What is the meaning of the last letter "a", "b", or "s" in Azure DevOps' C:\agent\_work\1\a? Anyone know what that last letter stands for?

Question

What is the meaning of the last letter "a", "b", or "s" in Azure DevOps' directory structure:

C:\agent_work\1\a C:\agent_work\1\b C:\agent_work\1\s

Anyone know what that last letter stands for?

Extra credit: what's the "1" represent too?

Answer 1

Check out the predefined variables:

\a likely stands for "artifacts"

Build.ArtifactStagingDirectory - The local path on the agent where any artifacts are copied to before being pushed to their destination. For example: c:\agent_work\1\a

\b likely stands for "binaries"

Build.BinariesDirectory - The local path on the agent you can use as an output folder for compiled binaries. For example: c:\agent_work\1\b.

\s likely stands for "sources"

Build.Repository.LocalPath - The local path on the agent where your source code files are downloaded. For example: c:\agent_work\1\s. This variable is synonymous with Build.SourcesDirectory.

On Hosted build agents "1" seems to be static, on a self hosted agent I have noticed this number is unique per pipeline.