Unable to use Custom Pipeline Variable for Release Name

Question

I've created a powershell script that updates a Pipeline Variable during a Release Pipeline. It takes the custom variable and updates it with a new version using semantic versioning with every run.

I've tried to add this custom variable as the Release Pipeline but keeps on giving me an error "Names of releases from this pipeline will not be unique. Use pre-defined variables to generate unique release names."

I've tried setting the variable to "Settable at Release" and putting the scope to "Release"

Does anybody perhaps know if there is a way to let the release pipeline know this is a dynamic variable that changes?

The only other option is to add the revision number to it $(versionnumber)$(rev:.r)

It might change, but it's not guaranteed to be unique. Release names need to be unique. Thus, you can't do what you want. — Daniel Mann
Totally agree. Hoping there is a way that will tell the release pipeline it's a unique value each time. — Trevor
There is. You mentioned it in your question. $(rev:.r) And you missed my point. What if you run the release twice, and it uses the same version number because a step fails before the pipeline is updated, or the pipeline itself fails while updating its own version number? Next time you run the pipeline, you'll get the same version number. Your scheme is not guaranteed to be unique. You need to add something that is guaranteed to make the name unique. — Daniel Mann
Thank you for the feedback Daniel. I totally understand what you are saying and yes, I've thought about the exact scenario you mentioned on a release failing before the step as well and understand that this is one of the reasons why Azure probably (or likely) does this. Thank you again for your time and input. Much appreciated. — Trevor

Hugh Lin Hugh Lin · Accepted Answer · 2019-10-09T07:53:59

use Custom Pipeline Variable for Release Name

For this issue ,I think it not feasible to achieve it. Release name must be a unique name, the $(rev:r) token can ensure that every completed build/release has a unique name because it's adding a incremental number for each release. When a build/release is completed, if nothing else in the number has changed, the Rev integer value is incremented by one. So, basically we cannot achieve that without using $(rev:r), unless you can defined a token which has the same function with $(rev:r).

In addition,you can also use $(Build.BuildNumber) or $(Release.ReleaseId) which are also unique.

For the similar issue,please refer to this case .

Unable to use Custom Pipeline Variable for Release Name

1 Answers