changes makes rsync output a change-summary for every updated file.

Other options thay you may want to use with rsync in this task:

--update skip files that are never in destination

skip files that are never in destination --ignore-existing do not update files that exist in destination

do not update files that exist in destination --checksum do not skip files based on mod-time and size, use checksum

Yep, ansible will brag about using synchronize module instead of rsync, but it can not work within destination host.