def gather_meta(self):
        """
        Return the meta file.
        """
        if not os.path.exists(self.paths["meta"]):
            return ""

        meta_dict = utils.yaml_load(self.paths["meta"])

        # gather the dependencies
        if meta_dict and "dependencies" in meta_dict:
            # create a simple list of each role that is a dependency
            dep_list = []

            for dependency in meta_dict["dependencies"]:
                if type(dependency) is dict:
                    dep_list.append(dependency["role"])
                else:
                    dep_list.append(dependency)

            # unique set of dependencies
            meta_dict["dependencies"] = list(set(dep_list))

            self.dependencies = meta_dict["dependencies"]
        else:
            self.dependencies = []

        return utils.file_to_string(self.paths["meta"])
Return the meta file.