Is it possible to use a task to set a dynamic variable?

[pietro]

I have a few tasks that use a similar command to set a dynamic variable. I would like to abstract that command into an internal task instead of repeating it.

Example:

version: "3"

tasks:
  one:
    cmds:
      - task one command "{{.Some_VAR}}"
    vars:
      SOME_VAR:
        sh: some var command --argument task-one-example

  two:
    cmds:
      - task two command "{{.Some_VAR}}"
    vars:
      SOME_VAR:
        sh: some var command --argument task-two-example

I'd to either use a task to set SOME_VAR or call a task in my cmds or as in my deps and have that set SOME_VAR. Is this possible?

Thanks.

[wtfzambo]

I don't think it's possible yet.
The only workaround I found was to either:

• Make the task public and define the variable calling it as if you were using the CLI, e.g.:

SOME_VAR:
  sh: 'task my_task`

• Use an internal task and output the value to a temporary file, keeping track of the temp file path (probably useful only in certain cases).

[pd93]

I could be missing something here, but can you not just define the var globally and reuse it in both tasks?

version: "3"

vars:
  SOME_VAR:
    sh: some var command --argument task-one-example

tasks:
  one:
    cmds:
      - task one command "{{.Some_VAR}}"

  two:
    cmds:
      - task two command "{{.Some_VAR}}"

[theunrepentantgeek]

That only handles simple cases.

For example, I've wanted to set a variable based on the results of running earlier tasks - in my case, capturing information about whether a test suite passed or failed.

Global variables are evaluated up front, before the other tasks have any opportunity to execute.

What I've ended up doing is to capture values in small text files stored in ~/.build-vars, which I can then read into task variables when needed. It's a nasty hack, but with one redeeming quality: it works.