The Filesystem connector allows you to connect to files from a local file system or a git/bitbucket repository. This is the main connector we use for Infrastructure as Code (IaC) Static Code Analysis (SCA) and security validation. The Filesystem connector will help to inspect a static file committed into your project. Therefore, you should use this connector to preemptively validate your cloud management templates before applying your infrastructure changes.

Connecting with the FileSystem Provider

Prancer supports two methods to connect to a remote git/bitbucket provider:

  • SSH configuration
  • HTTPS configuration

SSH user configuration

To use SSH as a checkout mechanism for the source code, you will need a repository on a hosted solution that is reachable by Prancer and supports SSH-based checkouts. A common example would be to use GitHub, GitLab, BitBucket or CodeCommit. Depending on the private or public nature of your repository:

  • You only need the url and branch name if the repository is public
  • You need to provide the path to the SSH key file if the repository is private
  • You need to provide a username if you want to use Prancer to create branches or tags

HTTPS user configuration

To use HTTPS as a checkout mechanism for the source code, you will need a repository on a hosted solution that is reachable by Prancer and that supports HTTPS based checkouts. A common example would be to use GitHub, GitLab, BitBucket or CodeCommit. Depending on the private or public nature of your repository:

  • You only need the url and branch name if the repository is public
  • You need to provide the username and password if the repository is private

Connector configuration file

To configure the Filesystem connector, copy the following code to a file named fsConnector.json in your Prancer project folder.

Notes: Naming conventions

This file can be named anything you want, but we suggest fsConnector.json to clearly distinguish this from other connectors

local filesystem example

    {
        "fileType": "structure",
        "type": "filesystem",
        "companyName": "Organization name",
        "folderPath": "<path-to-folder>"
    }

Remember to substitute all values in this file that looks like a <tag> such as:

Tag Value Description
path-to-folder Absolute path to the folder

Note: Path expansions are not implemented yet, you need to provide full paths!

Public HTTPS or SSH example

    {
        "fileType": "structure",
        "type": "filesystem",
        "companyName": "Organization name",
        "gitProvider": "<url-to-repository>",
        "branchName": "<branch>",
        "httpsAccessToken": "secret-git-key",
        "private": false,
    }

Remember to substitute all values in this file that looks like a <tag> such as:

Tag Value Description
url-to-repository Enter the HTTPS or SSH url to the repository
branch Branch to checkout
private Boolean value stating if the repository is private or public
httpsAccessToken Secret key require for connect to private git repository.
  • httpsAccessToken:
    • If you are connecting the private repository then additionally you have to export the git access token in environment variable.
    • For example, you want to connect private Github/GitLab/BitBucket repository then geneate the new Github/GitLab/BitBucket Access Token and export the new environment variable, where key is the value of httpsAccessToken and value is Github/GitLab/BitBucket Access Token.

Note: Path expansions are not implemented yet, you need to provide full paths!

Private SSH example 

    {
        "fileType": "structure",
        "type": "filesystem",
        "companyName": "Organization name",
        "gitProvider": "<url-to-repository>",
        "branchName": "<branch>",
        "sshKeyfile": "<path-to-private-ssh-key-file>",
        "sshUser": "<username-of-repo>",
        "sshHost": "<hostname-of-repo>",
        "private": true
    }

Remember to substitute all values in this file that looks like a <tag> such as:

Tag Value Description
url-to-repository Enter the HTTPS or SSH url to the repository
branch Branch to checkout
username-of-repo Username used to execute operations on repository such as commits, merges, tags, etc
hostname-of-repo Host entry to put in temporary config file, this should be the same as what is in url-to-repository
path-to-private-ssh-key-file Path to the private key file when using a private SSH repository. this should be an absolute path. do not use ~ for home directory
private Boolean value stating if the repository is private or public

Note: Path expansions are not implemented yet, you need to provide full paths!

Private HTTPS example

    {
        "fileType": "structure",
        "type": "filesystem",
        "companyName": "Organization name",
        "gitProvider": "<url-to-repository>",
        "branchName": "<branch>",
        "httpsUser": "<username>",
        "httpsPassword": "<password>",
        "private": true
    }

Remember to substitute all values in this file that looks like a <tag> such as:

Tag Value Description
url-to-repository Enter the HTTPS or SSH url to the repository
branch Branch to checkout
username Username used to connect to the repository when using a private HTTPS repository
password Password used to connect to the repository when using a private HTTPS repository
private Boolean value stating if the repository is private or public

Notes Putting the httpsPassword in the connector file is only good for testing purposes. We recommend moving the httpsPassword out of the connector file in production scenario.

To move the httpsPassword out of the connector file, you have two options:

To set an environment variable, you should export the username and assign the password value. For example, if your username is prancer-git and your password is password:

    export prancer-git=password

When you run the prancer, it will automatically read the value from the environment variable.

Users

Other connectors such as AWS and Azure allow you to configure multiple users, the filesystem connector doesn't, as it doesn't have permissions other than reading. This means that you must always use the same username defined in the filesystem connector file in the snapshot configuration files.