> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://gwen-leigh.gitbook.io/free-aws-cloud-project-bookcamp/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://gwen-leigh.gitbook.io/free-aws-cloud-project-bookcamp/week-2-distributed-tracing/2.1.0-instrument-x-ray/2.1.1-x-ray-subsegment-trial.md). # 2.1.1 X-Ray Subsegment Trial What types of data would you include in your spans for tracing and observability? I tried to send the name of the current git branch which will change over the coming weeks of Cruddur development. ## **0. Learning Materials** * ~~Video~~: personal micro-project branching out of the original Cruddur * ~~Andrew's repo~~ * My branch repo: [02-01-01-xray-subsegment-trial](https://github.com/mariachiinajar/aws-bootcamp-cruddur-2023-again/tree/02-01-01-xray-subsegment-trial) ### Task List * [ ] **1.** Create a code to get the name of the current git branch * [ ] **2.** Customise the spans of the tracing tools * [ ] **2.1. Honeycomb**: customise the spans by setting attributes * [ ] **2.2 X-Ray**: send segments and subsegments to AWS X-Ray *** ## 1. Workflow ### 1. Create a code to get the name of the current git branch The below code is what I got from my dear friend ChatGPT. I'm so happy to chat with ChatGPT because it never gets mad at me for having infinite questions :innocent: {% code title="branch.py" lineNumbers="true" %} ```python import subprocess def get_current_git_branch(): try: result = subprocess.run(['git', 'rev-parse', '--abbrev-ref', 'HEAD'], capture_output=True, text=True, check=True) # Extract and return the branch name branch_name = result.stdout.strip() return branch_name except subprocess.CalledProcessError as e: print(f"Error: {e}") return None ``` {% endcode %} * **line 1**: *the* [*subprocess*](https://docs.python.org/3/library/subprocess.html) *module allows you to spawn new processes, connect to their input/output/error pipes, and **obtain their return codes**.* * Meaning, I can run bash script using Python and store the return value in a Python variable! * **line 5**: the function `subprocess.run` runs terminal commands. * `git rev-parse --abbrev-ref HEAD`: this command grabs the name of the current branch. * As this is a bash command, it returns the branch name only as a string: * `02-01-01-xray-subsegment-trial` * **line 8**: however, we are grabbing the current branch name in bash using python, so we need some string processing.

Python subprocess in action, extracting the Bash-returned value.

### 2.1. Honeycomb: customise the spans by setting attributes ### 2.2. X-Ray: send segments and subsegments to AWS X-Ray The codes for these tasks don't work and isn't important for the discussion. You can still look here: * Honeycomb and X-Ray in: * [home\_activities.py](https://github.com/mariachiinajar/aws-bootcamp-cruddur-2023-again/compare/main...mariachiinajar:aws-bootcamp-cruddur-2023-again:02-01-01-xray-subsegment-trial#diff-e7fc4f0f2b4e4510d81bbc953fe4e4198587359967fc005d49cb23f39e7f3130) * [notifications\_activities.py](https://github.com/mariachiinajar/aws-bootcamp-cruddur-2023-again/compare/main...mariachiinajar:aws-bootcamp-cruddur-2023-again:02-01-01-xray-subsegment-trial#diff-86937d0e77c06cacef0fda4b93c8b34c40f93962cd8962babbc54ed5aa105f1b) ## 2. Discussion ### Dockerisation, Dev & Prod containers #### Honeycomb

The recent value for app.branch shows the name of the branch 02-01-01-xray-subsegment-trial. This value is hard-coded :(

I tried customising the Honeycomb span by adding a new attribute `app.branch`. This attribute would have the name of the current git branch. In my mind, as I will move through the weeks, I will continue to create more branches, and the value of the `app.branch` will be dynamically updated! So it would be really cool to have spans coming in on Honeycomb which clearly marks which phases of the development they were captured at. * **However, it failed because the backend is containerised**. This means that the backend-container has to: * have `git` installed * should be in sync with this repository all the time. * Generally speaking, docker containers used in development and production should never be the same. Dev containers usually contain many more dependencies than prod containers for troubleshooting and testing purposes. * Speaking of which, installing git in the prod container would be a bad idea, as it can become a security vulnerability. In order to identify the branch name, Git has to be in sync with the remote repo. Furthermore, I'll have to provide a Git credential. * Even for a dev container, this seems to be a waste of compute power. Packge Git, include my Git credentials as env variables in the docker container... (why would you install a tool that can control the versions of your production source code, even if the Github credential you are providing doesn't have permissions to change the repo?) * It is too costly for an experiment and it will never be adopted in the prod container down the road. Sso I discarded the idea. #### X-Ray I also failed sending segments and subsegments to `X-Ray`. It does not pick up the subsegments. I might as well retry this after completing the episode "X-Ray Subsegments Solved" #### Conclusion So this trial ended up being more of a thought experiment than coding. However, it still was a valuable experience. As the docker dev and prod containerisation, we will learn more about this consideration again in the coming weeks. ## 3. Resources * Python: [subprocess](https://docs.python.org/3/library/subprocess.html)