Passing Tags & Run_tags Blocks in var-file : Is This Possible?

[Jimster]

Hi,

Been tasked with cleaning up packer code to remove duplication of explicit values in our working  build .json files - and use a few general var-files that will contain the relevant DEV, TEST and PROD instance types, vpc details, disk sizes etc.

One of the builders sections we use are tags (and run_tags) of the format:

"run_tags": {

           "Environment":      "DEV",

           "Application":      "Dave",

           "Tier":             "Web App",

           "Function":         "Dev Dave Web App",

           "Version":          "1.0",

           "CostCentre":       "0300 3246",

           "BusinessUnit":     "AppServices",

           "Project":          "DaveMigration to AWS",

           "Product":          "IIS Server for Dave",

           "SupportEmail":     "Da...@dave.com",

           "ComplianceDomain": "YES",

           "DataClass":        "5",

           "ProvisionedBy":    "Packer",

           "ProvisionedWho":   "Da...@dave.com",

           "ProjectName":      "Dave",

           "Name":             "Dave Dev Web Box"

       },

I'm not sure if or how I can include these arrays in a var-file.  Ideally the build file wants to refer to these as some kind of user variable e.g. in line with the usual ones:

    "builders": [{

       "type":             "amazon-ebs",

        "region":           "{{ user `DEV_server_region`}}",

       "source_ami":       "{{ user `DEV_server_source_ami`}}",

       "tags":             "{{ user `DEV_dave_tags`}}",  <== WHATEVER FORMAT THIS SHOULD BE IN FOR A TAG BLOCK (Array?)

       "instance_type":    "{{ user `DEV_server_instance_type`}}",

       "winrm_use_ssl":    true,

       "winrm_insecure":   true

   }],

I've tried to capture these tag arrays in the var-file as so (snippet):

...

"PROD_server_user_data_file":       "./USERDATA2.0.txt",

    "CA_server_run_tags": [{

           "Environment":      "DEV",

           "Application":      "Dave",

           "Tier":             "Web App",

           "Function":         "Dev Dave Web App",

           "Version":          "1.0",

           "CostCentre":       "0300 3246",

           "BusinessUnit":     "AppServices",

           "Project":          "DaveMigration to AWS",

           "Product":          "IIS Server for Dave",

           "SupportEmail":     "Da...@dave.com",

           "ComplianceDomain": "YES",

           "DataClass":        "5",

           "ProvisionedBy":    "Packer",

           "ProvisionedWho":   "Da...@dave.com",

           "ProjectName":      "Dave",

           "Name":             "Dave Dev Web Box"

    }]

But I get:

packer validate -var-file .\dave_vars.json .\build_var_test_Dave.json

invalid value ".\\dave_vars.json" for flag -var-file: Error reading variables in '.\dave_vars.json': json: cannot unmarshal array into Go value of type string

Can someone please advise on how best to include (if possible) these tags and run_tags arrays into the var-file and refer to the resulting user array variable properly in the builder file?

Thanks,

Jimster

[Rickard von Essen]

No, currently this is not supported. Only single values and arrays work. 

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[Jimster]

Rickard,

Appreciate the prompt reply.

With that in mind, I'll probably use Powershell scripting or AWS CLI in the Providers section to set the tags, using a specific tag file to read from , for the relevant build.

Jim