GIT enabled Synapse Workspace: is there any way to get the current branch name via Python?

@Martin B

Thanks for reaching out to Microsoft Q&A.

In Azure Synapse Analytics, if you have enabled Git integration for your Synapse Workspace, you can retrieve the current branch name programmatically using Python. However, there isn't a direct API call to get the current branch name from within a Synapse Notebook. Instead, you can use the Git command line interface (CLI) to achieve this.

Here’s how you can do it:

Use the subprocess module: You can run Git commands from within your Python code using the subprocess module. This allows you to execute shell commands and capture their output.

Get the current branch name: You can run the command git rev-parse --abbrev-ref HEAD to get the name of the current branch.

Here’s a sample code snippet that demonstrates how to do this:

import subprocess
def get_current_git_branch():
    try:
        # Run the git command to get the current branch name
        branch_name = subprocess.check_output(
            ['git', 'rev-parse', '--abbrev-ref', 'HEAD'],
            stderr=subprocess.STDOUT
        ).strip().decode('utf-8')
        return branch_name
    except subprocess.CalledProcessError as e:
        print(f"Error occurred: {e.output.decode('utf-8')}")
        return None
# Get the current branch name
current_branch = get_current_git_branch()
print(f"Current Git Branch: {current_branch}")

Important Notes:

• Ensure that your Synapse Notebook is running in an environment where Git is installed and accessible.
• The notebook must be running in a directory that is part of a Git repository for the command to work.
• If the command fails (e.g., if the notebook is not in a Git repository), it will raise an error, which you can handle as shown in the example.

This approach should allow you to retrieve the current Git branch name within your Synapse Notebook session.

I hope the above steps will resolve the issue, please do let us know if issue persists. Thank you

Hello @phemanth , Thanks for your answer.

I created a new notebook in my (Git enabled) Synapse Workspace, I pasted your code to a Python code cell, I committed the notebook to Git and I executed it.

The returned result is:

Error occurred: fatal: not a git repository (or any parent up to mount point /)
Stopping at filesystem boundary (GIT_DISCOVERY_ACROSS_FILESYSTEM not set).
Current Git Branch: None

Unfortunately your proposed approach does not seem to work.

@Martin B

Thanks for your information

This can happen if the notebook isn't running in the correct directory or if the Git repository isn't properly initialized in the environment.

Here are a few steps to troubleshoot and resolve this issue:

Check the Directory: Ensure that your notebook is running in the directory where the Git repository is initialized. You can check the current working directory in your notebook using:

import os
print(os.getcwd())

Verify Git Repository: Make sure that the directory is indeed a Git repository. You can do this by running:

!git status

If this command returns an error, it means the directory is not recognized as a Git repository.

Set Environment Variable: If your repository is located across different filesystem boundaries, you might need to set the GIT_DISCOVERY_ACROSS_FILESYSTEM environment variable:

os.environ['GIT_DISCOVERY_ACROSS_FILESYSTEM'] = '1'

Reinitialize Git: If the repository isn't recognized, you might need to reinitialize it:

!git init

Run the Original Code: After ensuring the above steps, try running the original code snippet again.

I hope the above steps will resolve the issue, please do let us know if issue persists. Thank you

Hi @phemanth ,

This can happen if the notebook isn't running in the correct directory or if the Git repository isn't properly initialized in the environment.

I don't understand. I am talking about running an Synapse Notebook. I don't have any influence on the location of the notebook on the driver node.

Synapse is PaaS , should I expect that the Git repo is properly initialized on the driver (where Python is executed) for Synapse Notebooks?
However, another thought came to my mind: we have DEP enabled for our Synapse Workspace. This will prevent the VMs that run the Synapse Spark Cluster from accessing DevOps Repos/Git, right?

I'm not sure if we are on the same page here. I can select a branch in Synapse Workspace. Just like here: in the official documentation. I'd like to obtain "liud" from within a Synapse Notebook programmatically.

@Martin B

Thanks for the details

• In Azure Synapse, the notebooks are indeed managed by the platform, and you don't have direct control over the file system where the notebooks are executed.
• When you enable Git integration in Synapse, it allows you to manage your notebooks and other artifacts in a Git repository, but the actual execution environment (the driver node) may not have direct access to the Git repository.
• If DEP is enabled for your Synapse Workspace, it can indeed restrict the VMs from accessing external resources, including DevOps Repos/Git. This could be why the Git commands are failing.
• Since you can select a branch in the Synapse Workspace UI, there should be a way to programmatically access this information within a notebook. However, the direct Git command approach might not work due to the reasons mentioned above.

Given these constraints, you might need to use the Synapse REST API or Azure DevOps REST API to retrieve the current branch name. Here's an example of how you can use the Azure DevOps REST API to get the branch name:

Using Azure DevOps REST API

Install the Azure DevOps Python Library:

!pip install azure-devops

1. Retrieve the Branch Name:

      
      from azure.devops.connection import Connection
      from msrest.authentication import BasicAuthentication
      import os
      
      # Personal Access Token (PAT) for Azure DevOps
      personal_access_token = 'YOUR_PERSONAL_ACCESS_TOKEN'
      organization_url = 'https://dev.azure.com/YOUR_ORGANIZATION'
      
      # Create a connection to the Azure DevOps organization
      credentials = BasicAuthentication('', personal_access_token)
      connection = Connection(base_url=organization_url, creds=credentials)
      
      # Get the Git client
      git_client = connection.clients.get_git_client()
      
      # Define the repository and project details
      project = 'YOUR_PROJECT_NAME'
      repository_id = 'YOUR_REPOSITORY_ID'
      
      # Get the branches
      branches = git_client.get_branches(repository_id, project=project)
      
      # Print the branch names
      for branch in branches:
          print(branch.name)
   

Replace YOUR_PERSONAL_ACCESS_TOKEN, YOUR_ORGANIZATION, YOUR_PROJECT_NAME, and YOUR_REPOSITORY_ID with your actual Azure DevOps details.