apt: use exponential backoff for apt update cache retries (#60527)

* make retries and max delay configurable

2 files changed, 32 insertions, 3 deletions

diff --git a/changelogs/fragments/60527-apt_exponential_backoff_cache_update_retry.yml b/changelogs/fragments/60527-apt_exponential_backoff_cache_update_retry.yml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..5af9e0a95b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/changelogs/fragments/60527-apt_exponential_backoff_cache_update_retry.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+minor_changes:
+  - apt - Implemented an exponential backoff behaviour when retrying to update the cache with new params ``update_cache_retry_max_delay`` and ``update_cache_retries`` to control the behavior.
diff --git a/lib/ansible/modules/packaging/os/apt.py b/lib/ansible/modules/packaging/os/apt.py
index 5eb806c70f..909099ec50 100644
--- a/lib/ansible/modules/packaging/os/apt.py
+++ b/lib/ansible/modules/packaging/os/apt.py
@@ -38,6 +38,18 @@ options:
       - Run the equivalent of C(apt-get update) before the operation. Can be run as part of the package installation or as a separate step.
     type: bool
     default: 'no'
+  update_cache_retries:
+    description:
+      - Amount of retries if the cache update fails. Also see I(update_cache_retry_max_delay).
+    type: int
+    default: 5
+    version_added: '2.10'
+  update_cache_retry_max_delay:
+    description:
+      - Use an exponential backoff delay for each retry (see I(update_cache_retries)) up to this max delay in seconds.
+    type: int
+    default: 12
+    version_added: '2.10'
   cache_valid_time:
     description:
       - Update the apt cache if its older than the I(cache_valid_time). This option is set in seconds.
@@ -272,6 +284,8 @@ import re
 import sys
 import tempfile
 import time
+import random
+import time
 
 from ansible.module_utils.basic import AnsibleModule
 from ansible.module_utils._text import to_bytes, to_native
@@ -1003,6 +1017,8 @@ def main():
         argument_spec=dict(
             state=dict(type='str', default='present', choices=['absent', 'build-dep', 'fixed', 'latest', 'present']),
             update_cache=dict(type='bool', aliases=['update-cache']),
+            update_cache_retries=dict(type='int', default=5),
+            update_cache_retry_max_delay=dict(type='int', default=12),
             cache_valid_time=dict(type='int', default=0),
             purge=dict(type='bool', default=False),
             package=dict(type='list', aliases=['pkg', 'name']),
@@ -1086,16 +1102,27 @@ def main():
             now = datetime.datetime.now()
             tdelta = datetime.timedelta(seconds=p['cache_valid_time'])
             if not mtimestamp + tdelta >= now:
-                # Retry to update the cache up to 3 times
+                # Retry to update the cache with exponential backoff
                 err = ''
-                for retry in range(3):
+                update_cache_retries = module.params.get('update_cache_retries')
+                update_cache_retry_max_delay = module.params.get('update_cache_retry_max_delay')
+                randomize = random.randint(0, 1000) / 1000.0
+
+                for retry in range(update_cache_retries):
                     try:
                         cache.update()
                         break
                     except apt.cache.FetchFailedException as e:
                         err = to_native(e)
+
+                    # Use exponential backoff plus a little bit of randomness
+                    delay = 2 ** retry + randomize
+                    if delay > update_cache_retry_max_delay:
+                        delay = update_cache_retry_max_delay + randomize
+                    time.sleep(delay)
                 else:
-                    module.fail_json(msg='Failed to update apt cache: %s' % err)
+                    module.fail_json(msg='Failed to update apt cache: %s' % (err if err else 'unknown reason'))
+
                 cache.open(progress=None)
                 mtimestamp, post_cache_update_time = get_updated_cache_time()
                 if updated_cache_time != post_cache_update_time: