JoinPath Function Errors Out Because It Expects a String Value

[x80486]

I'm trying to write a simple task to create a subdirectory structure and remove certain locations:

vars:
  BUILD_DIR: "build"
  CGO_ENABLED: "0"
  REPORTS_DIR: "reports"

tasks:
  create-directory-structure:
    cmds:
      - "{{clean .}}"
    dir: "{{joinPath .USER_WORKING_DIR .BUILD_DIR .REPORTS_DIR}}"
    run: when_changed
    silent: true

This fails with template: :1:29: executing "" at <.BUILD_DIR>: invalid value; expected string. My understanding is that BUILD_DIR is indeed a string.

Anyway, I went ahead and used {{kindOf .BUILD_DIR}}...and the output is string 🤷‍♂️

Is this a bug in Task or am I doing something that's not valid somehow?

[trulede]

I think you have the wrong approach. You want to use normal commands, and have Task automate those. So, for instance (if using LInux bash shell):

vars:
  BUILD_DIR: "build"
  CGO_ENABLED: "0"
  REPORTS_DIR: "reports"

tasks:
  create-directory-structure:
    cmds:
      - rm -r "{{ .BUILD_DIR }}"
      - mkdir -p "{{joinPath .BUILD_DIR .REPORTS_DIR }}"
    silent: true

You can add .USER_WORKING_DIR to that in the appropriate places, however I suspect it will be superfluous.

[x80486]

This is for a team that uses Windows, macOS, and GNU/Linux. Furthermore, some macOS systems don't support the -p option for mkdir.

My understanding is that:

• joinPath will resolve, transparently, the discrepancies around filepath characters
• dir will create a directory and switches to it
• clean will just remove everything from the specified location