root-password

name	root_password
description	Maintains the ansible/roles/root_password Ansible role that sets the root account password, as part of the Linux SOE. Use when checking or fixing the root password.

root_password

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

ansible/roles/root_password/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/root_password/defaults/main.yml:

• No-ops unless root_password is set (unset by default — commented out, expected from vault).
• root_password_encrypted (default true) controls whether the value is treated as already-hashed or hashed in-role using a salt derived from root_password_salt_seed (default {{ inventory_hostname }}) — same pattern as accounts_local.
• The task itself always sets no_log: true (not tied to a variable, unlike accounts_local_no_log).

This role is sourced from the myllynen/rhel-ansible-roles import (see git log -- ansible/roles/root_password) 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/configure_rhel.yml --tags root_password --check --diff

Summarize the diff output and any failed tasks in plain language.

Remediate (modifies the system — only after the user explicitly asks): first summarize what will change from the --check --diff output, then run the same command without --check:

ansible-playbook ansible/configure_rhel.yml --tags root_password

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

Notes

• This is one of the highest-blast-radius single tasks in the repo — a wrong or accidentally-shared root password affects every account on the host. Never put root_password in plaintext in a PR body, -e, or --check --diff output (the value itself won't appear in --diff since the task is no_log, but don't undermine that by echoing the source vault value elsewhere).

Wiring into the SOE

This role is in configure_rhel_domains's default value in ansible/configure_rhel.yml (see .claude/skills/configure_rhel/SKILL.md) and has a row in .claude/skills/soe/SKILL.md's domain table, so it runs as part of both ansible-playbook ansible/configure_rhel.yml --tags root_password ... and a full, untagged ansible-playbook ansible/configure_rhel.yml run. This repo no longer uses ansible/site.yml as the baseline entrypoint — see docs/ARCHITECTURE.md.