Step Template doesn't allow "The package will not be acquired"

Octopus Server
1

Hi there!

We’ve recently upgraded to 2019.10.5 to get access to the Package parameter type in Step Templates. I am trying to create a Step Template for updating a task definition in AWS with a new docker image. The image is being pushed to AWS outside of Octopus. It shows up correctly in the AWS ECR feed we created.

When creating a normal step in a project, I can follow the standard instructions from https://octopus.com/blog/ecs. When I click on “Reference a package”, I’m given the option “The package will not be acquired”, so that Octo doesn’t attempt to download the docker image from ECR.

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However, when creating a package reference in a Step Template and let the project choose the package, that choice to acquire or not is not presented. The choice is absent both when editing the Step Template and when choosing the package in the Project.

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Apparently it is choosing to acquire at all times, and since downloading images from ECR isn’t a real thing that can happen, my deploy fails. The error presented is:

“The step failed: Activity failed with error ‘The AWS Elastic Container Registry at region us-east-1 does not support downloading packages on the Octopus Server.’.”

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This seems like a bug to me. The “Reference a package” screen on the Step Template edit should be almost identical to the “Reference a package” screen when editing a normal step in a Project. The “let the Project select the Package” option is unusable for AWS ECR in its current state.

Please let me know if I’ve somehow missed this setting somewhere. Since we deploy a wide variety of docker images to AWS across multiple projects, being able to reuse the script as a Step Template would be very convenient.

Thank you!

3

Hi John,

You are completely correct. We also hoped for this to work just as you described.
Unfortunately the implementation of selecting the acquisition options didn’t quite make the first cut of the package parameters feature. I won’t bore you with all the details, but it is more subtle than it seems.

The solution for this moment is to not use a package parameter, and instead bind the package ID and feed properties to string parameters, just as you would have before the package parameters were introduced.

I’m meeting with the engineers who worked on this tomorrow. In the best case, we may be able to offer a work-around to achieve your desired result (e.g. it’s possible this can be achieved via the HTTP API). And at the very least we will determine the best path to enabling this functionality.

We apologize for the inconvenience.

4

I was afraid that might be the case. At least now I know I’m not crazy! If you do find a workaround beyond pretending the feature doesn’t exist, please let me know. I’d really like to utilize this functionality when it’s available. :slight_smile:

6

Hi, any update on this problem??

7

This has been addressed in version 2020.5.7: Package download options not available for package parameter in step template · Issue #6751 · OctopusDeploy/Issues · GitHub