Empty commits

[PaulRudin]

I have an ImageUpdateAutomation object with spec.interval set to 1m0s. I see a new commit to my repo every minute, whether or not any image has changed, so the vast majority of these commits are empty commits (i.e. no changes).

The empty commits are, I suppose, harmless; but it would be nice if there was a way of avoiding them.

[squaremo]

In the normal course of things, I would expect the controller to skip an update when there are no changes made. Are you using the new "push branch" part of the API?

  push:
    branch: <something>

Can I see the ImageUpdateAutomation definition, perhaps?

[PaulRudin]

I don't think I'm using the "push branch" thing... here's the definition:

---
apiVersion: source.toolkit.fluxcd.io/v1beta1
kind: GitRepository
metadata:
  name: flux-system
  namespace: flux-system
spec:
  interval: 1m0s
  ref:
    branch: main
  secretRef:
    name: flux-system
  url: https://github.com/PaulRudin/xamaral
---
apiVersion: kustomize.toolkit.fluxcd.io/v1beta1
kind: Kustomization
metadata:
  name: flux-system
  namespace: flux-system
spec:
  interval: 10m0s
  path: ./k8s/flux
  prune: true
  sourceRef:
    kind: GitRepository
    name: flux-system
  validation: client
---
apiVersion: image.toolkit.fluxcd.io/v1alpha1
kind: ImageUpdateAutomation
metadata:
  name: flux-system
  namespace: flux-system
spec:
  checkout:
    branch: main
    gitRepositoryRef:
      name: flux-system
  commit:
    authorEmail: [email protected]
    authorName: fluxcdbot
    messageTemplate: '[ci skip] update image'
  interval: 1m0s
  update:
    strategy: Setters

[squaremo]

OK, I can reproduce the problem by forking your repo and making adjustments as necessary.

I restricted updates to the path k8s/gen/prod, in the hope that it was at least a workaround -- but the empty commits persist (and the investigation continues...)

[squaremo]

Wow, OK: go-git/go-git#253
Basically: if you clone a repo with go-git and your repo contains a broken symlink, it will show as being modified. Flux treats this as a sign that there's something to commit.

I can put a couple of mitigations in:

• if the update object has a path set, only look for modified files under that path
• ignore broken symlinks specifically

[stefanprodan]

@squaremo now I realise it's the same issue in the CLI, flux bootstrap for some users creates empty commits: fluxcd/flux2#1021