RunCommandOnSet has no effect within a config document

[systematicguy]

Prerequisites

• Write a descriptive title.
• Make sure you are able to repro it on the latest version
• Search the existing issues.

Summary

I am trying to run a command using Microsoft.DSC.Transitional/RunCommandOnSet.
It only has an effect when calling the resource via '{json input}' | dsc resource set -r Microsoft.DSC.Transactional/RunCommandOnSet -f -.
From within a configuration document though, it doesn't do anything.

Steps to reproduce

1. Configuration document:

# example.dsc.config.yaml
$schema: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/PowerShell/DSC/main/schemas/2024/04/config/document.json
resources:
  - name: one more line
    type: Microsoft.DSC.Transitional/RunCommandOnSet
    properties:
      executable: pwsh
      arguments: 
        - -Command
        - "Write-Output Hello | Out-File example.txt -Append"

Run it:
dsc config set -f example.dsc.config.yaml

Expected behavior

example.txt should get created (next to dsc.exe) and have content Hello.

Actual behavior

Output:

metadata:
  Microsoft.DSC:
    version: 3.0.0
    operation: Set
    executionType: Actual
    startDatetime: 2025-02-23T17:07:58.807603200+01:00
    endDatetime: 2025-02-23T17:07:58.933190400+01:00
    duration: PT0.1255872S
    securityContext: Restricted
results:
- metadata:
    Microsoft.DSC:
      duration: PT0.0184319S
  name: one more line
  type: Microsoft.DSC.Transitional/RunCommandOnSet
  result:
    beforeState:
      executable: pwsh
      arguments:
      - -Command
      - Write-Output Hello | Out-File example.txt -Append
    afterState:
      executable: pwsh
      arguments:
      - -Command
      - Write-Output Hello | Out-File example.txt -Append
    changedProperties: null
messages: []
hadErrors: false

❌Look for example.txt it should get created next to dsc.exe but it is nowhere to be found.

Error details

I have run dsc -l trace config set -f example.dsc.config.yaml to grab the generated json input:
{"executable":"pwsh","arguments":["-Command","Write-Output Hello | Out-File example.txt -Append"]}

I go and run the resource direcly based on the example (

DSC/runcommandonset/tests/runcommandonset.set.tests.ps1

Lines 20 to 30 in 8c290aa

	It 'Input for executable and arguments can be sent to the resource' {
	$input_json = @"
	{
	"executable": "pwsh",
	"arguments": ["-Command", "echo hello world"]
	}
	"@
	$input_json | dsc resource set -r Microsoft.DSC.Transitional/RunCommandOnSet -f -
	# TODO: test output once DSC PR to capture it is merged
	$LASTEXITCODE | Should -Be 0
	}

) :

'{"executable":"pwsh","arguments":["-Command","Write-Output Hello | Out-File example.txt -Append"]}' | dsc resource set -r Microsoft.DSC.Transitional/RunCommandOnSet -f -

And it works perfectly, example.txt gets created and each time I run the above, one more line gets appended.

👉 My wild guess is that dsc config does not invoke set on the resource because it deems the resource in desired state. Reading #302 and #321, this might be due to the synthetic noop test (or get?) for the resource. I might be totally wrong, though.

Full trace:

dsc -l trace config set -f .\run-command-example.dsc.config.yaml
2025-02-23T16:19:40.770966Z  INFO dsc::util: 417: Trace-level is Trace
2025-02-23T16:19:40.771272Z DEBUG dsc: 42: Running DSC version: 3.0.0-rc.1
2025-02-23T16:19:40.771514Z DEBUG dsc::util: 554: Setting DSC_CONFIG_ROOT env var as 'C:\Users\david\devp\myconfig\dscv3'
2025-02-23T16:19:40.771727Z TRACE dsc::util: 454: Input: None, File: Some("C:\\Users\\david\\devp\\myconfig\\dscv3\\run-command-example.dsc.config.yaml")
2025-02-23T16:19:40.771930Z DEBUG dsc::util: 465: Reading input from file C:\Users\david\devp\myconfig\dscv3\run-command-example.dsc.config.yaml
2025-02-23T16:19:40.772391Z DEBUG dsc_lib::discovery::command_discovery: 392: Searching for resources: ["Microsoft.DSC.Transitional/RunCommandOnSet"]
2025-02-23T16:19:40.772843Z  INFO dsc_lib::discovery::command_discovery: 173: Discovering resources using filter: *    
2025-02-23T16:19:40.773085Z DEBUG dsc_lib::discovery::command_discovery: 176: Using regex ^.*?$ as filter for adapter name
2025-02-23T16:19:40.773730Z DEBUG dsc_lib::util: 188: Found setting 'resourcePath' in c:\Users\david\bin\DSCv3\dsc_default.settings.json
2025-02-23T16:19:40.774509Z DEBUG dsc_lib::util: 198: Found setting 'resourcePath' in c:\Users\david\bin\DSCv3\dsc.settings.json
2025-02-23T16:19:40.774994Z DEBUG dsc_lib::util: 212: Setting 'resourcePath' not found in C:\ProgramData\dsc\dsc.settings.json
2025-02-23T16:19:40.775371Z DEBUG dsc_lib::discovery::command_discovery: 122: Appending PATH to resourcePath
2025-02-23T16:19:40.775667Z TRACE dsc_lib::discovery::command_discovery: 125: Original PATH: **************
2025-02-23T16:19:40.776804Z TRACE dsc_lib::discovery::command_discovery: 144: Exe home is already in path: c:\Users\david\bin\DSCv3
2025-02-23T16:19:40.777166Z DEBUG dsc_lib::discovery::command_discovery: 157: Using Resource Path: *************
2025-02-23T16:19:40.778173Z TRACE dsc_lib::discovery::command_discovery: 212: Found resource manifest: C:\Users\david\bin\DSCv3_extras\include.dsc.resource.json
2025-02-23T16:19:40.778724Z TRACE dsc_lib::discovery::command_discovery: 233: Resource 'Microsoft.DSC/Include' found   
2025-02-23T16:19:40.871375Z TRACE dsc_lib::discovery::command_discovery: 212: Found resource manifest: c:\Users\david\bin\DSCv3\assertion.dsc.resource.json
2025-02-23T16:19:40.872068Z TRACE dsc_lib::discovery::command_discovery: 233: Resource 'Microsoft.DSC/Assertion' found 
2025-02-23T16:19:40.872545Z TRACE dsc_lib::discovery::command_discovery: 212: Found resource manifest: c:\Users\david\bin\DSCv3\echo.dsc.resource.json
2025-02-23T16:19:40.873055Z TRACE dsc_lib::discovery::command_discovery: 233: Resource 'Microsoft.DSC.Debug/Echo' found
2025-02-23T16:19:40.873382Z TRACE dsc_lib::discovery::command_discovery: 212: Found resource manifest: c:\Users\david\bin\DSCv3\group.dsc.resource.json
2025-02-23T16:19:40.873728Z TRACE dsc_lib::discovery::command_discovery: 233: Resource 'Microsoft.DSC/Group' found     
2025-02-23T16:19:40.874050Z TRACE dsc_lib::discovery::command_discovery: 212: Found resource manifest: c:\Users\david\bin\DSCv3\osinfo.dsc.resource.json
2025-02-23T16:19:40.874480Z TRACE dsc_lib::discovery::command_discovery: 233: Resource 'Microsoft/OSInfo' found        
2025-02-23T16:19:40.875026Z TRACE dsc_lib::discovery::command_discovery: 212: Found resource manifest: c:\Users\david\bin\DSCv3\powershell.dsc.resource.json
2025-02-23T16:19:40.875502Z TRACE dsc_lib::discovery::command_discovery: 230: Resource adapter 'Microsoft.DSC/PowerShell' found
2025-02-23T16:19:40.875907Z TRACE dsc_lib::discovery::command_discovery: 212: Found resource manifest: c:\Users\david\bin\DSCv3\reboot_pending.dsc.resource.json
2025-02-23T16:19:40.876233Z TRACE dsc_lib::discovery::command_discovery: 233: Resource 'Microsoft.Windows/RebootPending' found
2025-02-23T16:19:40.876565Z TRACE dsc_lib::discovery::command_discovery: 212: Found resource manifest: c:\Users\david\bin\DSCv3\registry.dsc.resource.json
2025-02-23T16:19:40.876898Z TRACE dsc_lib::discovery::command_discovery: 233: Resource 'Microsoft.Windows/Registry' found
2025-02-23T16:19:40.877299Z TRACE dsc_lib::discovery::command_discovery: 212: Found resource manifest: c:\Users\david\bin\DSCv3\RunCommandOnSet.dsc.resource.json
2025-02-23T16:19:40.877644Z TRACE dsc_lib::discovery::command_discovery: 233: Resource 'Microsoft.DSC.Transitional/RunCommandOnSet' found
2025-02-23T16:19:40.878004Z TRACE dsc_lib::discovery::command_discovery: 212: Found resource manifest: c:\Users\david\bin\DSCv3\windowspowershell.dsc.resource.json
2025-02-23T16:19:40.878339Z TRACE dsc_lib::discovery::command_discovery: 230: Resource adapter 'Microsoft.Windows/WindowsPowerShell' found
2025-02-23T16:19:40.878656Z TRACE dsc_lib::discovery::command_discovery: 212: Found resource manifest: c:\Users\david\bin\DSCv3\wmi.dsc.resource.json
2025-02-23T16:19:40.878948Z TRACE dsc_lib::discovery::command_discovery: 230: Resource adapter 'Microsoft.Windows/WMI' found
2025-02-23T16:19:40.879389Z DEBUG dsc_lib::discovery::command_discovery: 244: Found 8 matching non-adapter-based resources
2025-02-23T16:19:40.879895Z DEBUG dsc::subcommand: 313: No parameters specified
2025-02-23T16:19:40.880063Z  INFO dsc_lib::configure: 553: No parameters defined in configuration and no parameters input
2025-02-23T16:19:40.880218Z DEBUG dsc_lib::configure: 621: No variables defined in configuration
2025-02-23T16:19:40.880335Z DEBUG dsc_lib::configure::depends_on: 27: Getting resource invocation order
2025-02-23T16:19:40.880454Z DEBUG dsc_lib::configure::depends_on: 90: Resource invocation order: [Resource { resource_type: "Microsoft.DSC.Transitional/RunCommandOnSet", name: "one more line", depends_on: None, properties: Some({"executable": String("pwsh"), "arguments": Array [String("-Command"), String("Write-Output Hello | Out-File example.txt -Append")]}), metadata: None }]
2025-02-23T16:19:40.880963Z DEBUG dsc_lib::configure: 700: Invoke property expressions
2025-02-23T16:19:40.881457Z TRACE dsc_lib::configure: 708: Invoke property expression for executable: "pwsh"
2025-02-23T16:19:40.881822Z DEBUG dsc_lib::parser: 48: Parsing statement: pwsh
2025-02-23T16:19:40.885186Z DEBUG dsc_lib::dscresources::command_resource: 738: Verify JSON for 'Microsoft.DSC.Transitional/RunCommandOnSet'
2025-02-23T16:19:40.889314Z  INFO dsc_lib::dscresources::command_resource: 103: No pretest, invoking test on 'Microsoft.DSC.Transitional/RunCommandOnSet'
2025-02-23T16:19:40.889654Z DEBUG dsc_lib::dscresources::command_resource: 252: Invoking test for 'Microsoft.DSC.Transitional/RunCommandOnSet'
2025-02-23T16:19:40.889919Z  INFO dsc_lib::dscresources::command_resource: 254: Resource 'Microsoft.DSC.Transitional/RunCommandOnSet' does not implement test, performing synthetic test
2025-02-23T16:19:40.890155Z DEBUG dsc_lib::dscresources::command_resource: 29: Invoking get for 'Microsoft.DSC.Transitional/RunCommandOnSet'
2025-02-23T16:19:40.890382Z DEBUG dsc_lib::dscresources::command_resource: 738: Verify JSON for 'Microsoft.DSC.Transitional/RunCommandOnSet'
2025-02-23T16:19:40.890668Z DEBUG dsc_lib::dscresources::command_resource: 721: Parsing input as stdin
2025-02-23T16:19:40.890869Z  INFO dsc_lib::dscresources::command_resource: 40: Invoking get 'Microsoft.DSC.Transitional/RunCommandOnSet' using 'runcommandonset'
2025-02-23T16:19:40.891095Z DEBUG dsc_lib::dscresources::command_resource: 672: Invoking command 'runcommandonset' with args Some(["--trace-format", "json", "get"])
2025-02-23T16:19:40.895004Z TRACE dsc_lib::dscresources::command_resource: 589: Writing to command STDIN: {"executable":"pwsh","arguments":["-Command","Write-Output Hello | Out-File example.txt -Append"]}
2025-02-23T16:19:40.899242Z  WARN dsc_lib::dscresources::command_resource: 844: trace_message="PID 99968: This resource is not idempotent"
2025-02-23T16:19:40.900850Z DEBUG dsc_lib::dscresources::command_resource: 633: Process 'runcommandonset' id 99968 exited with code 0

Environment data

Name                           Value
----                           -----
PSVersion                      7.4.6
PSEdition                      Core
GitCommitId                    7.4.6
OS                             Microsoft Windows 10.0.22631
Platform                       Win32NT
PSCompatibleVersions           {1.0, 2.0, 3.0, 4.0…}
PSRemotingProtocolVersion      2.3
SerializationVersion           1.1.0.1
WSManStackVersion              3.0

Version

dsc 3.0.0-rc.1

Visuals

No response

[SteveL-MSFT]

@tgauth can you investigate? The fix might simply be to declare in the resource manifest that pretest is implemented so that dsc doesn't perform a get and believe it's in desired state and skip set