Ansible环境下在/tmp目录内文件夹执行configure、make等命令的问题

Hey there! Let's break down your questions and fix this build workflow issue in Ansible step by step.

1. Fixing Makefile generation when running configure outside the target directory #

The core problem here is that configure generates its Makefile in your current working directory (CWD) by default. To get it to create the Makefile inside your /tmp subdirectory instead, you need to execute the configure command directly from within that target folder.

Ansible's command and shell modules have a chdir parameter that does exactly this: it switches to the specified directory before running the command, just like if you'd manually typed cd /tmp/your-folder first. Here's how to use it:

- name: Run configure from within the target build folder
  command: ./configure --your-custom-flags-here
  args:
    chdir: /tmp/your-target-subfolder

This way, configure runs right inside your /tmp subdirectory, so the Makefile (and all other build artifacts) will be created there instead of your default CWD.

2. Is make -C ./directory/ a valid approach? #

Absolutely! The -C flag is a standard, officially supported option for make—it tells make to switch to the specified directory before looking for the Makefile and executing build tasks. This is totally acceptable if you need to run make from outside the target folder.

That said, if you're running a full sequence of configure, make, and make install, it's usually cleaner to use the chdir parameter consistently for all commands. This keeps your playbook readable and ensures every step runs in the correct context, just like you were working directly inside that /tmp subfolder.

Best ways to mimic "being inside the target folder" #

Here are two solid approaches to achieve the exact behavior you want:

Option 1: Use chdir for each build command #

This is the most explicit and Ansible-idiomatic way. Each command runs in the target directory, so your workflow mirrors manual execution:

- name: Configure the build (runs in /tmp/your-build-folder)
  command: ./configure --prefix=/usr/local --enable-featureX
  args:
    chdir: /tmp/your-build-folder

- name: Compile the source code (use all CPU cores)
  command: make -j{{ ansible_processor_vcpus }}
  args:
    chdir: /tmp/your-build-folder

- name: Install the compiled binaries
  command: make install
  args:
    chdir: /tmp/your-build-folder

Option 2: Chain commands with cd in a shell block #

If you prefer to run everything in a single task, you can use a shell module with a chained command sequence. The cd command switches the directory, and && ensures each step only runs if the previous one succeeded:

- name: Run full build sequence in target directory
  shell: |
    cd /tmp/your-build-folder && \
    ./configure --prefix=/usr/local --enable-featureX && \
    make -j{{ ansible_processor_vcpus }} && \
    make install

This works well for shorter sequences, but splitting into separate tasks makes debugging easier (you can see exactly which step failed if something goes wrong).

A quick reminder: Since you mentioned you can't switch to directories outside /tmp, these approaches are perfectly safe—we're only working within /tmp's subdirectories, which Ansible should have full access to.

内容的提问来源于stack exchange，提问作者user6568026