How to use Cake.net with Gitlab CI?

Question

I have an ASP.NET MVC application. I am trying to implement CI and CD using Gitlab and Cake.net.

In order to test more easily, I installed Gitlab CI multi runner on my machine. I registered it with 'shell' as executor.

I am trying to execute the Cake.net build.ps1 file from .gitlab-ci.yml, but it doesn't execute the script. When it reaches the build.ps1 line it only opens the file with notepad and then it says Build succeeded.

What am I missing? Why isn't the script executed?

Here is the code:

.gitlab-ci.yml

stages:
  - build
build:
 stage: build
 script:
  - build.ps1
 only:
   - develop

Gitlab CI multi runner config.toml

concurrent = 1
check_interval = 0

[[runners]]
  name = "Development runner"
  url = "https://gitlab.com/ci"
  token = "***"
  executor = "shell"
  shell = "powershell"

build.cake

#tool "nuget:?package=xunit.runner.console"

var target = Argument("target", "Default");
var configuration = Argument("configuration", "Release");
var version = Argument("releaseNumber", "");

var solution = "src/Pentrugatit.sln";
var binFolder = "src/Presentation/Nop.Web/bin/";
var pluginsFolder = "src/Presentation/Nop.Web/Plugins/";

Task("Clean")
  .Does(() => {
    CleanDirectories(binFolder);
    CleanDirectories(pluginsFolder);
  });

Task("NuGetRestore")
  .Does(() => NuGetRestore(solution));

Task("Build")
  .IsDependentOn("Clean")
  .IsDependentOn("NuGetRestore")
  .Does(() => MSBuild(solution, new MSBuildSettings { Configuration = configuration }));

Task("Default")
  .IsDependentOn("Build");

RunTarget(target);

build.ps1 (Cake.net default file)

<#
.SYNOPSIS
This is a Powershell script to bootstrap a Cake build.
.DESCRIPTION
This Powershell script will download NuGet if missing, restore NuGet tools (including Cake)
and execute your Cake build script with the parameters you provide.
.PARAMETER Target
The build script target to run.
.PARAMETER Configuration
The build configuration to use.
.PARAMETER Verbosity
Specifies the amount of information to be displayed.
.PARAMETER WhatIf
Performs a dry run of the build script.
No tasks will be executed.
.PARAMETER ScriptArgs
Remaining arguments are added here.
.LINK
http://cakebuild.net
#>

[CmdletBinding()]
Param(
    [string]$Target = "Default",
    [ValidateSet("Release", "Debug")]
    [string]$Configuration = "Release",
    [ValidateSet("Quiet", "Minimal", "Normal", "Verbose", "Diagnostic")]
    [string]$Verbosity = "Verbose",
    [switch]$WhatIf,
    [Parameter(Position=0,Mandatory=$false,ValueFromRemainingArguments=$true)]
    [string[]]$ScriptArgs
)

$CakeVersion = "0.17.0"
$DotNetChannel = "preview";
$DotNetVersion = "1.0.0-preview2-003121";
$DotNetInstallerUri = "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/dotnet/cli/rel/1.0.0-preview2/scripts/obtain/dotnet-install.ps1";
$NugetUrl = "https://dist.nuget.org/win-x86-commandline/latest/nuget.exe"

# Make sure tools folder exists
$PSScriptRoot = Split-Path $MyInvocation.MyCommand.Path -Parent
$ToolPath = Join-Path $PSScriptRoot "tools"
if (!(Test-Path $ToolPath)) {
    Write-Verbose "Creating tools directory..."
    New-Item -Path $ToolPath -Type directory | out-null
}

###########################################################################
# INSTALL .NET CORE CLI
###########################################################################

Function Remove-PathVariable([string]$VariableToRemove)
{
    $path = [Environment]::GetEnvironmentVariable("PATH", "User")
    if ($path -ne $null)
    {
        $newItems = $path.Split(';', [StringSplitOptions]::RemoveEmptyEntries) | Where-Object { "$($_)" -inotlike $VariableToRemove }
        [Environment]::SetEnvironmentVariable("PATH", [System.String]::Join(';', $newItems), "User")
    }

    $path = [Environment]::GetEnvironmentVariable("PATH", "Process")
    if ($path -ne $null)
    {
        $newItems = $path.Split(';', [StringSplitOptions]::RemoveEmptyEntries) | Where-Object { "$($_)" -inotlike $VariableToRemove }
        [Environment]::SetEnvironmentVariable("PATH", [System.String]::Join(';', $newItems), "Process")
    }
}

# Get .NET Core CLI path if installed.
$FoundDotNetCliVersion = $null;
if (Get-Command dotnet -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue) {
    $FoundDotNetCliVersion = dotnet --version;
}

if($FoundDotNetCliVersion -ne $DotNetVersion) {
    $InstallPath = Join-Path $PSScriptRoot ".dotnet"
    if (!(Test-Path $InstallPath)) {
        mkdir -Force $InstallPath | Out-Null;
    }
    (New-Object System.Net.WebClient).DownloadFile($DotNetInstallerUri, "$InstallPath\dotnet-install.ps1");
    & $InstallPath\dotnet-install.ps1 -Channel $DotNetChannel -Version $DotNetVersion -InstallDir $InstallPath;

    Remove-PathVariable "$InstallPath"
    $env:PATH = "$InstallPath;$env:PATH"
    $env:DOTNET_SKIP_FIRST_TIME_EXPERIENCE=1
    $env:DOTNET_CLI_TELEMETRY_OPTOUT=1
}

###########################################################################
# INSTALL NUGET
###########################################################################

# Make sure nuget.exe exists.
$NugetPath = Join-Path $ToolPath "nuget.exe"
if (!(Test-Path $NugetPath)) {
    Write-Host "Downloading NuGet.exe..."
    (New-Object System.Net.WebClient).DownloadFile($NugetUrl, $NugetPath);
}

###########################################################################
# INSTALL CAKE
###########################################################################

# Make sure Cake has been installed.
$CakePath = Join-Path $ToolPath "Cake.$CakeVersion/Cake.exe"
if (!(Test-Path $CakePath)) {
    Write-Host "Installing Cake..."
    Invoke-Expression "&`"$NugetPath`" install Cake -Version $CakeVersion -OutputDirectory `"$ToolPath`"" | Out-Null;
    if ($LASTEXITCODE -ne 0) {
        Throw "An error occured while restoring Cake from NuGet."
    }
}

###########################################################################
# RUN BUILD SCRIPT
###########################################################################

# Build the argument list.
$Arguments = @{
    target=$Target;
    configuration=$Configuration;
    verbosity=$Verbosity;
    dryrun=$WhatIf;
}.GetEnumerator() | %{"--{0}=`"{1}`"" -f $_.key, $_.value };

# Start Cake
Write-Host "Running build script..."
Invoke-Expression "& `"$CakePath`" `"build.cake`" $Arguments $ScriptArgs"
exit $LASTEXITCODE

Lubricity

Answer 1

You could try changing

  - build.ps1

To 

  - PowerShell .\build.ps1

Ashbaugh

I get the following error: "The term 'build.ps1' is not recognized as the name of a cmdlet, function, script file, or operable program. Check the spelling of the name, or if a path was included, verify that the path is correct and try again." – Poppas

Try .\build.ps1 instead of build.ps1, updated answer to reflect. – Ashbaugh

Actually - as I got bitten by that recently - the correct way to execute PowerShell scripts is to use PowerShell.exe -NoProfile -NoInteractive -File ".\build.ps1" This makes sure that there will be no prompts, and no surprises just because someone added some code to the profile.ps1 file. Without it, Powershell can behave funny. – Phraseology

Just wanted to add on to Thomas' comment -- Make certain to write NonInteractive instead of NoInteractive -- don't want to rack up those failed CI builds. – Hortense

Answer 2

devlead answer is great, but in my case the script is located in a subfolder and I need passing an argument to the Cake script. On top of it, I have to change directory before running the script so that it goes well. Here is the full instruction :

- PowerShell -command "& cd ./mysubfolder; ./build.ps1 -stringparam='myvalue'"

The semi colon ";" separates several powershell commands which are executed one after the other. The first command changes the current directory, the second command runs the script in the current directory (mysubfolder).

Accretion