Removed sorting to preserve original order (#74839)

updated tests to reflect new order

3 files changed, 12 insertions, 11 deletions

diff --git a/changelogs/fragments/unsorted.yml b/changelogs/fragments/unsorted.yml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..3910341d2b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/changelogs/fragments/unsorted.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+bugfixes:
+  - ansible-inventory will not explicitly sort groups/hosts anymore, giving a chance (depending on output format) to match the order in the input sources.
diff --git a/lib/ansible/cli/inventory.py b/lib/ansible/cli/inventory.py
index 0e86080121..e8ed75e463 100755
--- a/lib/ansible/cli/inventory.py
+++ b/lib/ansible/cli/inventory.py
@@ -13,7 +13,6 @@ from ansible.cli import CLI
 import sys
 
 import argparse
-from operator import attrgetter
 
 from ansible import constants as C
 from ansible import context
@@ -273,11 +272,11 @@ class InventoryCLI(CLI):
 
         result = [self._graph_name('@%s:' % group.name, depth)]
         depth = depth + 1
-        for kid in sorted(group.child_groups, key=attrgetter('name')):
+        for kid in group.child_groups:
             result.extend(self._graph_group(kid, depth))
 
         if group.name != 'all':
-            for host in sorted(group.hosts, key=attrgetter('name')):
+            for host in group.hosts:
                 result.append(self._graph_name(host.name, depth))
                 if context.CLIARGS['show_vars']:
                     result.extend(self._show_vars(self._get_host_variables(host), depth + 1))
@@ -303,9 +302,9 @@ class InventoryCLI(CLI):
             results = {}
             results[group.name] = {}
             if group.name != 'all':
-                results[group.name]['hosts'] = [h.name for h in sorted(group.hosts, key=attrgetter('name'))]
+                results[group.name]['hosts'] = [h.name for h in group.hosts]
             results[group.name]['children'] = []
-            for subgroup in sorted(group.child_groups, key=attrgetter('name')):
+            for subgroup in group.child_groups:
                 results[group.name]['children'].append(subgroup.name)
                 if subgroup.name not in seen:
                     results.update(format_group(subgroup))
@@ -343,14 +342,14 @@ class InventoryCLI(CLI):
 
             # subgroups
             results[group.name]['children'] = {}
-            for subgroup in sorted(group.child_groups, key=attrgetter('name')):
+            for subgroup in group.child_groups:
                 if subgroup.name != 'all':
                     results[group.name]['children'].update(format_group(subgroup))
 
             # hosts for group
             results[group.name]['hosts'] = {}
             if group.name != 'all':
-                for h in sorted(group.hosts, key=attrgetter('name')):
+                for h in group.hosts:
                     myvars = {}
                     if h.name not in seen:  # avoid defining host vars more than once
                         seen.append(h.name)
@@ -377,7 +376,7 @@ class InventoryCLI(CLI):
             results[group.name] = {}
 
             results[group.name]['children'] = []
-            for subgroup in sorted(group.child_groups, key=attrgetter('name')):
+            for subgroup in group.child_groups:
                 if subgroup.name == 'ungrouped' and not has_ungrouped:
                     continue
                 if group.name != 'all':
@@ -385,7 +384,7 @@ class InventoryCLI(CLI):
                 results.update(format_group(subgroup))
 
             if group.name != 'all':
-                for host in sorted(group.hosts, key=attrgetter('name')):
+                for host in group.hosts:
                     if host.name not in seen:
                         seen.add(host.name)
                         host_vars = self._get_host_variables(host=host)
diff --git a/test/integration/targets/inventory_script/inventory.json b/test/integration/targets/inventory_script/inventory.json
index 5046a9a83c..69ba547686 100644
--- a/test/integration/targets/inventory_script/inventory.json
+++ b/test/integration/targets/inventory_script/inventory.json
@@ -1029,9 +1029,9 @@
     },
     "all": {
         "children": [
+            "ungrouped",
             "None",
-            "guests",
-            "ungrouped"
+            "guests"
         ]
     },
     "guests": {