(core): Add IncludeNestedStacks option to createChangeSet

[konstantinj]

Description

As @rectalogic points out here #5722 (comment) a year ago it is helpful to see the exact changes of nested stacks in the aws console. Without that option you only see that a nested stack will change. With that option you'll get a link in the console to the changeset of the nested stacks. This would be very helpful for me. I even think setting IncludeNestedStacks: true as default does not harm.

Use Case

It's currently impossible to see changes of nested stacks even when using changesets.

Proposed Solution

You need to add IncludeNestedStacks: true here:

aws-cdk/packages/aws-cdk/lib/api/deploy-stack.ts

Line 298 in bd4141d

const changeSet = await cfn.createChangeSet({

Other information

No response

Acknowledge

• I may be able to implement this feature request
• This feature might incur a breaking change

[rectalogic]

#17396 does this

[konstantinj]

ok thanks. Unfortunately #19044 happened.

[konstantinj]

So is there a plan to bring this option back in?

[github-actions]

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[madeline-k]

Re-opening this issue since the change did not make it to release. It was reverted a few times due to causing failures in our CI integration tests.

[nicou]

Any updates on this? I'm currently working on migrating my project to aws-cdk v2, and getting a reliable diff on nested stack resources would be really useful 😅

[aaa-khoa]

I'm getting s3 access errors on my nested stack whenever I do cross-account deploys and was wondering if this was the issue

[diranged]

Just chiming in here... it's been a while, but this would be hugely helpful. Without this, we're hesitant to make too much use of nested stacks

[konstantinj]

still no action here? Unfortunately my workaround doesn't work anymore:

sed -i "s/ChangeSetName: changeSetName,/ChangeSetName: changeSetName,IncludeNestedStacks: true,/g" node_modules/aws-cdk/lib/api/deploy-stack.js
sed -i "s/ChangeSetName: changeSetName,/ChangeSetName: changeSetName,IncludeNestedStacks: true,/g" node_modules/aws-cdk/lib/index.js

doing that did the trick for me. But it looks like something has changed in the recent versions. I am on 2.70.0 now and I don't get the netested changes anymore.

Will investigate that later. It sucks not knowing what might change in a nested stack exactly.

[gagipro]

I discover this and it's a bit kind of show stopper because I was planning to use --no-execute to review changes but if cannot see what changes there are in a changeset, I really don't understand.

[gagipro]

sed -i "s/ChangeSetName: changeSetName,/ChangeSetName: changeSetName,IncludeNestedStacks: true,/g" node_modules/aws-cdk/lib/api/deploy-stack.js
sed -i "s/ChangeSetName: changeSetName,/ChangeSetName: changeSetName,IncludeNestedStacks: true,/g" node_modules/aws-cdk/lib/index.js

I don't understand

this code is working perfectly :
const changeSet = await this.cfn.createChangeSet({
StackName: this.stackName,
ChangeSetName: changeSetName,
ChangeSetType: this.options.resourcesToImport ? 'IMPORT' : this.update ? 'UPDATE' : 'CREATE',
IncludeNestedStacks: true,
ResourcesToImport: this.options.resourcesToImport,
Description: CDK Changeset for execution ${this.uuid},
ClientToken: create${this.uuid},

just need to add the IncludeNestedStacks: true,

why do we should have to patch with sed.

thanks @konstantinj for sharing your tip.

This must be addressed by the CDK DEV team if it doesn't introduced unexpected behavior or regression.

this https://github.com/aws/aws-cdk/pull/19494/files/120c7196153b601203e9e26709733722905657fe doesn't seem to be merged.

[peterwoodworth]

As mentioned above, this was merged and reverted before release because it was causing errors in our CI. I'm not sure why this caused errors in our CI before, maybe @madeline-k or someone else knows about that, all I can see is that it caused an error unexpectedly in one of our CLI integ tests #19618. I'm not sure what investigation, if any, has continued here.

We would probably take another look at this sooner than later if someone helps us by submitting a PR for this

[gagipro]

As mentioned above, this was merged and reverted before release because it was causing errors in our CI. I'm not sure why this caused errors in our CI before, maybe @madeline-k or someone else knows about that, all I can see is that it caused an error unexpectedly in one of our CLI integ tests #19618. I'm not sure what investigation, if any, has continued here.

We would probably take another look at this sooner than later if someone helps us by submitting a PR for this

Ok, in the meantime I'm using the Sed workaround and this review changeset feature is a must have for us.

I also opened a support ticket with enterprise support.

Thanks,
Regards

[gagipro]

still no action here? Unfortunately my workaround doesn't work anymore:

sed -i "s/ChangeSetName: changeSetName,/ChangeSetName: changeSetName,IncludeNestedStacks: true,/g" node_modules/aws-cdk/lib/api/deploy-stack.js
sed -i "s/ChangeSetName: changeSetName,/ChangeSetName: changeSetName,IncludeNestedStacks: true,/g" node_modules/aws-cdk/lib/index.js

doing that did the trick for me. But it looks like something has changed in the recent versions. I am on 2.70.0 now and I don't get the netested changes anymore.

Will investigate that later. It sucks not knowing what might change in a nested stack exactly.

    "sed -i 's/            ResourcesToImport: this.options.resourcesToImport,/            IncludeNestedStacks: true,\\n            ResourcesToImport: this.options.resourcesToImport,/g' /usr/local/lib/node_modules/aws-cdk/lib/api/deploy-stack.js",
    "sed -i 's/ResourcesToImport:this.options.resourcesToImport,/IncludeNestedStacks:true,ResourcesToImport:this.options.resourcesToImport,/g' /usr/local/lib/node_modules/aws-cdk/lib/index.js"

[gagipro]

I encounter this issue now that we intensively use CDK with Nested Stack. everytime there's no change in a stack it creates a failed changeset in the Nested that you cannot even delete.

aws/aws-cli#4534

Only way to remove them is to create a change that updates the Nested Stack...

we are close from the show stopper in production with all those defects.

Everyday I found a new issue