JSON decode on run_sh output

[xavier-romero]

What's your CLI version?

0.89.3

Description & steps to reproduce

By running that plan:

def run(plan):
    x = plan.run_sh(
        run="""
        echo '{"key":"value"}'
        """
    )
    a = x.output
    plan.print(a)
    plan.print(a[:])
    plan.print(a[0:-1])
    plan.print(a[0:-1]+a[-1])

I get these outputs:

{"key":"value"}
{"key":"value"}
{{kurtosis:b0597720154d47fc9701d3bec6c15dc2:output.runtime_value}
{"key":"value"}

Specially surprised with the 4th result not being like the 3rf tbh ':--o

When trying to decode json output like this:

def run(plan):
    x = plan.run_sh(
        run="""
        echo '{"key":"value"}'
        """
    )
    a = x.output
    json.decode(a)

I get an error:
Evaluation error: json.decode: at offset 2, unexpected character 'k'

For some reason when trying to decode it's using that internal reference instead of the resulting string.

Desired behavior

To decode the output string instead of the internal object reference.

What is the severity of this bug?

Painful; this is causing significant friction in my workflow.

What area of the product does this pertain to?

CLI: the Command Line Interface

[laurentluce]

@tedim52 explained to me that Starlark cannot interpret string slices. All the print commands operate on the full a output except the third one so the result is expected.

[laurentluce]

A future reference cannot be decoded so the exact output will have to be returned as part of plan.run_sh with the help of jq for example.

[laurentluce]

We are aware that future reference / string manipulation is not great today.

[laurentluce]

Duplicate of #2049