[BUG] Convert markdown to PDF

[b-sarrazin]

Describe the bug My pipeline goes into error during the "Convert markdown to PDF" step (see screenshot 1). Despite the validation of the "Convert markdown to HTML" step, the errors seem to start at this step (see screenshot 2)

To Reproduce I get this error every time I launch the pipeline.

Expected behavior The pipeline completes without errors.

Screenshots

Run type (please complete the following information):

• Mode: 1
• Client: Pipeline
• Version: 2.3.0

Additional context Contents of my azure-pipelines.yml file :

# PIPELINE VARIABLES THAT NEEDS TO BE DEFINED FIRST FOR THIS PIPELINE TO WORK:
# CLIENT_ID (application ID), CLIENT_SECRET (application secret), TENANT_NAME, USER_EMAIL (email that will be used in the commit), USER_NAME (name that will be used in commit)
# based on https://github.com/aaronparker/intune-backup-template

trigger:
  none
schedules:
  - cron: '0 1 * * *'
    displayName: "1am"
    branches:
      include:
      - main
    always: true

jobs:
  - job: backup_document
    displayName: Backup configuration and generate markdown
    pool:
      vmImage: ubuntu-latest
    continueOnError: false
    steps:
    - checkout: self
      persistCredentials: true

    # Set git global settings
    - task: Bash@3
      displayName: Configure Git
      inputs:
        targetType: 'inline'
        script: |
          git config --global user.name $(USER_NAME)
          git config --global user.email $(USER_EMAIL)
        workingDirectory: '$(Build.SourcesDirectory)'
        failOnStderr: true

    - task: Bash@3
      displayName: Remove existing prod-backup directory
      inputs:
        targetType: 'inline'
        script: |
          rm -rfv "$(Build.SourcesDirectory)/prod-backup"
        workingDirectory: '$(Build.SourcesDirectory)'
        failOnStderr: false

    # Install IntuneCD
    # https://github.com/almenscorner/IntuneCD
    - task: Bash@3
      displayName: Install IntuneCD
      inputs:
        targetType: 'inline'
        script: |
          pip3 install IntuneCD
        workingDirectory: '$(Build.SourcesDirectory)'
        failOnStderr: true

    # Backup the latest configuration, using the current directory
    - task: Bash@3
      displayName: IntuneCD backup
      inputs:
        targetType: 'inline'
        script: |
          mkdir -p "$(Build.SourcesDirectory)/prod-backup"
          IntuneCD-startbackup \
              --mode=1 \
              --output=json \
              --path="$(Build.SourcesDirectory)/prod-backup" \
              --exclude CompliancePartner \
              --ignore-omasettings \
              --autopilot \
              --audit
        workingDirectory: '$(Build.SourcesDirectory)'
        failOnStderr: true
      env:
        TENANT_NAME: $(TENANT_NAME)
        CLIENT_ID: $(CLIENT_ID)
        CLIENT_SECRET: $(CLIENT_SECRET)

    # Commit changes and push to repo
    - task: Bash@3
      displayName: Commit changes
      name: commitAndsetVariable
      inputs:
        targetType: 'inline'
        script: |
          DATEF=`date +%Y.%m.%d`
          git add --all
          # modified files in folder prod-backup
          var=$(git diff --name-only --staged -- prod-backup)
          echo "##vso[task.setVariable variable=CHANGE_DETECTED;isOutput=true;]$var"
          git commit -m "Intune config backup $DATEF"
          git push origin HEAD:main
        workingDirectory: '$(Build.SourcesDirectory)'
        failOnStderr: false

    # Create markdown documentation
    # Install IntuneCD
    # https://github.com/almenscorner/IntuneCD
    - task: Bash@3
      displayName: Generate markdown document
      inputs:
        targetType: 'inline'
        script: |
          if [ ! -z "$(commitAndsetVariable.CHANGE_DETECTED)" ]
          then
            INTRO="Intune backup and documentation generated at $(Build.Repository.Uri) <img align=\"right\" width=\"96\" height=\"96\" src=\"./logo.png\">"
            IntuneCD-startdocumentation \
                --path="$(Build.SourcesDirectory)/prod-backup" \
                --outpath="$(Build.SourcesDirectory)/prod-as-built.md" \
                --tenantname=$TENANT_NAME \
                --intro="$INTRO" \
                --split
          else
            echo "no configuration backup change detected in the last commit, documentation will not be created"
          fi
        workingDirectory: '$(Build.SourcesDirectory)'
        failOnStderr: true
      env:
        TENANT_NAME: $(TENANT_NAME)

    # Commit changes and push to repo
    - task: Bash@3
      displayName: Commit changes
      inputs:
        targetType: 'inline'
        script: |
          DATEF=`date +%Y.%m.%d`
          git add --all
          git commit -m "Intune config as-built $DATEF"
          git push origin HEAD:main
        workingDirectory: '$(Build.SourcesDirectory)'
        failOnStderr: false

  - job: tag
    displayName: Tag repo
    dependsOn: backup_document
    condition: and(succeeded(), ne(dependencies.backup_document.outputs['commitAndsetVariable.CHANGE_DETECTED'], ''))
    pool:
      vmImage: ubuntu-latest
    continueOnError: false
    steps:
    - checkout: self
      persistCredentials: true

    # Set git global settings
    - task: Bash@3
      displayName: Configure Git
      inputs:
        targetType: 'inline'
        script: |
          git config --global user.name $(USER_NAME)
          git config --global user.email $(USER_EMAIL)
        workingDirectory: '$(Build.SourcesDirectory)'
        failOnStderr: true

    - task: Bash@3
      displayName: Pull origin
      inputs:
        targetType: 'inline'
        script: |
          git pull origin main
        workingDirectory: '$(Build.SourcesDirectory)'
        failOnStderr: false

    - task: PowerShell@2
      displayName: Git tag
      inputs:
        targetType: 'inline'
        script: |
          # change in configuration backup folder detected, create TAG
          $DATEF= Get-Date -format 'yyyy.MM.dd_HH.mm'
          git tag -a "v$DATEF" -m "Microsoft Intune configuration snapshot $DATEF"
          git push origin "v$DATEF" *> $null # even status information goes to stderr :(
        failOnStderr: true
        pwsh: false
        workingDirectory: '$(Build.SourcesDirectory)'

  - job: publish
    displayName: Publish as-built artefacts
    dependsOn: tag
    condition: and(succeeded(), ne(dependencies.backup_document.outputs['commitAndsetVariable.CHANGE_DETECTED'], ''))
    pool:
      vmImage: ubuntu-latest
    continueOnError: false
    steps:
    - checkout: self
      persistCredentials: true

    # Install md-to-pdf
    # https://github.com/simonhaenisch/md-to-pdf
    - task: Bash@3
      displayName: Install md-to-pdf
      inputs:
        targetType: 'inline'
        script: |
          npm i --location=global md-to-pdf
        workingDirectory: '$(Build.SourcesDirectory)'
        failOnStderr: true

    # Convert markdown document to HTML
    - task: Bash@3
      displayName: Convert markdown to HTML
      inputs:
        targetType: 'inline'
        script: |
          cat "$(Build.SourcesDirectory)/prod-as-built.md" | md-to-pdf --config-file "$(Build.SourcesDirectory)/md2pdf/htmlconfig.json" --as-html > "$(Build.SourcesDirectory)/prod-as-built.html"
        workingDirectory: '$(Build.SourcesDirectory)'
        failOnStderr: false

    - task: PublishBuildArtifacts@1
      inputs:
        pathToPublish: "$(Build.SourcesDirectory)/prod-as-built.html"
        artifactName: "prod-as-built.html"

    # Convert markdown document to PDF
    - task: Bash@3
      displayName: Convert markdown to PDF
      inputs:
        targetType: 'inline'
        script: |
          cat "$(Build.SourcesDirectory)/prod-as-built.md" | md-to-pdf --config-file "$(Build.SourcesDirectory)/md2pdf/pdfconfig.json" > "$(Build.SourcesDirectory)/prod-as-built.pdf"
        workingDirectory: '$(Build.SourcesDirectory)'
        failOnStderr: false

    - task: PublishBuildArtifacts@1
      inputs:
        pathToPublish: "$(Build.SourcesDirectory)/prod-as-built.pdf"
        artifactName: "prod-as-built.pdf"

[b-sarrazin]

No more errors by removing this parameter: --autopilot

[almenscorner]

The --autopilot command doesn't really have anything to do with the PDF generation, what is in your pdfconfig.json?

I have also seen timeouts in the PDF generation even if the timeout is configured to 0 in puppeteer, unfortunately out of IntuenCD's control.

[b-sarrazin]

The problem seems to appear irregularly because, once again, my last two runs failed.

I haven't touched the pdfconfig.json file. Am I supposed to have this file populated in my Azure DevOps repository?

[almenscorner]

The pdfconfig.json is used to configure how the output PDF will be formatted as well as some puppeteer configurations, according to your pipeline, it should be located in the $(Build.SourcesDirectory)/md2pdf/pdfconfig.json path.

If you are encountering puppeteer timeout issues like it seems you are, you can add a configuration to this file to disable the timeout.

[b-sarrazin]

The problem seems to be resolved after adding the md2pdf folder (and the pdfconfig.json file) to my repository.

Thank you for the help and this top backup solution :)