Does Cloud Code Resolve Symbolic Links to Actual Files During Deployment to Cloud Functions?

Question

I am working on a project using Google Cloud Functions and I have organized my code in a way that common functionalities are placed in a directory outside of my Cloud Functions' directories. I have created symbolic links using relative paths to link to these common functionalities from within my Cloud Functions' directories.

Here's a simplified example to illustrate my setup. Assume I have a common utility function in a file named utility.py located in a common directory, and I have a Cloud Function in a directory named function1. I create a symbolic link to utility.py from within function1 directory like so:

ln -s ../common/utility.py ./function1/utility.py

I am using VS Code with Cloud Code extension to deploy my Cloud Functions. When I deploy function1, it seems that Cloud Code resolves the symbolic link to utility.py and deploys it as an actual file within the function1 directory on Cloud Functions.

I personally find this behavior useful as it simplifies my deployment process. However, I am curious to know if this is the expected behavior of Cloud Code or is there something specific happening during the deployment process that resolves symbolic links to actual files?

Additionally, is there any official documentation that explains this behavior?

Here is a simplified version of my setup for reference:

Directory Structure:

project_root/
├── common/
│   └── utility.py
└── function1/
    ├── main.py
    └── utility.py -> ../common/utility.py

Contents of utility.py:

def common_utility():
    print("Common utility function")

Contents of main.py:

import utility

def cloud_function(request):
    utility.common_utility()
    return 'Function executed', 200

I would appreciate any insights or references to documentation regarding this behavior of Cloud Code during deployment to Google Cloud Functions. Thank you!

Answer 1

Cloud Code traverse the root folder (or the value of 'directory' if specified in the launch configuration) and zip the files before uploading it to the GCF endpoint. I believe this traversing resolves the symlinks as you've observed and create the complete folder structure.

If you need to skip any of the folders you can add a ".gcloudignore" file in the root directory of your function and Cloud Code will skip listed folders during deployment.

We'll revisit the documentations in Cloud Code GCF to ensure this is clear. Thanks for the questions!