system-update-report-pre

name	system_update_report_pre
description	Maintains the ansible/roles/system_update_report_pre Ansible role that reports (without applying) pending dnf updates, optionally emailing/PDF-reporting the list, as part of the Linux SOE. Use when asked what updates are pending without installing them — see system_update for the role that actually applies updates.

system_update_report_pre

Maintains ansible/roles/system_update_report_pre/. See docs/ARCHITECTURE.md for the shared conventions (role layout, audit vs. remediate via --check --diff, safety rules, branch + PR contribution workflow).

ansible/roles/system_update_report_pre/README.md documents this role's full configuration surface (every defaults/main.yml variable, with its original inline comments, rendered as a single reference). Read it before proposing or explaining how to configure this role — it reflects the role's actual current defaults even if a variable summary elsewhere in this file has drifted out of sync with the role.

What the role actually does

Encoded in ansible/roles/system_update_report_pre/defaults/main.yml:

• Read-only by construction — it lists what dnf update would install, it never runs the update itself, so this role behaves the same under --check and without it.
• system_update_report_pre_display_updates/_email_report/_pdf mirror system_update's equivalent flags (all default false) but describe pending, not applied, updates — same PDF caveat: generated on the control host, needs enscript/ghostscript there.

This role is sourced from the myllynen/rhel-ansible-roles import (see git log -- ansible/roles/system_update_report_pre) rather than hand-authored for this repo. Unlike the original reference domains (e.g. timesync, usbguard_setup), it applies state declaratively via standard Ansible modules and does not add its own assert-based drift checks on top — an audit here is exactly what --check --diff reports from the underlying modules, nothing more.

What to do

Audit (read-only, safe to run any time):

ansible-playbook ansible/update_rhel.yml --tags system_update_report_pre --check --diff

Summarize the diff output and any failed tasks in plain language. Since this role never changes anything, --check is mostly cosmetic here — the same command without --check reports the same pending-update list, it's just no longer the convention this repo's other roles use, so keep using --check --diff for consistency:

ansible-playbook ansible/update_rhel.yml --tags system_update_report_pre

Propose a change to the role itself: never edit and commit directly. On a branch named soe/system_update_report_pre/<short-desc>, edit ansible/roles/system_update_report_pre/, validate locally (--syntax-check, ansible-lint roles/system_update_report_pre/, and --check --diff against a real/test host if available), then push and open a PR titled [system_update_report_pre] <what changed> with the --check --diff output in the body. Then stop — a human reviews and merges; see docs/ARCHITECTURE.md's "Contribution workflow".

Wiring into the SOE

This role has a row in .claude/skills/soe/SKILL.md's domain table. It runs as part of ansible/update_rhel.yml (active, uncommented, alongside system_update which stays commented — see that role's SKILL.md), not the general host baseline: it's absent from ansible/configure_rhel.yml entirely. This repo no longer uses ansible/site.yml; see docs/ARCHITECTURE.md.