Ansible copy does not retain original permissions with mode "preserve" when using remote_src

Question

I'm using Ansible 2.8.5 (and the target servers are Red Hat 4.8.5-39). I'm copying some files/directories from GitLab into several remote hosts.

I'm doing an initial copy first into a shared location (hence the run_once: true):

- name: "Copy/Transfer application, configuration, and support file(s)"
  block:
    - name: "Copying application build"
      copy:
        dest: "{{ path_tmp }}/{{ CI_PIPELINE_ID }}/"
        mode: "0755"
        src: "{{ CI_PROJECT_DIR }}/build/libs/{{ artifact_id }}.war"
      run_once: true
    - name: "Copying (template) configuration and support file(s)"
      template:
        dest: "{{ path_tmp }}/{{ CI_PIPELINE_ID }}/{{ item.dest }}"
        mode: "0644"
        src: "{{ item.src }}"
      run_once: true
      with_items:
        - { dest: "config/logback.xml", src: "logback.xml.j2" }
        - { dest: "{{ artifact_id }}.conf", src: "{{ artifact_id }}.conf.j2" }

...and then copying the files into the desired location on each host:

- name: "Deploy/Install new application"
  block:
    # All this Jiu Jitsu just to clear {{ path_home }}/ directory
    - name: "Collecting current directories and/or files inside {{ path_home }}/"
      find:
        file_type: any
        hidden: yes
        paths: "{{ path_home }}/"
      register: collected_items
    - name: "Removing current directories and/or files inside {{ path_home }}/"
      file:
        path: "{{ item.path }}"
        state: absent
      with_items: "{{ collected_items.files }}"
    - name: "Copying new application, configuration, and support files"
      copy:
        dest: "{{ path_home }}/"
        mode: preserve
        remote_src: yes
        src: "{{ path_tmp }}/{{ CI_PIPELINE_ID }}/"
    ...

The problem is that files permissions are not getting "honored", and I wouldn't like to have to define several steps to correct that. This is how the files/directories are getting copied initially (and how I want them):

[deployer@unix core]$ ll -AR 41397/
41397/:
total 51M
drwxr-xr-x. 3 tomcat 4.0K Oct 11 11:23 .
drwxr-xr-x. 5 tomcat 4.0K Oct 11 11:22 ..
drwxr-xr-x. 2 tomcat 4.0K Oct 11 11:23 config
-rw-r--r--. 1 tomcat 1.2K Oct 11 11:23 core.conf
-rwxr-xr-x. 1 tomcat  50M Oct 11 11:23 core.war

41397/config:
total 12K
drwxr-xr-x. 2 tomcat 4.0K Oct 11 11:23 .
drwxr-xr-x. 3 tomcat 4.0K Oct 11 11:23 ..
-rw-r--r--. 1 tomcat 1.6K Oct 11 11:23 logback.xml

...and this is how they look like after the copy using remote_src: yes:

[deployer@unix core]$ ll -AR /data/st01/apps/core/
/data/st01/apps/core/:
total 50M
drwxr-xr-x. 3 tomcat 4.0K Oct 11 11:23 .
drwxr-xr-x. 3 tomcat 4.0K Oct  9 16:36 ..
drwxr-xr-x. 2 tomcat 4.0K Oct 11 11:23 config
-rw-r-----. 1 tomcat 1.2K Oct 11 11:23 core.conf
-rw-r-----. 1 tomcat  50M Oct 11 11:23 core.war

/data/st01/apps/core/config:
total 12K
drwxr-xr-x. 2 tomcat 4.0K Oct 11 11:23 .
drwxr-xr-x. 3 tomcat 4.0K Oct 11 11:23 ..
-rw-r--r--. 1 tomcat 1.6K Oct 11 11:23 logback.xml

Is it possible to use remote_src: yes and retain original file/directories permissions? The documentation for the copy module says so, but I'm probably missing something.

Answer 1

An alternative solution for me was using the synchronize module because I don't have a lot of files to copy/move:

- name: "Copy latest application build, configuration, and support file(s)"
  synchronize:
    delete: yes
    dest: "{{ app_path }}/latest/"
    recursive: yes
    src: "{{ tmp_path }}/{{ PIPELINE_ID }}/"
  delegate_to: "{{ inventory_hostname }}"