Dynamic git source code checkout

[Philippe Weber]

Hello,

I'm trying to achieve a git checkout of a specific tag/commit controlled by the execution of the build process.

In the plan configuration, I defined the repository to use a variable as a branch

For it to work a default value must be assigned as a Plan variable, here using master

Then in the build execution this variable value is overridden with a specific commit hash.

My issue is that when the corresponding Source code checkout task is executed, it is first checking out the repository before substituting the variable.

simple	06-Jun-2019 14:41:24	Starting task 'Checkout' of type 'com.atlassian.bamboo.plugins.vcs:task.vcs.checkout'
simple	06-Jun-2019 14:41:24	Checking out into /ec/local/citnet/bamboo-agent-home/xml-data/build-dir/DISSCHAIN-DISSCHAINSOA25-REE/disschain-impl/extraction
simple	06-Jun-2019 14:41:24	Updating source code to revision: 94b8954182c9d96cb7f511b0a62caf226eb76b7a
command	06-Jun-2019 14:41:24	Substituting variable: ${bamboo.sources.release.tag} with 99b82efeed26c459d79d29cfd7d38226b88c55e8

So I end up with the wrong content.

I suppose the issue is because the repository is pooled for Change Detection by the Bamboo build upfront, but that is not what I need. In my case this is a copy of the main repository

I hope there is another configuration to achieve such dynamic checkout, but I need help finding it please...

[Daniel Santos]

Hello @Philippe Weber

I think I understand what you need, but I also know that you cannot achieve it using the strategy you planned.

Bamboo will now allow you to change server instance variables. The best you can do is to change them in the terminal, but that will not serve to your purpose. Tasks run from JAVA runtime which evaluates the variables before running the command on terminal.

Reference on variables not being overwritten:

• How can i change a bamboo variable in a script task
  This post was answered by one of our developers on variables

I see two options for you to move forward:

1. Run a customized build
   You will be able to give a specific value to any plan variables if you run a customized build. More details at: Running a plan build manually.
   
2. Check out your code from a script task
   You won't have the facilities of a task or shared credentials for this, but you should be able to check out any repository as you can from your terminal.

I hope that helps.