def publish_minions(self):
        '''
        Publishes minions as a list of dicts.
        '''
        minions = []

        for minion, minion_info in six.iteritems(self.minions):
            curr_minion = {}
            curr_minion.update(minion_info)
            curr_minion.update({'id': minion})
            minions.append(curr_minion)

        ret = {'minions': minions}
        self.handler.send(salt.utils.json.dumps(ret), False)