GitVersion task is not working in the Azure devops self-hosted agent

Question

Hi,

I am using the GitVersion tool to generate the build number in the azure devops build pipelines. The GitVersion task is able to generate the build number in the Microsoft-hosted agent, but not able to generate the build number in the self-hosted agent. The error it is showing [error]GitVersion output is not valid JSON. And the task which I am using is

      - task: gitversion/setup@3
        inputs:
          versionSpec: '5.x'

      - task: gitversion/execute@3
        inputs:
          useConfigFile: true
          configFilePath: './git-version.yaml'

I have tried several things found online, but not working. Any workaround?

Best Regards,

Govardhan.

Answer 1

If we are facing this error "Disable Telemetry ##[error]Unable to locate executable file: dotnet" under this below Microsoft Extension , It is unable to handle the .net 9 version calculation. This issue is not handled after the gitversion.setup@2.0.0 updated .https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=gittools.gitversion

• gitversion.setup@3.0.0

Solution:
To resolve this error we need to use dot task on additionally, that will handle the dot net version on the agent pool (machine)

  - task: UseDotNet@2
    inputs:
      version: 9.x #change the version according to  your application

  - task: gitversion/setup@3.0.0
    displayName: Setup GitVersion
    inputs:
      versionSpec: '5.x'
      includePrerelease: false
      preferLatestVersion: true

Answer 2

Hi Govardhan Reddy,

Instead of using the GitHub Actions version (gitversion/setup@3 and gitversion/execute@3),

Use the official GitVersion Azure DevOps extension tasks:

These are designed for Azure Pipelines and do not have the same issues.

• gittools.gitversion.setup@0
• gittools.gitversion.execute@0

Here’s the corrected YAML:

trigger:
- main
pool:
  name: Self-Hosted-Agent-Pool
steps:
- task: gittools.gitversion.setup@0
  inputs:
    versionSpec: '5.x'
- task: gittools.gitversion.execute@0
  inputs:
    useConfigFile: true
    configFilePath: './git-version.yaml'
- script: echo "##vso[build.updatebuildnumber]$(GitVersion.FullSemVer)"
  displayName: 'Set Build Number'

The gittools.gitversion.setup@0 and gittools.gitversion.execute@0 tasks are maintained specifically for Azure DevOps Pipelines, independent of GitHub Actions releases.

Reference: Official GitVersion Azure DevOps Extension on Visual Studio Marketplace

This method fully resolves the issue, and you’ll be able to run GitVersion successfully on your pipelines.

Hope it helps!

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