Azure-devops-docs: add "signal" environment variables, document a suggested way of detecting Azure Pipelines specifically
Every so often a project needs a reliable way to check two aspects when building / testing:
- Is this project running on CI in general? (feature request)
- Is this project running on a specific CI provider? (feature request)
- Currently, how can I reliably verify I am running on Azure Pipelines? (guidance request)
Apologies if this issue is raised in the wrong spot (maybe (1) and (2) should be raised on a different repo?).
1. Is this project running on CI in general?
Most providers supply a CI environment variable, which is generally understood to be "CI is running in some form".
Can we add CI=true as a default environment variable to all images?
2. Is this project running on a specific CI provider?
Most providers also supply a vendor specific environment variable to enable users to detect e.g., "Am I running on [ travis / circleci / azure pipelines / etc]?". This is helpful for "turn-key" build scripts etc. (links above for respective variables, inlined here for convenience):
- Travis CI:
TRAVIS=true - CircleCI:
CIRCLECI=true - AppVeyor:
APPVEYOR=true
Can we add something like AZURE_PIPELINES=true as a default environment variable to all image?
3. Currently, how can I reliably verify I am running on Azure Pipelines?
The mapping from the documented variables to the exported environment variables is not officially documented. It seems to basically just be var -> uppercase -> replace . with _, with some exceptions (?)
- ~Is
AGENT.JOBSTATUSan accident? (AGENT_JOBSTATUSalso is exported)~ This is documented, it is kept for backwards compatibility...sorry x0 - Can I rely on
AZURE_HTTP_USER_AGENTalways being set (even if it is the empty string)? This is the only one with anAZURE_prefix, making it my preference over something likeAGENT_*orBUILD_*since it's a little clearer.
AZURE_HTTP_USER_AGENTseems to come from something that may or may not be getting phased out in favor of Azure CLI 2.0, which is why I'm concerned about relying on it.- If
AZURE_HTTP_USER_AGENTis getting phased out, is there a suggested variable from below (e.g.,AGENT_NAMEorBUILD_REASONor something)?
I'm happy to add a PR to the docs if (1) and (2) are done. It's a small change, but even if they are incorporated in the future it will take some time for it to actually hit production. So I'm just looking for help on a band-aid solution (assuming (1) and (2) are getting incorporated).
Thanks for reading / any help, and for azure pipelines :heart:
Included below are the current environment variables exported for the vs2017 build agent for convenience.
AGENT.JOBSTATUSAGENT_BUILDDIRECTORYAGENT_DISABLELOGPLUGIN_TESTFILEPUBLISHERPLUGINAGENT_DISABLELOGPLUGIN_TESTRESULTLOGPLUGINAGENT_HOMEDIRECTORYAGENT_IDAGENT_JOBNAMEAGENT_JOBSTATUSAGENT_MACHINENAMEAGENT_NAMEAGENT_OSAGENT_OSARCHITECTUREAGENT_RETAINDEFAULTENCODINGAGENT_ROOTDIRECTORYAGENT_SERVEROMDIRECTORYAGENT_TEMPDIRECTORYAGENT_TOOLSDIRECTORYAGENT_VERSIONAGENT_WORKFOLDERALLUSERSPROFILEANDROID_HOMEANDROID_NDK_HOMEANDROID_NDK_PATHANT_HOMEAPPDATAAZURE_HTTP_USER_AGENTBOOST_ROOTBOOST_ROOT_1_69_0BUILD_ARTIFACTSTAGINGDIRECTORYBUILD_BINARIESDIRECTORYBUILD_BUILDIDBUILD_BUILDNUMBERBUILD_BUILDURIBUILD_CONTAINERIDBUILD_DEFINITIONNAMEBUILD_DEFINITIONVERSIONBUILD_QUEUEDBYBUILD_QUEUEDBYIDBUILD_REASONBUILD_REPOSITORY_CLEANBUILD_REPOSITORY_GIT_SUBMODULECHECKOUTBUILD_REPOSITORY_IDBUILD_REPOSITORY_LOCALPATHBUILD_REPOSITORY_NAMEBUILD_REPOSITORY_PROVIDERBUILD_REPOSITORY_URIBUILD_REQUESTEDFORBUILD_REQUESTEDFOREMAILBUILD_REQUESTEDFORIDBUILD_SOURCEBRANCHBUILD_SOURCEBRANCHNAMEBUILD_SOURCESDIRECTORYBUILD_SOURCEVERSIONBUILD_SOURCEVERSIONAUTHORBUILD_SOURCEVERSIONMESSAGEBUILD_STAGINGDIRECTORYCHOCOLATEYINSTALLCHROMEWEBDRIVERCOBERTURA_HOMECOMMANDPROMPTTYPECOMMONPROGRAMFILESCOMMONPROGRAMFILES(X86)COMMONPROGRAMW6432COMMON_TESTRESULTSDIRECTORYCOMPUTERNAMECOMSPECCONDADEVENVDIREXTENSIONSDKDIRFRAMEWORK40VERSIONFRAMEWORKDIRFRAMEWORKDIR64FRAMEWORKVERSIONFRAMEWORKVERSION64FSHARPINSTALLDIRGECKOWEBDRIVERGIT_TERMINAL_PROMPTGOROOTGOROOT_1_10_X64GOROOT_1_11_X64GOROOT_1_12_X64GOROOT_1_9_X64GRADLE_HOMEHOMEDRIVEHOMEPATHHTMLHELPDIRIEWEBDRIVERIFCPATHINCLUDEJAVA_HOMEJAVA_HOME_11_X64JAVA_HOME_8_X64LIBLIBPATHLOCALAPPDATALOGONSERVERM2M2_HOMEM2_REPOMAVEN_OPTSMSDEPLOY_HTTP_USER_AGENTMSMPI_BINNETFXSDKDIRNPM_CONFIG_CACHENPM_CONFIG_PREFIXNUMBER_OF_PROCESSORSOSPATHPATHEXTPHPROOTPIPELINE_WORKSPACEPLATFORMPROCESSOR_ARCHITECTUREPROCESSOR_IDENTIFIERPROCESSOR_LEVELPROCESSOR_REVISIONPROGRAMDATAPROGRAMFILESPROGRAMFILES(X86)PROGRAMW6432PROMPTPSEXECUTIONPOLICYPREFERENCEPSMODULEPATHPUBLICPYTHON_HOMESYSTEMSYSTEMDRIVESYSTEMROOTSYSTEM_ARTIFACTSDIRECTORYSYSTEM_COLLECTIONIDSYSTEM_COLLECTIONURISYSTEM_CULTURESYSTEM_DEBUGSYSTEM_DEFAULTWORKINGDIRECTORYSYSTEM_DEFINITIONIDSYSTEM_DEFINITIONNAMESYSTEM_ENABLEACCESSTOKENSYSTEM_HOSTTYPESYSTEM_ISSCHEDULEDSYSTEM_JOBATTEMPTSYSTEM_JOBDISPLAYNAMESYSTEM_JOBIDSYSTEM_JOBIDENTIFIERSYSTEM_JOBNAMESYSTEM_JOBPARALLELISMTAGSYSTEM_JOBPOSITIONINPHASESYSTEM_PHASEDISPLAYNAMESYSTEM_PHASEIDSYSTEM_PHASENAMESYSTEM_PIPELINESTARTTIMESYSTEM_PLANIDSYSTEM_PULLREQUEST_ISFORKSYSTEM_PULLREQUEST_MERGEDATSYSTEM_PULLREQUEST_PULLREQUESTIDSYSTEM_PULLREQUEST_PULLREQUESTNUMBERSYSTEM_PULLREQUEST_SOURCEBRANCHSYSTEM_PULLREQUEST_SOURCECOMMITIDSYSTEM_PULLREQUEST_SOURCEREPOSITORYURISYSTEM_PULLREQUEST_TARGETBRANCHSYSTEM_SERVERTYPESYSTEM_TASKDEFINITIONSURISYSTEM_TASKDISPLAYNAMESYSTEM_TASKINSTANCEIDSYSTEM_TASKINSTANCENAMESYSTEM_TEAMFOUNDATIONCOLLECTIONURISYSTEM_TEAMFOUNDATIONSERVERURISYSTEM_TEAMPROJECTSYSTEM_TEAMPROJECTIDSYSTEM_TIMELINEIDSYSTEM_TOTALJOBSINPHASESYSTEM_WORKFOLDERTASK_DISPLAYNAMETEMPTF_BUILDTMPUCRTVERSIONUNIVERSALCRTSDKDIRUSERDOMAINUSERDOMAIN_ROAMINGPROFILEUSERNAMEVCIDEINSTALLDIRVCINSTALLDIRVCPKG_INSTALLATION_ROOTVCTOOLSINSTALLDIRVCTOOLSREDISTDIRVCTOOLSVERSIONVISUALSTUDIOVERSIONVS140COMNTOOLSVS150COMNTOOLSVSCMD_ARG_APP_PLATVSCMD_ARG_HOST_ARCHVSCMD_ARG_TGT_ARCHVSCMD_VERVSINSTALLDIRVSSDK150INSTALLVSTS_AGENT_PERFLOGVSTS_PROCESS_LOOKUP_IDWINDIRWINDOWSLIBPATHWINDOWSSDKBINPATHWINDOWSSDKDIRWINDOWSSDKLIBVERSIONWINDOWSSDKVERBINPATHWINDOWSSDKVERSIONWINDOWSSDK_EXECUTABLEPATH_X64WINDOWSSDK_EXECUTABLEPATH_X86WIX__DOTNET_ADD_64BIT__DOTNET_PREFERRED_BITNESS__VSCMD_PREINIT_PATH
Document Details
⚠Do not edit this section. It is required for docs.microsoft.com ➟ GitHub issue linking.
- ID: 9ffebdc8-521c-44b5-cde4-4abdc1bd6f18
- Version Independent ID: dc0effda-6d93-62aa-64c5-4e6f283b0826
- Content: Predefined variables - Azure Pipelines
- Content Source: docs/pipelines/build/variables.md
- Product: devops
- Technology: devops-cicd
- GitHub Login: @andyjlewis
- Microsoft Alias: alewis
svenevs
All 5 comments
Note that apparently the build environment changed within the last week, the above listing of environment variables is no longer accurate. E.g., VCTOOLSINSTALLDIR is now gone.
python -c "import os; print('\n'.join('{}{}:\n {}'.format('*'*22, k, v) for k, v in os.environ.items()))"
That's a quick / dirty way to print out all of the environment keys / values for anybody who needs to check...
svenevs
on 30 Apr 2019
- Is this project running on CI in general?
- Suggestion: Use
BUILD_REASON
- Suggestion: Use
- Is this project running on a specific CI provider?
- Suggestion:
TF_BUILD
- Suggestion:
- Currently, how can I reliably verify I am running on Azure Pipelines?
- Suggestion:
TF_BUILD
- Suggestion:
ChadMcCaffery
on 24 May 2019
Hi Chad,
Thanks for the suggestions. (2) and (3) work, I'll update my detection mechanisms -- thanks for identifying the best variable choice :slightly_smiling_face:
For (1) though, BUILD_REASON doesn't quite fit the bill, that's only on Azure Pipelines. (1) would best be solved via CI=true, which seems to be a convention at least among a handful of providers.
svenevs
on 25 May 2019
Thanks for your question. It looks like your question isn't an issue with the documentation, but an issue or question specific to your implementation or a bug in the product itself.
For help with a specific task, here are a couple of options where you might consider asking your question:
If you've encountered an issue with the product itself, to make sure it gets in front of the right people, please submit your bug here.
If you have an idea for improving the product, please submit your idea here.
mijacobs
on 8 Nov 2019
Cross linking this because this issue is way more prevalent in search results.
atruskie
on 31 Mar 2020
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