Document SharedValues and ENV variables created by actions

[janpio]

Is this already documented somewhere?
Can this documentation be generated?
What would have to change so this can be done?

[revolter]

The env variables are defined in the options.rb files (e.g. gym's options). And I guess you have to edit ActionDetails.md.erb to include config_item.env_name.

[janpio]

That can only be part of it. gym creates SharedValues::IPA_OUTPUT_PATH for example, gradle creates SharedValues::GRADLE_APK_OUTPUT_PATH.

[revolter]

I don't know about SharedValues, I was only referring to env variables.

[janpio]

A bit of investigation:

Some SharedValues seem to be "defined" here:
https://github.com/fastlane/fastlane/blob/master/fastlane/lib/fastlane/actions/gym.rb#L3-L6
But others are not listed there although set:
https://github.com/fastlane/fastlane/blob/master/fastlane/lib/fastlane/actions/gym.rb#L82
(Probably comes from somewhere else?)

IPA_OUTPUT_PATH is also written to an ENV variable:
https://github.com/fastlane/fastlane/blob/master/fastlane/lib/fastlane/actions/gym.rb#L77-L78
Same for DSYM_OUTPUT_PATH:
https://github.com/fastlane/fastlane/blob/master/fastlane/lib/fastlane/actions/gym.rb#L83

[revolter]

But others are not listed there although set:
fastlane/fastlane:fastlane/lib/fastlane/actions/gym.rb@master#L82
(Probably comes from somewhere else?)

XCODEBUILD_ARCHIVE comes from https://github.com/fastlane/fastlane/blob/f08038b71e11d1338ca2222f3eaf9deff7c244c6/fastlane/lib/fastlane/actions/xcodebuild.rb#L5.

IPA_OUTPUT_PATH is also written to an ENV variable:
fastlane/fastlane:fastlane/lib/fastlane/actions/gym.rb@master#L77-L78

You don't need this information, as IPA_OUTPUT_PATH is defined in the SharedValues module, which can be extracted in the documentation.

[janpio]

You don't need this information, as IPA_OUTPUT_PATH is defined in the SharedValues module, which can be extracted in the documentation.

If this is consistent across all actions and plugins... I assumed it may not be ;)

But I agree, exposing "SharedValues" would probably be a great first step.
Then maybe define some rules about how it should be used in actions and plugins so it is consistent.

[mollyIV]

👋 We created a ticket about documenting SharedValues: fastlane/fastlane#14730

Maybe we can tackle ENV (environment variables for input parameters) in a separate ticket once we finish with the SharedValues? 🤔

[janpio]

Sounds like a plan. As ENV variables are not tracked anywhere, this might be a bit more effort though - maybe it makes sense to add something similar to SharedValues that also lists the ENV variables and also explains what they are used for.

[janpio]

@mollyIV, do you think we can/should close this issue as solved with what you implemented?

[mollyIV]

Document SharedValues ...

The part about documenting SharedValues is already implemented ✔️ If you go to the fastlane documentation, you can check what (if any) SharedValues are produced by an action, for instance build_ios_app action.

... and ENV variables created by actions

We created separate tickets to tackle it:

• Investigate usage of ENV vars in actions ✔️
• ENV variables used internally are backed-up by SharedValues in-progress

So overall I think we can close this ticket 👍