GIT enabled Synapse Workspace: is there any way to get the current branch name via Python?

Martin B 121

Hi,
I was wondering if there is any method (or some other way) to retrieve the name of the currently selected GIT branch programmatically within a running Synapse Notebook session using Python. To make thinks even more complicated: the Synapse Workspace has DEP and VNet enabled.

phemanth 12,895 Reputation points Microsoft Vendor

2024-12-17T17:53:48.6666667+00:00
@Martin B

Thanks for reaching out to Microsoft Q&A.

In Azure Synapse Analytics, if you have enabled Git integration for your Synapse Workspace, you can retrieve the current branch name programmatically using Python. However, there isn't a direct API call to get the current branch name from within a Synapse Notebook. Instead, you can use the Git command line interface (CLI) to achieve this.

Here’s how you can do it:

Use the subprocess module: You can run Git commands from within your Python code using the subprocess module. This allows you to execute shell commands and capture their output.

Get the current branch name: You can run the command git rev-parse --abbrev-ref HEAD to get the name of the current branch.

Here’s a sample code snippet that demonstrates how to do this:

import subprocess def get_current_git_branch(): try: # Run the git command to get the current branch name branch_name = subprocess.check_output( ['git', 'rev-parse', '--abbrev-ref', 'HEAD'], stderr=subprocess.STDOUT ).strip().decode('utf-8') return branch_name except subprocess.CalledProcessError as e: print(f"Error occurred: {e.output.decode('utf-8')}") return None # Get the current branch name current_branch = get_current_git_branch() print(f"Current Git Branch: {current_branch}")

Important Notes:

Ensure that your Synapse Notebook is running in an environment where Git is installed and accessible.

The notebook must be running in a directory that is part of a Git repository for the command to work.

If the command fails (e.g., if the notebook is not in a Git repository), it will raise an error, which you can handle as shown in the example.

This approach should allow you to retrieve the current Git branch name within your Synapse Notebook session.

I hope the above steps will resolve the issue, please do let us know if issue persists. Thank you
Martin B 121 Reputation points

2024-12-17T18:10:00.79+00:00
Hello @phemanth , Thanks for your answer.

I created a new notebook in my (Git enabled) Synapse Workspace, I pasted your code to a Python code cell, I committed the notebook to Git and I executed it.

The returned result is:

Error occurred: fatal: not a git repository (or any parent up to mount point /) Stopping at filesystem boundary (GIT_DISCOVERY_ACROSS_FILESYSTEM not set). Current Git Branch: None

Unfortunately your proposed approach does not seem to work.
phemanth 12,895 Reputation points Microsoft Vendor

2024-12-18T18:10:54.5033333+00:00
@Martin B

Thanks for your information

This can happen if the notebook isn't running in the correct directory or if the Git repository isn't properly initialized in the environment.

Here are a few steps to troubleshoot and resolve this issue:

Check the Directory: Ensure that your notebook is running in the directory where the Git repository is initialized. You can check the current working directory in your notebook using:

import os print(os.getcwd())

Verify Git Repository: Make sure that the directory is indeed a Git repository. You can do this by running:

!git status

If this command returns an error, it means the directory is not recognized as a Git repository.

Set Environment Variable: If your repository is located across different filesystem boundaries, you might need to set the GIT_DISCOVERY_ACROSS_FILESYSTEM environment variable:

os.environ['GIT_DISCOVERY_ACROSS_FILESYSTEM'] = '1'

Reinitialize Git: If the repository isn't recognized, you might need to reinitialize it:

!git init

Run the Original Code: After ensuring the above steps, try running the original code snippet again.

I hope the above steps will resolve the issue, please do let us know if issue persists. Thank you
Martin B 121 Reputation points

2024-12-18T18:24:28.6933333+00:00

Hi @phemanth ,

This can happen if the notebook isn't running in the correct directory or if the Git repository isn't properly initialized in the environment.

I don't understand. I am talking about running an Synapse Notebook. I don't have any influence on the location of the notebook on the driver node.

Synapse is PaaS , should I expect that the Git repo is properly initialized on the driver (where Python is executed) for Synapse Notebooks?
However, another thought came to my mind: we have DEP enabled for our Synapse Workspace. This will prevent the VMs that run the Synapse Spark Cluster from accessing DevOps Repos/Git, right?

I'm not sure if we are on the same page here. I can select a branch in Synapse Workspace. Just like here: in the official documentation. I'd like to obtain "liud" from within a Synapse Notebook programmatically.
phemanth 12,895 Reputation points Microsoft Vendor

2024-12-19T19:55:20.52+00:00
@Martin B

Thanks for the details

In Azure Synapse, the notebooks are indeed managed by the platform, and you don't have direct control over the file system where the notebooks are executed.

When you enable Git integration in Synapse, it allows you to manage your notebooks and other artifacts in a Git repository, but the actual execution environment (the driver node) may not have direct access to the Git repository.

If DEP is enabled for your Synapse Workspace, it can indeed restrict the VMs from accessing external resources, including DevOps Repos/Git. This could be why the Git commands are failing.

Since you can select a branch in the Synapse Workspace UI, there should be a way to programmatically access this information within a notebook. However, the direct Git command approach might not work due to the reasons mentioned above.

Given these constraints, you might need to use the Synapse REST API or Azure DevOps REST API to retrieve the current branch name. Here's an example of how you can use the Azure DevOps REST API to get the branch name:

Using Azure DevOps REST API

Install the Azure DevOps Python Library:

!pip install azure-devops

Retrieve the Branch Name:
from azure.devops.connection import Connection from msrest.authentication import BasicAuthentication import os # Personal Access Token (PAT) for Azure DevOps personal_access_token = 'YOUR_PERSONAL_ACCESS_TOKEN' organization_url = 'https://dev.azure.com/YOUR_ORGANIZATION' # Create a connection to the Azure DevOps organization credentials = BasicAuthentication('', personal_access_token) connection = Connection(base_url=organization_url, creds=credentials) # Get the Git client git_client = connection.clients.get_git_client() # Define the repository and project details project = 'YOUR_PROJECT_NAME' repository_id = 'YOUR_REPOSITORY_ID' # Get the branches branches = git_client.get_branches(repository_id, project=project) # Print the branch names for branch in branches: print(branch.name)

Replace YOUR_PERSONAL_ACCESS_TOKEN, YOUR_ORGANIZATION, YOUR_PROJECT_NAME, and YOUR_REPOSITORY_ID with your actual Azure DevOps details.
Martin B 121 Reputation points

2024-12-21T11:32:09.8466667+00:00
Hello @phemanth ,

Did you manage to get your proposed code to run in your environment?

I told you that we have DEP and VNet activated and that to my understanding it should not be possible to access dev.azure.com from the driver node of a Synapse Spark Notebook. At least not if there is no private endpoint and I don't know how to create one to a public internet address; I only know how to create MPEs to specific Azure resources (and Azure DevOps is not on the list).

I still tried to access Azure DevOps REST API from a Synapse notebook, and it failed as expected:

import requests def check_azure_devops_api_access(organization, personal_access_token): url = f"https://dev.azure.com/{organization}/_apis/projects?api-version=6.0" headers = { "Content-Type": "application/json", "Authorization": f"Basic {personal_access_token}" } try: response = requests.get(url, headers=headers) if response.status_code == 200: print("Azure DevOps REST API is accessible.") else: print(f"Received unexpected status code {response.status_code}") except requests.exceptions.RequestException as e: print(f"An error occurred: {e}") check_azure_devops_api_access("...", "...") >>> An error occurred: HTTPSConnectionPool(host='dev.azure.com', port=443): Max retries exceeded with url: /provinzial/_apis/projects?api-version=6.0 (Caused by NewConnectionError('<urllib3.connection.HTTPSConnection object at 0x76b716b7db70>: Failed to establish a new connection: [Errno 101] Network is unreachable'))

I used the browser dev tools to inspect the traffic to/from Synapse Studio. I have the impression that the Git integration is solely on the client side, meaning that the client (customers laptop) accessing Synapse Studio also downloads the artifacts from the Git repo directly to the client. If a notebook is started, the notebooks are "uploaded" to the driver. This way, the driver would not need to be able to access the Git repo (or know anything about the currently selected Git branch). If this is true, I doubt that there will be any way to obtain the name of the Git branch currently selected in Synapse Studio programatically.

@phemanth don't get me wrong, but I have the impression that you only paste our conversation to ChatGPT and post it's responses here. To answer my question it requires some deeper knowledge from the Product Group who are familiar with Synapse's Git integration in detail. Can you reach out to a person like that or do I need to create a support request for this?
Sina Salam 15,011 Reputation points

2024-12-23T00:08:53.03+00:00

Dear Martin B,

It is an overlook and I'm so sorry to mislead you. I saw the content API in a training content as an example without testing it. The writeup was rewrite using chatGPT indeed.

However, my conclusion is that you would need to rely on external services for this purpose, even if you create your own custom API.

Success.
phemanth 12,895 Reputation points Microsoft Vendor

2024-12-23T21:34:00.1366667+00:00

@Martin B I appreciate the detailed explanation of your environment and the challenges you're facing. Given the constraints with DEP and VNet, it does seem like accessing Azure DevOps directly from the Synapse Spark Notebook is problematic.

I agree that this issue looks strange and I wasn't able to reproduce this issue. If you have a support plan could you please file a support ticket for deeper investigation and do share the SR# with us? In case if you don't have a support plan please let us know here.
phemanth 12,895 Reputation points Microsoft Vendor

2024-12-24T19:52:50.03+00:00

@Martin B We haven’t heard from you on the last response and was just checking back to see if you have a resolution yet. In case if you have any resolution please do share that same with the community as it can be helpful to others. Otherwise, will respond with more details and we will try to help.
phemanth 12,895 Reputation points Microsoft Vendor

2024-12-26T16:48:17.17+00:00

@Martin B was just checking back to see if you have a resolution yet. In case if you have any resolution please do share that same with the community as it can be helpful to others. Otherwise, will respond with more details and we will try to help.

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Martin B 121 Reputation points

2025-01-07T07:23:41.1433333+00:00

I created a Microsoft support request.

Official answer is that it is not possible.
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phemanth 12,895 Reputation points Microsoft Vendor

2025-01-09T05:15:31.48+00:00

@Martin B could you please share the support request. ID with us if possible.

Martin B 121 Reputation points

2025-01-09T07:27:31.26+00:00

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GIT enabled Synapse Workspace: is there any way to get the current branch name via Python?

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