Windows git bash tries to resolve string as file when calling AWS CLI

Question

I have a string parameter for AWS SSM CLI command that looks like a path to a file due to starting with a /. /path/to/my/param.

When I run the command on git bash it tries to find the file instead, no matter how I try to escape it:

aws ssm get-parameter --name "/path/to/my/param"

aws ssm get-parameter --name '/path/to/my/param'

aws ssm get-parameter --name '\/path\/to\/my\/param'

An error occurred (ValidationException) when calling the GetParameter operation: Invalid label format /Program Files/Git/path/to/my/param. A label name can't be prefixed with numbers, "ssm", or "aws" (case-insensitive). You can specify letters, numbers, and the following symbols: period (.), dash (-), or underscore (_).

Even tried back-ticks, then I get a bash error

aws ssm get-parameter --name `/path/to/my/param`

Error: bash: /path/to/my/param: No such file or directory

If I do echo /asd/asd it actually outputs /asd/asd, so it also might be how the aws cli is treating the input.

Any ideas how to escape it?

if you are using windows, use powershell for this command

OK999
– OK999

2018-12-13 15:53:02 +00:00
Commented Dec 13, 2018 at 15:53 — OK999
– OK999, Commented Dec 13, 2018 at 15:53

zllvm · Accepted Answer · 2019-04-25 08:26:27Z

10

It is possible to turn off a path conversion in MSYS2 for selected paths (see Msys2 Porting, Filesystem namespaces section).

You can also disable it temporarily in the following way:

 MSYS2_ARG_CONV_EXCL="/aws" aws ssm get-parameter --name '/aws/path/to/my/param'

answered Apr 25, 2019 at 8:26

zllvm

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2 Comments

Yanal-Yves Fargialla Over a year ago

The documentation mentioned in this answer has moved to msys2.org/wiki/Porting

Yanal-Yves Fargialla Over a year ago

According to the documentation : "MSYS2_ARG_CONV_EXCL is a ; delimited string each part of which is compared against the front part of each argument and if a match is found, that conversion is skipped."

Christoffer Jedbäck · Accepted Answer · 2023-01-10 11:49:49Z

8

Edit:

After stumbling upon this issue once more, but this time for: aws logs describe-log-groups --log-group-name-prefix ..., I decided to try 'n' find a more sustainable solution.

I found an SO post that provided an explanation for the underlying problem as well as what I believe to be a better fix, i.e.:

MSYS_NO_PATHCONV=1 aws ...

This goes for any aws cli command suffering from this forward slash problem when being called from Git Bash on Windows.

Kudos of course go to: https://stackoverflow.com/a/56034540

Seems like my first answer happens to work for aws ssm get-parameter because that part of the cli is a bit more forgiving in the sense that it returns the desired value, even when providing the leading space. However, upon further scrutiny of the returned value I noticed in retrospect that the name of the returned parameter also contains the leading space, making the solution of disabling path conversion - by far - the better option.

Original answer:

In case anyone bumps into this issue in the future:

I randomly managed to solve it while grasping at straws.

The trick for me was to put a space before the first forward slash after surrounding the parameter name with double quotes, i.e.:
aws ssm get-parameter --name " /path/to/my/param"
(The GitHub issue that led me to try it out: https://github.com/bmatzelle/gow/issues/196)

edited Jan 10, 2023 at 11:49

answered Jun 18, 2021 at 13:32

Christoffer Jedbäck

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2 Comments

smalers Over a year ago

I ran into the same issue trying to run a command similar to the following: aws cloudfront create-invalidation --distribution-id SOMEID --paths '/some/path/'. The shell tries to be helpful and convert the path to some local computer path but instead it mangles the cloud path. Adding MSYS_NO_PATHCONV=1 to the front of the aws command line worked. Adding the space did not work for me. Using a double slash at the front of the path also worked for me.

smalers Over a year ago

Also, without the fix, the aws cloudfront create-invalidation command shows a general message like the following:

An error occurred (InvalidArgument) when calling the CreateInvalidation operation: Your request contains one or more invalid invalidation paths.

I avoided the warning by adding an asterisk at the end of the original path, which hid the main problem and did not really solve the MinGW root issue.

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