(cdk-pipelines): Add environment_variables to SimpleSynthAction breakes pipelines behavior

[lucasam]

Class SimpleSynthAction in python changes the behavior when we add environment_variables parameter.

Reproduction Steps

source_artifact = codepipeline.Artifact()
cloud_assembly_artifact = codepipeline.Artifact()

repo = codecommit.Repository.from_repository_name(self, 'repo_ref', 'repo_name')

code_action = cpactions.CodeCommitSourceAction(
            action_name='SourceCode',
            output=source_artifact,
            repository=repo,
            branch='main',
            trigger=cpactions.CodeCommitTrigger.EVENTS
        )
synth_action = pipelines.SimpleSynthAction(
            source_artifact=source_artifact,


            # The addition of this parameter makes the behavior to change
            environment_variables={
                'DOCKER_PASSWORD': aws_codebuild.BuildEnvironmentVariable(
                    value='DOCKERHUB_PASSWORD',
                    type=aws_codebuild.BuildEnvironmentVariableType.SECRETS_MANAGER)
            },
            environment={
                'privileged': True
            },
            cloud_assembly_artifact=cloud_assembly_artifact,
            install_commands=[
                'npm install -g aws-cdk',
                'pip install -r requirements.txt',
                'docker login -u $DOCKER_LOGIN -p $DOCKER_PASSWORD'
            ],
            synth_command='cdk synth'
        )

pipeline = pipelines.CdkPipeline(self, 'MyCrazyPipeline',
                                         cloud_assembly_artifact=cloud_assembly_artifact,
                                         pipeline_name='MyCrazyPipeline',
                                         source_action=code_action,
                                         synth_action=synth_action)

When i add the environment_variables parameter to SimpleSynthAction the build behavior changes.

Before add environment_variables param

[Container] 2020/12/04 14:30:39 Entering phase INSTALL
--
[Container] 2020/12/04 14:30:39 Phase complete: INSTALL State: SUCCEEDED
[Container] 2020/12/04 14:30:39 Phase context status code:  Message:
[Container] 2020/12/04 14:30:39 Entering phase PRE_BUILD
[Container] 2020/12/04 14:30:39 Running command npm install -g aws-cdk
/usr/local/bin/cdk -> /usr/local/lib/node_modules/aws-cdk/bin/cdk
+ aws-cdk@1.76.0
added 190 packages from 186 contributors in 6.056s
....
[Container] 2020/12/04 14:30:50 Running command pip install -r requirements.txt
Collecting attrs==20.3.0
--
Downloading https://files.pythonhosted.org/packages/c3/aa/cb45262569fcc047bf070b5de61813724d6726db83259222cd7b4c79821a/attrs-20.3.0-py2.py3-none-any.whl (49kB)
...

After the addition of environment_variables param

[Container] 2020/12/04 14:36:52 Waiting for agent ping
[Container] 2020/12/04 14:36:54 Waiting for DOWNLOAD_SOURCE
[Container] 2020/12/04 14:36:55 Phase is DOWNLOAD_SOURCE
[Container] 2020/12/04 14:36:55 CODEBUILD_SRC_DIR=/codebuild/output/src650326947/src
[Container] 2020/12/04 14:36:55 YAML location is /codebuild/readonly/buildspec.yml
[Container] 2020/12/04 14:36:55 Processing environment variables

Meaning it is not using the provided install_commands and default SimpleSynthAction behavior, but instead it is failing over to the default behavior of looking for buildspec.yaml

Environment

• CDK CLI Version : aws-cdk@1.76.0
• Node.js Version: v12.18.0
• OS : Ubuntu
• Language (Version): Python (3.8)

---

This is 🐛 Bug Report

[lucasam]

Found a workaround to add environment_variables inside environment instead of directly into SimpleSynthAction

synth_action = pipelines.SimpleSynthAction(
            source_artifact=source_artifact,
            environment={
                'privileged': True,
                'environment_variables': {
                   'DOCKER_PASSWORD': aws_codebuild.BuildEnvironmentVariable(
                       value='DOCKERHUB_PASSWORD',
                      type=aws_codebuild.BuildEnvironmentVariableType.SECRETS_MANAGER)
                  }
            },
            cloud_assembly_artifact=cloud_assembly_artifact,
            install_commands=[
                'npm install -g aws-cdk',
                'pip install -r requirements.txt',
                'docker login -u $DOCKER_LOGIN -p $DOCKER_PASSWORD'
            ],
            synth_command='cdk synth'
        )

Documentation points that both structures accept this param. Maybe just fix documentation might work

[rix0rrr]

I wrote a test to make sure but it seems to work fine: #11906

Can you paste the relevant output of cdk.out/PipelineStack.template.json with the "broken" environment variables config?

[github-actions]

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