TypeError: '>' not supported between instances of 'str' and 'int' during build process in Ansible Builder 3.x.x

[eanar]

Description:
I encountered a TypeError during the build process with Ansible Builder when running the ansible-builder build command. The error occurs because a comparison (>) is being made between a string and an integer, which is not supported. This error is likely caused by improper handling of version values or other numerical comparisons in the code.

---

Steps to Reproduce:

1. Set up a virtual environment or use a clean Python environment.
2. Install ansible-builder version 3.0.1 (or another version in the 3.x.x series):

   pip install ansible-builder==3.0.1

3. Create a simple requirements.yml with basic role/collection definitions (optional, the error might happen even without specific collections defined).
4. Run the build command:

   ansible-builder build -t test

---

Expected Behavior:
The ansible-builder build process should complete successfully without errors.

---

Actual Behavior:
The build process fails with the following error:

TypeError: '>' not supported between instances of 'str' and 'int'

---

Version Information:

• ansible-builder version: 3.0.1 (error occurs with other 3.x.x versions as well)
• Python version: 3.12
• Operating System: Ubuntu 22.04 (or your OS version)
• ansible-runner version: [If known]
• Other relevant package versions: [List any other dependencies related to Ansible Builder]

---

Code Snippets of Interest:

The error appears to stem from comparisons in the code where version values are compared directly with integers. For instance:

1. In containerfile.py:

   if self.definition.version >= 3:

   The self.definition.version variable is likely being treated as a string, which causes the error.

2. In user_definition.py:

   if self.version > 2:

   Similar issue with self.version being treated as a string during the comparison.

---

Additional Information:

• The error consistently occurs during the build process, even with minimal setup (e.g., an empty requirements.yml).
• The issue may be related to version handling or type comparisons in Ansible Builder's internal code.

---

Possible Solutions:

• It appears that the version values should be cast to integers before making comparisons. For example, changing:

  if self.definition.version >= 3:

  to:

  if int(self.definition.version) >= 3:

• This change may also be necessary in other locations where version or numerical values are compared.

---

Screenshots / Logs:

  (ansible-builder-env) eanar@MACHINE:~/eanar/src$ ansible-builder build -t test
TypeError: '>' not supported between instances of 'str' and 'int'
(ansible-builder-env) eanar@MACHINE:~/eanar/src$ pip uninstall ansible-builder
Found existing installation: ansible-builder 3.1.0
Uninstalling ansible-builder-3.1.0:
  Would remove:
    /home/eanar/ansible-builder-env/bin/ansible-builder
    /home/eanar/ansible-builder-env/lib/python3.12/site-packages/ansible_builder-3.1.0.dist-info/*
    /home/eanar/ansible-builder-env/lib/python3.12/site-packages/ansible_builder/*
Proceed (Y/n)? y
  Successfully uninstalled ansible-builder-3.1.0
(ansible-builder-env) eanar@MACHINE:~/eanar/src$ pip install ansible-builder==4.0.0
ERROR: Ignored the following yanked versions: 0.4.1, 0.4.2
ERROR: Could not find a version that satisfies the requirement ansible-builder==4.0.0 (from versions: 0.1.0, 0.2.0, 0.2.1, 0.2.2, 0.3.1, 0.4.0, 0.5.0, 0.5.1, 0.6.0, 1.0.0.0a1, 1.0.0.0a2, 1.0.0.0b1, 1.0.0.0rc1, 1.0.0, 1.0.1, 1.1.0, 1.2.0, 3.0.0.0b1, 3.0.0rc1, 3.0.0rc2, 3.0.0, 3.0.1, 3.1.0)
ERROR: No matching distribution found for ansible-builder==4.0.0
(ansible-builder-env) eanar@MACHINE:~/eanar/src$ pip install ansible-builder==3.0.1
Collecting ansible-builder==3.0.1
  Downloading ansible_builder-3.0.1-py3-none-any.whl.metadata (2.7 kB)
Requirement already satisfied: PyYAML in /home/eanar/ansible-builder-env/lib/python3.12/site-packages (from ansible-builder==3.0.1) (6.0.2)
Collecting requirements-parser (from ansible-builder==3.0.1)
  Downloading requirements_parser-0.11.0-py3-none-any.whl.metadata (4.7 kB)
Requirement already satisfied: bindep in /home/eanar/ansible-builder-env/lib/python3.12/site-packages (from ansible-builder==3.0.1) (2.12.0)
Requirement already satisfied: jsonschema in /home/eanar/ansible-builder-env/lib/python3.12/site-packages (from ansible-builder==3.0.1) (4.23.0)
Requirement already satisfied: Parsley in /home/eanar/ansible-builder-env/lib/python3.12/site-packages (from bindep->ansible-builder==3.0.1) (1.3)
Requirement already satisfied: pbr>=2.0.0 in /home/eanar/ansible-builder-env/lib/python3.12/site-packages (from bindep->ansible-builder==3.0.1) (6.1.1)
Requirement already satisfied: distro>=1.7.0 in /home/eanar/ansible-builder-env/lib/python3.12/site-packages (from bindep->ansible-builder==3.0.1) (1.9.0)
Requirement already satisfied: packaging in /home/eanar/ansible-builder-env/lib/python3.12/site-packages (from bindep->ansible-builder==3.0.1) (24.2)
Requirement already satisfied: attrs>=22.2.0 in /home/eanar/ansible-builder-env/lib/python3.12/site-packages (from jsonschema->ansible-builder==3.0.1) (25.1.0)
Requirement already satisfied: jsonschema-specifications>=2023.03.6 in /home/eanar/ansible-builder-env/lib/python3.12/site-packages (from jsonschema->ansible-builder==3.0.1) (2024.10.1)
Requirement already satisfied: referencing>=0.28.4 in /home/eanar/ansible-builder-env/lib/python3.12/site-packages (from jsonschema->ansible-builder==3.0.1) (0.36.2)
Requirement already satisfied: rpds-py>=0.7.1 in /home/eanar/ansible-builder-env/lib/python3.12/site-packages (from jsonschema->ansible-builder==3.0.1) (0.22.3)
Collecting types-setuptools>=69.1.0 (from requirements-parser->ansible-builder==3.0.1)
  Downloading types_setuptools-75.8.0.20250110-py3-none-any.whl.metadata (2.2 kB)
Requirement already satisfied: setuptools in /home/eanar/ansible-builder-env/lib/python3.12/site-packages (from pbr>=2.0.0->bindep->ansible-builder==3.0.1) (75.8.0)
Requirement already satisfied: typing-extensions>=4.4.0 in /home/eanar/ansible-builder-env/lib/python3.12/site-packages (from referencing>=0.28.4->jsonschema->ansible-builder==3.0.1) (4.12.2)
Downloading ansible_builder-3.0.1-py3-none-any.whl (41 kB)
Downloading requirements_parser-0.11.0-py3-none-any.whl (14 kB)
Downloading types_setuptools-75.8.0.20250110-py3-none-any.whl (71 kB)
Installing collected packages: types-setuptools, requirements-parser, ansible-builder
Successfully installed ansible-builder-3.0.1 requirements-parser-0.11.0 types-setuptools-75.8.0.20250110
(ansible-builder-env) eanar@MACHINE:~/eanar/src$ ansible-builder build -t test
TypeError: '>' not supported between instances of 'str' and 'int'
(ansible-builder-env) eanar@MACHINE:~/eanar/src$ ansible-builder --version
3.0.1
(ansible-builder-env) eanar@MACHINE:~/eanar/src$
(ansible-builder-env) eanar@MACHINE:~/eanar/src$
(ansible-builder-env) eanar@MACHINE:~/eanar/src$ cat ~/.
./                         .bash_history              .cache/                    .local/                    .profile                   .viminfo
../                        .bash_logout               .config/                   .motd_shown                .python_history
.ansible/                  .bashrc                    .landscape/                .pki/                      .sudo_as_admin_successful
(ansible-builder-env) eanar@MACHINE:~/eanar/src$ cat ~/.
./                         .bash_history              .cache/                    .local/                    .profile                   .viminfo
../                        .bash_logout               .config/                   .motd_shown                .python_history
.ansible/                  .bashrc                    .landscape/                .pki/                      .sudo_as_admin_successful
(ansible-builder-env) eanar@MACHINE:~/eanar/src$ cd ~/ansible-builder-env/lib/python3.12/site-packages/ansible_builder
(ansible-builder-env) eanar@MACHINE:~/ansible-builder-env/lib/python3.12/site-packages/ansible_builder$ grep ">" .
grep: .: Is a directory
(ansible-builder-env) eanar@MACHINE:~/ansible-builder-env/lib/python3.12/site-packages/ansible_builder$ grep -ir ">" .
./containerfile.py:        if self.definition.version >= 3 and not self.definition.options['skip_ansible_check']:
./containerfile.py:        if self.definition.version >= 3 and self.definition.options['relax_passwd_permissions']:
./containerfile.py:        if self.definition.version >= 3 and (final_workdir := self.definition.options['workdir']):
./containerfile.py:        if self.definition.version >= 3 and (uid := self.definition.options['user']):
./containerfile.py:        if self.definition.version >= 3:
./_target_scripts/entrypoint:CUR_USERNAME=$(id -u -n 2> /dev/null || true)  # whoami-free way to get current username, falls back to current uid
./_target_scripts/entrypoint:  function log_debug() { echo "EP_DEBUG: $1" 1>&2; }
./_target_scripts/entrypoint:    function maybe_fail() { echo "EP_FAIL: $1" 1>&2; exit 1; }
./_target_scripts/entrypoint:    function maybe_fail() { echo "EP_WARN: $1" 1>&2; }
./_target_scripts/entrypoint:  if ! getent passwd "${CUR_USERNAME}" &> /dev/null ; then
./_target_scripts/entrypoint:      echo "${CUR_UID}:x:${CUR_UID}:0:container user ${CUR_UID}:${DEFAULT_HOME}:${DEFAULT_SHELL}" >> /etc/passwd
./_target_scripts/entrypoint:    if ! (mkdir -p "${CANDIDATE_HOME}" >& /dev/null && chmod -R ug+rwx "${CANDIDATE_HOME}" >& /dev/null) ; then
./_target_scripts/entrypoint:  echo "${NEWPW}" > /etc/passwd
./_target_scripts/assemble:        bindep -l newline | sort >> /output/bindep/run.txt || true
./_target_scripts/assemble:            bindep -l newline -b epel | sort >> /output/bindep/stage.txt || true
./_target_scripts/assemble:            grep -Fxvf /output/bindep/run.txt /output/bindep/stage.txt >> /output/bindep/epel.txt || true
./_target_scripts/assemble:    if [ $(ls -1 /output/wheels/*whl 2>/dev/null | wc -l) -gt 0 ]; then
./_target_scripts/assemble:      echo "$package" >> /output/packages.txt
./_target_scripts/install-from-bindep:  if [ $(ls -1 /output/wheels/*whl 2>/dev/null | wc -l) -gt 0 ]; then
grep: ./_target_scripts/__pycache__/introspect.cpython-312.pyc: binary file matches
grep: ./_target_scripts/__pycache__/__init__.cpython-312.pyc: binary file matches
./_target_scripts/check_ansible:# Usage: check_ansible <PYCMD>
./_target_scripts/check_ansible:    echo "Usage: check_ansible <PYCMD>"
./_target_scripts/introspect.py:def write_file(filename: str, lines: list) -> bool:
./ee_schema.py:    if schema_version >= 3:
./utils.py:        if main_logger.level > logging.INFO:
./utils.py:        if main_logger.level > logging.DEBUG:
./utils.py:def write_file(filename: str, lines: list) -> bool:
./utils.py:def copy_file(source: str, dest: str, ignore_mtime: bool = False) -> bool:
./utils.py:    elif not ignore_mtime and os.path.getmtime(source) > os.path.getmtime(dest):
./user_definition.py:        if self.version > 2:
./user_definition.py:        if self.version > 1:
grep: ./__pycache__/user_definition.cpython-312.pyc: binary file matches
grep: ./__pycache__/policies.cpython-312.pyc: binary file matches
grep: ./__pycache__/__main__.cpython-312.pyc: binary file matches
grep: ./__pycache__/ee_schema.cpython-312.pyc: binary file matches
grep: ./__pycache__/cli.cpython-312.pyc: binary file matches
grep: ./__pycache__/main.cpython-312.pyc: binary file matches
grep: ./__pycache__/exceptions.cpython-312.pyc: binary file matches
grep: ./__pycache__/constants.cpython-312.pyc: binary file matches
grep: ./__pycache__/colors.cpython-312.pyc: binary file matches
grep: ./__pycache__/containerfile.cpython-312.pyc: binary file matches
grep: ./__pycache__/utils.cpython-312.pyc: binary file matches
grep: ./__pycache__/__init__.cpython-312.pyc: binary file matches
(ansible-builder-env) eanar@MACHINE:~/ansible-builder-env/lib/python3.12/site-packages/ansible_builder$ pip check
No broken requirements found.
(ansible-builder-env) eanar@MACHINE:~/ansible-builder-env/lib/python3.12/site-packages/ansible_builder$ uname -a
Linux MACHINE 5.15.133.1-microsoft-standard-WSL2 #1 SMP Thu Oct 5 21:02:42 UTC 2023 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux

---

Environment Details:

• Python Environment:

  • Virtual environment? (Yes)
  • If yes, what tool was used to install ansible-builder? (e.g., python3 -m venv with pip and pipx)

• System Information:

  • OS: Ubuntu 22.04

---

Additional Context:

• The error was observed on both fresh installs of ansible-builder in a virtual environment and when trying to install ansible-builder system-wide.
• This issue has been persistent through multiple versions of the 3.x.x series, including 3.1.0 and 3.0.1.
• No other errors were encountered before this, and the problem persists even with minimal configuration.

---

Thank you for your attention to this issue! Please let me know if you need additional information to help resolve this bug.

---

Key Points for the Maintainers:

• The bug appears to be related to type mismatches when comparing version numbers or other numerical values.
• It’s likely caused by strings being compared to integers, which leads to the TypeError.
• The error occurs consistently in the ansible-builder build process.

[Shrews]

Please provide the execution-environment.yml file you used to produce this error.

[eanar]

execution-environment.yml file:

---
version: 3.1.0
dependencies:
  galaxy: requirements.yml
  python: requirements.txt
additional_build_steps:
  prepend:
    - "COPY . /project"

requirements.txt file:

boto
boto3

requirements.yml file:

---
collections:
  - name: amazon.aws

[Shrews]

Your value for version in the EE file is invalid. It must be an integer. See the docs here.

You should have:

version: 3