Shell Script task

Article
12/07/2018

TFS 2017 | TFS 2015

Use this task to run a shell script using bash.

Note

In Microsoft Team Foundation Server (TFS) 2018 and previous versions, build and release pipelines are called definitions, runs are called builds, service connections are called service endpoints, stages are called environments, and jobs are called phases.

Demands

Arguments

Argument	Description
Script Path	Relative path from the repo root to the shell script file that you want to run.
Arguments	Arguments that you want to pass to the script.

Advanced options

Argument	Description
Working Directory	Working directory in which you want to run the script. If you leave it empty it is folder where the script is located.
Fail on Standard Error	Select if you want this task to fail if any errors are written to the StandardError stream.

Task control options

Example

Create test.sh at the root of your repo. We recommend creating this file from a Linux environment (such as a real Linux machine or Windows Subsystem for Linux) so that line endings are correct. Also, don't forget to chmod +x test.sh before you commit it.

#!/bin/bash
echo "Hello World"
echo "AGENT_WORKFOLDER is $AGENT_WORKFOLDER"
echo "AGENT_WORKFOLDER contents:"
ls -1 $AGENT_WORKFOLDER
echo "AGENT_BUILDDIRECTORY is $AGENT_BUILDDIRECTORY"
echo "AGENT_BUILDDIRECTORY contents:"
ls -1 $AGENT_BUILDDIRECTORY
echo "SYSTEM_HOSTTYPE is $SYSTEM_HOSTTYPE"
echo "Over and out."

On the Build tab of a build pipeline, add this task:

Utility: Shell Script

Run test.bat.

Script Path: test.sh

This example also works with release pipelines.

Open source

This task is open source on GitHub. Feedback and contributions are welcome.

FAQ

Where can I learn about Bash scripts?

Beginners/BashScripting to get started.

Awesome Bash to go deeper.

How do I set a variable so that it can be read by subsequent scripts and tasks?

To learn more about defining build variables in a script, see Define and modify your build variables in a script.

To learn more about defining release variables in a script, see Define and modify your release variables in a script

Q: I'm having issues with publishing my artifacts. How can I view the detailed logs?

To enable detailed logs for your pipeline:

Edit your pipeline and select Variables
Add a new variable with the name System.Debug and value true
Save

Q: Which variables are available to me?

A: $(Build.SourcesDirectory) and $(Agent.BuildDirectory) are just few of the variables you can use in your pipeline. Variables are available as expressions or scripts.

See Define variables, predefined variables, and Classic release and artifacts variables to learn about the different types of variables.

Q: Task allows me to publish artifacts in deployment job in yaml pipeline, but I am not able to use it in downstream pipeline?

A: Deployment jobs do not have the context of source branches and are hence not appropriate for publishing artifacts. They have been primarily designed to consume artifacts. A workaround would be to isolate that logic into a separate job (with dependencies on your deployment jobs).

Do I need an agent?

You need at least one agent to run your build or release.

I'm having problems. How can I troubleshoot them?

See Troubleshoot Build and Release.

I can't select a default agent pool and I can't queue my build or release. How do I fix this?

See Agent pools.

My NuGet push task is failing with the following error: "Error: unable to get local issuer certificate". How can I fix this?

This can be fixed by adding a trusted root certificate. You can either add the NODE_EXTRA_CA_CERTS=file environment variable to your build agent, or you can add the NODE.EXTRA.CA.CERTS=file task variable in your pipeline. See Node.js documentation for more details about this variable. See Set variables in a pipeline for instructions on setting a variable in your pipeline.

I use TFS on-premises and I don't see some of these features. Why not?

Some of these features are available only on Azure Pipelines and not yet available on-premises. Some features are available on-premises if you have upgraded to the latest version of TFS.

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