If you are not familiar with modules, check out Ansible - Getting Started with Modules.

There are a few modules that can be used to manage packages.

• apt module
• dnf module
• package module (this article)
• package_facts module
• yum module

It often make sense to use the ansible.builtin.package module because the package module should be able to be used against any Linux distribution. On the other hand, the other package management modules are can only be used against certain distributions. For example, the dnf module can only be used against Red Hat distributions (CentOS, Fedora, Red Hat).

However, be aware that the ansible.builtin.package module may fail fatal with the following based on the package manager being used on the target server, and the version(s) of Python on the target server. 

fatal: [server1.example.com]: FAILED! => {"changed": false, "msg": "The Python 2 yum module is needed for this module. If you require Python 3 support use the `dnf` Ansible module instead."}

What I have found to be most stable is to use the ansible_pkg_mgr fact to determine if the package manager being used on the target server and to then use the module for the package manager being used on the target server.

---
- hosts: all
  tasks:
  - name: update wget using dnf
    ansible.builtin.dnf:
      name: wget
      state: latest
    when: ansible_pkg_mgr == 'dnf'

  - name: update wget using yum
    ansible.builtin.yum:
      name: wget
      state: latest
    when: ansible_pkg_mgr == 'yum'

  - name: update wget using apt
    ansible.builtin.apt:
      name: wget
      state: latest
    when: ansible_pkg_mgr == 'apt'
...

On a Red Hat distributions (CentOS, Fedora, Red Hat), if you need to create a .repo file, such as /etc/yum.repos.d/epel.com, the yum_repository module can be used to create the .repo file.

---
- hosts: all
  tasks:
  - name: add the /etc/yum.repos.d/epel.repo
    ansible.builtin.yum_repository:
      name: epel
      description: EPEL repo
      baseurl: https://download.fedoraproject.org/pub/epel/$releasever/$basearch/
...

Use list to determine if a package is available or installed

---
- hosts: localhost
  tasks:
  - name: determine if cifs-utils is available or installed
    ansible.builtin.package:
      list: cifs-utils
    register: out

  - ansible.builtin.debug:
      var: out
...

Something like this should be returned.

ok: [localhost] => {
    "out": {
        "changed": false,
        "failed": false,
        "msg": "",
        "results": [
            {
                "arch": "x86_64",
                "epoch": "0",
                "name": "cifs-utils",
                "nevra": "0:cifs-utils-6.15-1.fc34.x86_64",
                "release": "1.fc34",
                "repo": "@System",
                "version": "6.15",
                "yumstate": "installed"
            },
            {
                "arch": "x86_64",
                "epoch": "0",
                "name": "cifs-utils",
                "nevra": "0:cifs-utils-6.15-1.fc34.x86_64",
                "release": "1.fc34",
                "repo": "updates",
                "version": "6.15",
                "yumstate": "available"
            },
            {
                "arch": "x86_64",
                "epoch": "0",
                "name": "cifs-utils",
                "nevra": "0:cifs-utils-6.11-3.fc34.x86_64",
                "release": "3.fc34",
                "repo": "fedora",
                "version": "6.11",
                "yumstate": "available"
            }
        ]
    }
}

Install a package

In this example, if the wget package is not installed on the system, the latest version of wget will be installed. If wget is already installed, wget will be updated to to the latest version.

---
- hosts: localhost
  tasks:
  - name: update wget
    ansible.builtin.package:
      name: wget
      state: latest
...

Or reference an RPM.

---
- hosts: localhost
  tasks:
  - ansible.builtin.package:
      name: https://dl.fedoraproject.org/pub/epel/epel-release-latest-7.noarch.rpm
      state: present
...

Better yet, the follow can be used to determine if the package is installed and only install if the package is not currently installed.

---
- hosts: all
  tasks:
  - name: determine if git is installed
    ansible.builtin.package:
      list: git
    register: out

  - name: by default, lets set git_installation_status to unknown
    ansible.builtin.set_fact:
      git_installation_status: 'unknown'    

  - name:  set_fact git_installation_status to 'installed' if the git package is already installed
    ansible.builtin.set_fact:
      git_installation_status: 'installed'
    with_items: "{{ out.results }}"
    when: item.yumstate == 'installed'

  - name: install git (if not already installed)
    ansible.builtin.package:
      name: git
      state: latest
    when: item != 'installed'
...

Install / Upgrade multiple packages

You could also install or upgrade multiple packages at once, like this.

---
- hosts: localhost
  tasks:
  - name: update wget and bzip2
    ansible.builtin.package:
      name: ['wget', 'bzip2']
      state: latest
...

Update all packages

The wildcard character can be used to update all installed packages on the managed node.

---
- hosts: localhost
  tasks:
  - name: update all packages - this is like running the 'dnf update' command
    ansible.builtin.package:
      name: "*"
      state: latest
...

Install a Package Group

The dnf group list command with the -v or --verbose flag will return the availabe and installed package groups, listing the package group name and package group ID in parenthesis.

dnf group list --verbose

Something like this should be returned.

Available Groups:
   3D Printing (3d-printing)
   Administration Tools (admin-tools)
   Audio Production (audio)
   Authoring and Publishing (authoring-and-publishing)
   C Development Tools and Libraries (c-development)
   Cloud Infrastructure (cloud-infrastructure)
   Cloud Management Tools (cloud-management)
   Compiz (compiz)
   Container Management (container-management)
   D Development Tools and Libraries (d-development)
   Design Suite (design-suite)
   Development Tools (development-tools)
   Domain Membership (domain-client)
   Fedora Eclipse (eclipse)

The @ characeter is used to install a package group. Here is how you would install the Administration Tools package group.

---
- hosts: localhost
  tasks:
  - name: install or update the Administration Tools package group
    ansible.builtin.package:
      name: "@Administration Tools"
      state: latest
...

state: absent can be used to uninstall packages.

---
- hosts: localhost
  tasks:
  - name: remove wget and bzip2
    ansible.builtin.package:
      name: ['wget', 'bzip2']
      state: absent
...

If you want to uninstall a specific version of a package, you will either use a dash after the package name (e.g. kernel-devel-3.10.0-1160.92.1.el7) or equals (e.g. kernel-devel=3.10.0-1160.92.1.el7).

---
- hosts: localhost
  tasks:
  - name: remove kernel-devel
    ansible.builtin.package:
      name: kernel-devel-3.10.0-1160.92.1.el7
      state: absent
...

Clear DNF cache

The package module does not have an option to clear the cache, which means to remove the files below /var/cache/dnf or /var/cache/yum. If you want to clear the dnf cache, the shell or command modules can be used.

---
- hosts: localhost
  tasks:
  - name: clear dnf cache
    ansible.builtin.command: dnf clean all
...