Use StrictVersion class to avoid wrong version comparisons that happen in some cases using LooseVersion class which results in TypeError

[umiruka]

SUMMARY

Fixes #8506 and complements PR #10145

ISSUE TYPE

• Bugfix Pull Request

COMPONENT NAME

cobbler_system plugin

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

When running a task with state param set to present (default value) as in the following example:

- name: Ensure cobbler systems were created
  community.general.cobbler_system:
    host: <hostname>
    username: cobbler
    password: <pwd>
    name: <profile_name>
    use_ssl: false
    state: present

I get the following error:

xmlrpc.client.Fault: <Fault 1: "<class 'TypeError'>:CobblerXMLRPCInterface.get_system_handle() takes 2 positional arguments but 3 were given">

This still happens after the fix #10145 because LooseVersion class does not compare the version numbers that are in different formats as expected. Cobbler's xmlrpc client library returns the version number for version 3.4.0 as 3.4 so as a result the comparison in line gives the following:

>>> LooseVersion('3.4') >= LooseVersion('3.4.0')
False

The expected result of the above comparison is True.

When using StrictVersion class we get the expected result:

>>> StrictVersion('3.4') >= StrictVersion('3.4.0')
True

Cobbler version

Cobbler 3.4.0

Ansible version

ansible [core 2.14.6]

community.general

community.general 10.6.0 

[ansibullbot]

cc @dagwieers
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[felixfontein]

Thanks for your contribution!

[patchback]

Backport to stable-10: 💔 cherry-picking failed — conflicts found

❌ Failed to cleanly apply 9717bac on top of patchback/backports/stable-10/9717bac816fc4d0774405a1ebd32379fddf8e0dc/pr-10178

Backporting merged PR #10178 into stable-10

1. Ensure you have a local repo clone of your fork. Unless you cloned it
   from the upstream, this would be your origin remote.
2. Make sure you have an upstream repo added as a remote too. In these
   instructions you'll refer to it by the name upstream. If you don't
   have it, here's how you can add it:

   $ git remote add upstream https://github.com/ansible-collections/community.general.git

3. Ensure you have the latest copy of upstream and prepare a branch
   that will hold the backported code:

   $ git fetch upstream
   $ git checkout -b patchback/backports/stable-10/9717bac816fc4d0774405a1ebd32379fddf8e0dc/pr-10178 upstream/stable-10

4. Now, cherry-pick PR Use StrictVersion class to avoid wrong version comparisons that happen in some cases using LooseVersion class which results in TypeError #10178 contents into that branch:

   $ git cherry-pick -x 9717bac816fc4d0774405a1ebd32379fddf8e0dc

   If it'll yell at you with something like fatal: Commit 9717bac816fc4d0774405a1ebd32379fddf8e0dc is a merge but no -m option was given., add -m 1 as follows instead:

   $ git cherry-pick -m1 -x 9717bac816fc4d0774405a1ebd32379fddf8e0dc

5. At this point, you'll probably encounter some merge conflicts. You must
   resolve them in to preserve the patch from PR Use StrictVersion class to avoid wrong version comparisons that happen in some cases using LooseVersion class which results in TypeError #10178 as close to the
   original as possible.
6. Push this branch to your fork on GitHub:

   $ git push origin patchback/backports/stable-10/9717bac816fc4d0774405a1ebd32379fddf8e0dc/pr-10178

7. Create a PR, ensure that the CI is green. If it's not — update it so that
   the tests and any other checks pass. This is it!
   Now relax and wait for the maintainers to process your pull request
   when they have some cycles to do reviews. Don't worry — they'll tell you if
   any improvements are necessary when the time comes!

🤖 @patchback
I'm built with octomachinery and
my source is open — https://github.com/sanitizers/patchback-github-app.

[felixfontein]

@umiruka thanks for fixing this!

[felixfontein]

I cherry-picked this into main as well. (It should have gone there right away and only then be backported to stable-10, but I apparently overlooked the wrong target branch...)

[umiruka]

I cherry-picked this into main as well. (It should have gone there right away and only then be backported to stable-10, but I apparently overlooked the wrong target branch...)

I will take note of that for next time.