Retain git operations for AWS Pipeline using ThirdParty GitHub source provider

Question

I have a pipeline configured to use the ThridParty GitHub source provider as follows:

...
Resources:
  DevPipeline:
    Type: AWS::CodePipeline::Pipeline
    Properties:
      Name: my-pipeline
      RoleArn: !Ref 'PipelineRole'
      Stages:
        - Name: Source
          Actions:
            - Name: GitHub
              ActionTypeId:
                Category: Source
                Owner: ThirdParty
                Version: 1
                Provider: GitHub
              Configuration:
                Owner: !Ref GitHubOwner
                Repo: !Ref GitHubRepo
                Branch: !Ref GitHubBranch
                OAuthToken: !Ref GitHubToken
              OutputArtifacts:
                - Name: JavaSource
              RunOrder: 1
...

I would like to be able to run git operations on the source code in the following build steps. However this source action does not include the .git folder in the output artifact.

How can I modify this so that I can access git operations on the repo?

Answer 1

CodePipeline recently released new version of the GitHub Source action that does an actual clone of git repository instead of getting the 'zip' bundle from GitHub.

• https://docs.aws.amazon.com/codepipeline/latest/userguide/update-github-action-connections.html

The new GitHub action (version 2) uses the CodeStarSourceConnection. So we just need to specify the CodeStarSourceConnection [1] Source action provider in your pipeline's source stage. The AWS::CodeStarConnections::Connection resource [2] is also supported in CloudFormation. You may reference an existing Connection's ARN, or create a new one in CloudFormation. Existing Connections can be found here [0].

Here is an example template snippet:

Resources:
  CodeStarConnection:
    Type: 'AWS::CodeStarConnections::Connection'
    Properties:
      ConnectionName: MyGitHubConnection
      ProviderType: GitHub
  CodePipeline:
    Type: 'AWS::CodePipeline::Pipeline'
    Properties:
      Stages:
        - Name: Source
          Actions:
            - Name: SourceAction
              ActionTypeId:
                Category: Source
                Owner: AWS
                Version: 1
                Provider: CodeStarSourceConnection
              OutputArtifacts:
                - Name: SourceArtifact
              Configuration:
                ConnectionArn: !Ref CodeStarConnection
                BranchName: master
                FullRepositoryId: username/repository
              RunOrder: 1
      ... ...

Note: A connection created through CloudFormation is in PENDING status by default. You can make its status AVAILABLE by updating the connection in the console [3]. After the Connection being available, you may use your CodePipeline with the Github version 2 source action.

References:

[0] Connections - https://console.aws.amazon.com/codesuite/settings/connections

[1] CodeStarSourceConnection - https://docs.aws.amazon.com/codepipeline/latest/userguide/action-reference-CodestarConnectionSource.html

[2] AWS::CodeStarConnections::Connection - https://docs.aws.amazon.com/AWSCloudFormation/latest/UserGuide/aws-resource-codestarconnections-connection.html

[3] Update a pending connection - https://docs.aws.amazon.com/dtconsole/latest/userguide/connections-update.html