fatal: "Failed to connect to the host via scp"

[JayBraker]

Hi, I am running ansible 2.15 on Debian Bookworm (OpenSSH 9.2p1)
The host runs openwrt-23.05.0-rc2

Right now I am unable to even run any playbook, as the included tasks already fail.

ansible [core 2.15.3]
   config file = None
   configured module search path = ['/home/josha/.ansible/roles/gekmihesg.openwrt/library']
   ansible python module location = /home/josha/venv/lib/python3.11/site-packages/ansible
   ansible collection location = /home/josha/.ansible/collections:/usr/share/ansible/collections
   executable location = /home/josha/venv/bin/ansible
   python version = 3.11.2 (main, Mar 13 2023, 12:18:29) [GCC 12.2.0] (/home/josha/venv/bin/python3)
   jinja version = 3.1.2
   libyaml = True

$ ssh -V
OpenSSH_9.2p1 Debian-2, OpenSSL 3.0.9 30 May 2023

$ ~/venv/bin/ansible-playbook ./Documents/router.yml -i ./Documents/inventory.conf

PLAY [openwrt] **************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************

TASK [Gathering Facts] ******************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************
[WARNING]: sftp transfer mechanism failed on [192.168.1.1]. Use ANSIBLE_DEBUG=1 to see detailed information
[WARNING]: scp transfer mechanism failed on [192.168.1.1]. Use ANSIBLE_DEBUG=1 to see detailed information
ok: [192.168.1.1]

TASK [gekmihesg.openwrt : pin defaults] *************************************************************************************************************************************************************************
ok: [192.168.1.1]

TASK [gekmihesg.openwrt : install recommended packages] *********************************************************************************************************************************************************
included: /home/josha/.ansible/roles/gekmihesg.openwrt/tasks/packages.yml for 192.168.1.1

TASK [gekmihesg.openwrt : check whether opkg caches need update] ************************************************************************************************************************************************
fatal: [192.168.1.1]: UNREACHABLE! => {"changed": false, "msg": "Failed to connect to the host via scp: ash: /usr/libexec/sftp-server: not found\nscp: Connection closed\r\n", "unreachable": true}

PLAY RECAP ******************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************
192.168.1.1                : ok=3    changed=0    unreachable=1    failed=0    skipped=0    rescued=0    ignored=0

Any idea why or what details I should provide?

Kind regards, Josha

[Jonny007-MKD]

Hi Josha,
I suspect this is rather related to OpenWRT 23.05 than to Debian Bookworm, but who knows.
Is there some helpful output when running the playbook with ANSIBLE_DEBUG=1?

$ ANSIBLE_DEBUG=1 ~/venv/bin/ansible-playbook ./Documents/router.yml -i ./Documents/inventory.conf

[JayBraker]

Unfortunately I disagree, switching to an older OpenSSH 7 install (which shipped with ubuntu-18.04) circumvented the issue entirely.
Maybe two separate issues collide here but I am pretty confident it is not just the newer OpenWRT at fault.

I will provide Debug output but I didn't see anything stick out yesterday

[Jonny007-MKD]

Oh, true, OpenSSH 9 deprecated SCP:
https://www.openssh.com/txt/release-9.0
openwrt/openwrt#9889

Probably the best solution is to set ansible_scp_extra_args = "-O" on the host/group in the inventory:
ansible/ansible#78600

[JayBraker]

Yes. This was already hinted at in a PR #59
Maybe accepting that or amending the docs appropriately would help avoid confusion by others

[Jonny007-MKD]

I agree. @gekmihesg doesn't seem to actively maintain this role, though.

[marek22k]

I also have this problem. Are there any news in the meantime?