Fix: Preserve AS-DOT ASN string formatting in ansible_collections utils.Template()

[kolbashj]

SUMMARY

• BGP ASNs using asdot notation and ending with trailing zeroes 65000.1000 are being misrepresented. Trailing zeroes are being stripped, returning 65000.1

ISSUE TYPE

• Bugfix Pull Request

COMPONENT NAME

• ansible_collections.ansible.netcommon.plugins.module_utils.network.common.utils
• Template().call method

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

I work with the cisco_ios network module a lot. When trying to gather bgp_global facts the 'as_number' is truncated. Traced the bug back to the above-mentioned module. The value loses its trailing zeroes after being processed by ast.literal_eval() before being returned.

BEFORE CHANGE

PLAY [CISCO FACTS] *****************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************

TASK [cisco_facts : CISCO IOS - GATHER FACTS] **************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************
Thursday 08 May 2025  23:23:15 -0700 (0:00:00.008)       0:00:00.008 ********** 
Thursday 08 May 2025  23:23:15 -0700 (0:00:00.007)       0:00:00.007 ********** 
ok: [edge1-rt]

TASK [cisco_facts : CISCO IOS - PRINT FACTS] ***************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************
Thursday 08 May 2025  23:23:17 -0700 (0:00:02.043)       0:00:02.051 ********** 
Thursday 08 May 2025  23:23:17 -0700 (0:00:02.043)       0:00:02.051 ********** 
ok: [edge1-rt] => 
  ios_facts:
    ansible_facts:
      ansible_net_api: cliconf
      ansible_net_gather_network_resources:
      - bgp_global
      ansible_net_gather_subset:
      - default
      ansible_net_hostname: edge1-rt
      ansible_net_image: bootflash:packages.conf
      ansible_net_iostype: IOS-XE
      ansible_net_model: C8000V
      ansible_net_operatingmode: autonomous
      ansible_net_python_version: 3.12.3
      ansible_net_system: ios
      ansible_net_version: 17.12.04a
      ansible_network_resources:
        bgp_global:
          aggregate_addresses:
          - address: 205.85.0.0
            netmask: 255.255.248.0
          as_number: '65000.1'
 
TRUNCATED OUTPUT ---

PLAY RECAP *************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************
edge1-rt                   : ok=2    changed=0    unreachable=0    failed=0    skipped=0    rescued=0    ignored=0   

Playbook run took 0 days, 0 hours, 0 minutes, 2 seconds
Thursday 08 May 2025  23:23:17 -0700 (0:00:00.038)       0:00:02.089 ********** 
=============================================================================== 
cisco_facts : CISCO IOS - GATHER FACTS -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2.04s
cisco_facts : CISCO IOS - PRINT FACTS --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 0.04s
Thursday 08 May 2025  23:23:17 -0700 (0:00:00.038)       0:00:02.089 ********** 
=============================================================================== 
cisco_facts ------------------------------------------------------------- 2.08s
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 
total ------------------------------------------------------------------- 2.08s

AFTER CHANGE

PLAY [CISCO FACTS] *****************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************

TASK [cisco_facts : CISCO IOS - GATHER FACTS] **************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************
Thursday 08 May 2025  23:28:40 -0700 (0:00:00.008)       0:00:00.008 ********** 
Thursday 08 May 2025  23:28:40 -0700 (0:00:00.008)       0:00:00.008 ********** 
ok: [edge1-rt]

TASK [cisco_facts : CISCO IOS - PRINT FACTS] ***************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************
Thursday 08 May 2025  23:28:42 -0700 (0:00:02.022)       0:00:02.030 ********** 
Thursday 08 May 2025  23:28:42 -0700 (0:00:02.022)       0:00:02.030 ********** 
ok: [edge1-rt] => 
  ios_facts:
    ansible_facts:
      ansible_net_api: cliconf
      ansible_net_gather_network_resources:
      - bgp_global
      ansible_net_gather_subset:
      - default
      ansible_net_hostname: edge1-rt
      ansible_net_image: bootflash:packages.conf
      ansible_net_iostype: IOS-XE
      ansible_net_model: C8000V
      ansible_net_operatingmode: autonomous
      ansible_net_python_version: 3.12.3
      ansible_net_system: ios
      ansible_net_version: 17.12.04a
      ansible_network_resources:
        bgp_global:
          aggregate_addresses:
          - address: 205.85.0.0
            netmask: 255.255.248.0
          as_number: '65000.1000'

TRUNCATED OUTPUT ---

PLAY RECAP *************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************
edge1-rt                   : ok=2    changed=0    unreachable=0    failed=0    skipped=0    rescued=0    ignored=0   

Playbook run took 0 days, 0 hours, 0 minutes, 2 seconds
Thursday 08 May 2025  23:28:42 -0700 (0:00:00.037)       0:00:02.068 ********** 
=============================================================================== 
cisco_facts : CISCO IOS - GATHER FACTS -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2.02s
cisco_facts : CISCO IOS - PRINT FACTS --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 0.04s
Thursday 08 May 2025  23:28:42 -0700 (0:00:00.037)       0:00:02.067 ********** 
=============================================================================== 
cisco_facts ------------------------------------------------------------- 2.06s
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 
total ------------------------------------------------------------------- 2.06s

[kolbashj]

Hi team 👋 — just following up on this PR.

This patch addresses a parsing bug where valid AS-DOT formatted ASNs (e.g. 65000.1000) are incorrectly coerced to floats (65000.1) during template evaluation inside network_template._template() due to the use of ast.literal_eval(). This breaks downstream usage of parsed bgp_global facts, especially when re-rendering configs or comparing state.

I've included:

A regex-safe solution that preserves AS-DOT values as strings

Unit tests to verify the behavior

A scoped implementation that avoids impact on unrelated values

Let me know if any changes or refinements are needed — happy to iterate.

Thanks for reviewing!