Posts

A recent addition to GitHub Actions is the ability to create a custom job summary. Using a simple echo command in a script you can write to the job summary steps: - name: Adding markdown run: echo '### Hello world! :rocket:' >> $GITHUB\_STEP\_SUMMARY Now, this got me thinking. I have a well-used custom release notes extension for Azure DevOps. It has a GitHub Action equivalent, but it does not seem to get as much usage. Would adding support for custom Job Summaries make it more useful? ...

GitHub’s Dependabot is a great tool to help keep your dependencies up to date, and most of the time the PR it generates just merges without a problem. However, sometimes there are issues with other related dependencies. This was the case with a recent PR to update jest-circus to 28.x. The PR failed with the error TypeError: Cannot read property ’enableGlobally’ of undefined at jestAdapter (node_modules/jest-circus/build/legacy-code-todo-rewrite/jestAdapter.js:39:25) at TestScheduler.scheduleTests (node_modules/@jest/core/build/TestScheduler.js:333:13) at runJest (node_modules/@jest/core/build/runJest.js:404:19) at _run10000 (node_modules/@jest/core/build/cli/index.js:320:7) at runCLI (node_modules/@jest/core/build/cli/index.js:173:3) ...

Did you miss the ‘Microsoft and GitHub DevOps Forum: DevSecOps’ event I presented at earlier in May? Well worry not, the on-demand stream is now available - here

I have blogged in the past ( here , here and here) about the complexities and possible areas of confusion with different types of Azure DevOps pipeline variables. Well here is another example of how to use variables and what can trip you up. The key in this example is the scope of a variable, whether it is available outside a job and the syntax to access it Variables local to the Job So, if you create your variable as shown below ...

As I have posted about previously, we create our Azure DevOps build agent images using the same Packer definitions as used by Microsoft. This time when I ran my Packer command to build an updated VHD I got the error Build ‘vhd’ errored after 135 milliseconds 708 microseconds: adal: Refresh request failed. Status Code = ‘401’. Response body: {“error”:“invalid_client”,“error_description”:“AADSTS7000222: The provided client secret keys for app ‘6425416f-aa94-4c20-8395-XXXXXXX’ are expired. Visit the Azure portal to create new keys for your app: https://aka.ms/NewClientSecret, or consider using certificate credentials for added security: https://aka.ms/certCreds.rnTrace ID: 65a200cf-8423-4d52-af07-67bf26225200rnCorrelation ID: 0f86de87-33fa-443b-8186-4de3894972e1rnTimestamp: 2022-05-03 08:36:50Z”,“error_codes”:[7000222],“timestamp”:“2022-05-03 08:36:50Z”,“trace_id”:“65a200cf-8423-4d52-af07-67bf26225200”,“correlation_id”:“0f86de87-33fa-443b-8186-4de3894972e1”,“error_uri”:“https://login.microsoftonline.com/error?code=7000222"} Endpoint https://login.microsoftonline.com/545a7a95-3c4d-4e88-9890-baa86d5fdacb/oauth2/token==> Builds finished but no artifacts were created. ...

I’m speaking at the resheduled Microsoft and GitHub DevOps Forum on the 4th of March. To Register: https://mktoevents.com/Microsoft+Event/333304/157-GQE-382?wt.mc_id=AID3045587_QSG_EML_586670

Issue I had an Azure DevOps YAML based pipeline that had been working but was now getting stuck with the message “Job is pending…” when trying to start a stage in which there is a deployment to an environment. Looking at the logs and Azure DevOps UI it was not obvious what the issue was. Solution Turns out it was due to environment checks and approvals. There was a branch policy on the environment. This was set to only allow use of Azure DevOps Templates on a given branch. The edit that had been done to the YAML meant it was trying to extend a template in a branch that was not in the approved list. ...

Update: This event has been rescheduled for the 4th May. The new registration link is here I’m speaking at the Microsoft and GitHub DevOps Forum on the 10th of March. To register - https://mktoevents.com/Microsoft+Event/325749/157-GQE-382

I have blogged in the past ( here and here) about the complexities and possible areas of confusion with different types of Azure DevOps pipeline variables. I have also seen issues raised over how to access custom variables across jobs and stages. Safe to say, this is an area where it is really easy to get it wrong and end up with a null value. I have recently come across another edge case to add to the list of gotchas. ...

Yesterday, yet again, I was thankful for my past self taking time to blog about a technical solution I had found. I had an error when trying to digitally sign a package. On searching on the error code I came across my own blog post with the solution. This was, as usual, one I had no recollection of writing. I find this happens all the time. It is a little disturbing when you search for an issue and the only reference is to a post you made and have forgotten, so you are the defacto expert, nobody knows anymore on the subject, but better than having no solution. ...