Remove (only) user-facing use of ANSIBLE_ASYNC_DIR (#74249)

Change:
- Remove only user-facing use of ANSIBLE_ASYNC_DIR.
- Remove two comments saying to change things that, apparently, we
  aren't going to change...

Test Plan:
- ci_complete

Tickets:
- Fixes #74139
- Fixes #74138
- Refs #74226

Signed-off-by: Rick Elrod <rick@elrod.me>

6 files changed, 18 insertions, 62 deletions

diff --git a/changelogs/fragments/deprecate-ansible-async-dir-envvar.yml b/changelogs/fragments/deprecate-ansible-async-dir-envvar.yml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..906ad9d331
--- /dev/null
+++ b/changelogs/fragments/deprecate-ansible-async-dir-envvar.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+minor_changes:
+  - "async tasks - the use of the task-level ``ANSIBLE_ASYNC_DIR`` variable within ``environment:`` is no longer valid. Use the shell configuration variable ``async_dir`` instead."
diff --git a/docs/docsite/rst/porting_guides/porting_guide_core_2.12.rst b/docs/docsite/rst/porting_guides/porting_guide_core_2.12.rst
index cc83f49c97..3961a553e2 100644
--- a/docs/docsite/rst/porting_guides/porting_guide_core_2.12.rst
+++ b/docs/docsite/rst/porting_guides/porting_guide_core_2.12.rst
@@ -19,7 +19,18 @@ This document is part of a collection on porting. The complete list of porting g
 Playbook
 ========
 
-No notable changes
+* When calling tasks and setting ``async``, setting ``ANSIBLE_ASYNC_DIR`` under ``environment:`` is no longer valid. Instead, use the shell configuration variable ``async_dir``, for example by setting ``ansible_async_dir``:
+
+.. code-block:: yaml
+
+   tasks:
+     - dnf:
+         name: '*'
+         state: latest
+       async: 300
+       poll: 5
+       vars:
+         ansible_async_dir: /path/to/my/custom/dir
 
 Python Interpreter Discovery
 ============================
diff --git a/lib/ansible/plugins/action/__init__.py b/lib/ansible/plugins/action/__init__.py
index c071157b74..a2284bb020 100644
--- a/lib/ansible/plugins/action/__init__.py
+++ b/lib/ansible/plugins/action/__init__.py
@@ -984,25 +984,11 @@ class ActionBase(with_metaclass(ABCMeta, object)):
 
         self._update_module_args(module_name, module_args, task_vars)
 
-        # FIXME: convert async_wrapper.py to not rely on environment variables
-        # make sure we get the right async_dir variable, backwards compatibility
-        # means we need to lookup the env value ANSIBLE_ASYNC_DIR first
         remove_async_dir = None
         if wrap_async or self._task.async_val:
-            env_async_dir = [e for e in self._task.environment if
-                             "ANSIBLE_ASYNC_DIR" in e]
-            if len(env_async_dir) > 0:
-                msg = "Setting the async dir from the environment keyword " \
-                      "ANSIBLE_ASYNC_DIR is deprecated. Set the async_dir " \
-                      "shell option instead"
-                self._display.deprecated(msg, "2.12", collection_name='ansible.builtin')
-            else:
-                # ANSIBLE_ASYNC_DIR is not set on the task, we get the value
-                # from the shell option and temporarily add to the environment
-                # list for async_wrapper to pick up
-                async_dir = self.get_shell_option('async_dir', default="~/.ansible_async")
-                remove_async_dir = len(self._task.environment)
-                self._task.environment.append({"ANSIBLE_ASYNC_DIR": async_dir})
+            async_dir = self.get_shell_option('async_dir', default="~/.ansible_async")
+            remove_async_dir = len(self._task.environment)
+            self._task.environment.append({"ANSIBLE_ASYNC_DIR": async_dir})
 
         # FUTURE: refactor this along with module build process to better encapsulate "smart wrapper" functionality
         (module_style, shebang, module_data, module_path) = self._configure_module(module_name=module_name, module_args=module_args, task_vars=task_vars)
@@ -1047,8 +1033,7 @@ class ActionBase(with_metaclass(ABCMeta, object)):
         environment_string = self._compute_environment_string()
 
         # remove the ANSIBLE_ASYNC_DIR env entry if we added a temporary one for
-        # the async_wrapper task - this is so the async_status plugin doesn't
-        # fire a deprecation warning when it runs after this task
+        # the async_wrapper task.
         if remove_async_dir is not None:
             del self._task.environment[remove_async_dir]
 
@@ -1077,7 +1062,6 @@ class ActionBase(with_metaclass(ABCMeta, object)):
 
             # call the interpreter for async_wrapper directly
             # this permits use of a script for an interpreter on non-Linux platforms
-            # TODO: re-implement async_wrapper as a regular module to avoid this special case
             interpreter = shebang.replace('#!', '').strip()
             async_cmd = [interpreter, remote_async_module_path, async_jid, async_limit, remote_module_path]
 
diff --git a/lib/ansible/plugins/action/async_status.py b/lib/ansible/plugins/action/async_status.py
index b6cf9ec9e2..fc48716f7e 100644
--- a/lib/ansible/plugins/action/async_status.py
+++ b/lib/ansible/plugins/action/async_status.py
@@ -18,17 +18,6 @@ class ActionModule(ActionBase):
         # async directory based on the shell option
         async_dir = self.get_shell_option('async_dir', default="~/.ansible_async")
 
-        # for backwards compatibility we need to get the dir from
-        # ANSIBLE_ASYNC_DIR that is defined in the environment. This is
-        # deprecated and will be removed in favour of shell options
-        env_async_dir = [e for e in self._task.environment if "ANSIBLE_ASYNC_DIR" in e]
-        if len(env_async_dir) > 0:
-            async_dir = env_async_dir[0]['ANSIBLE_ASYNC_DIR']
-            msg = "Setting the async dir from the environment keyword " \
-                  "ANSIBLE_ASYNC_DIR is deprecated. Set the async_dir " \
-                  "shell option instead"
-            self._display.deprecated(msg, "2.12", collection_name='ansible.builtin')
-
         return self._remote_expand_user(async_dir)
 
     def run(self, tmp=None, task_vars=None):
diff --git a/test/integration/targets/async/tasks/main.yml b/test/integration/targets/async/tasks/main.yml
index 255e7104ae..05c789e6c9 100644
--- a/test/integration/targets/async/tasks/main.yml
+++ b/test/integration/targets/async/tasks/main.yml
@@ -244,26 +244,6 @@
       path: '{{ custom_async_tmp }}'
       state: absent
 
-  - name: run async task with custom dir - deprecated format
-    command: sleep 1
-    register: async_custom_dir_dep
-    async: 5
-    poll: 1
-    environment:
-      ANSIBLE_ASYNC_DIR: '{{ custom_async_tmp }}'
-
-  - name: check if the async temp dir is created - deprecated format
-    stat:
-      path: '{{ custom_async_tmp }}'
-    register: async_custom_dir_dep_result
-
-  - name: assert run async task with custom dir - deprecated format
-    assert:
-      that:
-      - async_custom_dir_dep is successful
-      - async_custom_dir_dep is finished
-      - async_custom_dir_dep_result.stat.exists
-
   - name: remove custom async dir after deprecation test
     file:
       path: '{{ custom_async_tmp }}'
@@ -290,13 +270,6 @@
     vars:
       ansible_async_dir: '{{ custom_async_tmp }}'
 
-  - name: get async status with custom dir - deprecated format
-    async_status:
-      jid: '{{ async_fandf_custom_dir.ansible_job_id }}'
-    register: async_fandf_custom_dir_dep_result
-    environment:
-      ANSIBLE_ASYNC_DIR: '{{ custom_async_tmp }}'
-
   - name: assert run fire and forget async task with custom dir
     assert:
       that:
@@ -304,7 +277,6 @@
       - async_fandf_custom_dir_fail is failed
       - async_fandf_custom_dir_fail.msg == "could not find job"
       - async_fandf_custom_dir_result is successful
-      - async_fandf_custom_dir_dep_result is successful
 
   always:
   - name: remove custom tmp dir after test
diff --git a/test/sanity/ignore.txt b/test/sanity/ignore.txt
index 37cbb3117f..1b3fe15ff4 100644
--- a/test/sanity/ignore.txt
+++ b/test/sanity/ignore.txt
@@ -122,8 +122,6 @@ lib/ansible/plugins/shell/cmd.py pylint:arguments-renamed
 lib/ansible/playbook/base.py pylint:disallowed-name
 lib/ansible/playbook/collectionsearch.py required-and-default-attributes  # https://github.com/ansible/ansible/issues/61460
 lib/ansible/playbook/helpers.py pylint:disallowed-name
-lib/ansible/plugins/action/__init__.py pylint:ansible-deprecated-version
-lib/ansible/plugins/action/async_status.py pylint:ansible-deprecated-version
 lib/ansible/plugins/action/normal.py action-plugin-docs # default action plugin for modules without a dedicated action plugin
 lib/ansible/plugins/cache/base.py ansible-doc!skip  # not a plugin, but a stub for backwards compatibility
 lib/ansible/plugins/lookup/sequence.py pylint:disallowed-name