Bamboo predefined variable getting overwritten

[Kent Rollins]

I have a build with multiple repositories so I'm using a plan variable to define the branch name so that all the repositories get checked out on the same branch for the build.

I defined a plan variable "repobranch". Each repository's branch field is set to ${bamboo.repobranch}. And I set the branch value for this variable on each branch of the plan. This all works great.

But then I wanted to use the branch name in my ant build scripts so I set an environment variable for the build: bamboo_branch=${bamboo.repository.branch.name}.

Now when the build runs, I get the following lines at the start of each task:

command	10-Oct-2013 16:32:27	Substituting variable: ${bamboo.buildNumber} with 110
command	10-Oct-2013 16:32:27	Substituting variable: ${bamboo.repository.branch.name} with ${bamboo.repobranch}
command	10-Oct-2013 16:32:27	Substituting variable: ${bamboo.build.working.directory} with C:\build\xml-data\build-dir\SFB-BAO-JOB1

So when I echo out ${ENV.bamboo_branch} in ant, the value is "${bamboo.repobranch}". That's the literal value that echos out.

I tried removing the repobranch variable from the whole plan and all branches on the plan, running it, then putting it back, but this problem is still occurring.

Any tips?

Kent

[Marcin Gardias · Accepted solution]

Hi,

Bamboo does not interpret variables recursively. In other words if you use variable to define another variable it won't work. That includes built-in variables that derive their value from configuration fields.

My question is why don't you just export

bamboo_branch=${bamboo.repobranch}

That should work exactly as you expect.

[Kent Rollins]

The thing I am trying to control is the checkout of the repositories. I have multiple repositories and I want them all to check out the same branch. Bamboo only checks out the updated branch of the default repository. All other repositories check out "master" by default.

I did define a variable as you suggest so that I can use that in the build itself, but I was trying to control the repository checkout.

I found that the problem was that I was assigning the above variable to the "branch" field of the default repository. I can use that variable in the "branch" field of the other repositories and they will check out the branch assigned to that variable. I am now leaving the default repository set to "master" and then changing it on each branch.