[central] intermittent CI failure in test-images: No names found, cannot describe anything.

[alxndrsn]

I'm not sure yet if this affects next/master, but it was seen for #1112. I can't see an obvious reason why the changes in that PR should have broken test-images.

Note that the error was observed in a 3rd-party repo from which a PR was made:

https://github.com/yoursdearboy/central/actions/runs/21819260531/job/62948189917

#39 [nginx intermediate 4/5] RUN files/prebuild/write-version.sh
#39 0.243 fatal: No names found, cannot describe anything.
#39 DONE 0.4s

#41 [service intermediate 5/9] RUN git describe --tags --dirty > /tmp/sentry-versions/central
#41 0.149 fatal: No names found, cannot describe anything.
#41 ERROR: process "/bin/sh -c git describe --tags --dirty > /tmp/sentry-versions/central" did not complete successfully: exit code: 128

[matthew-white]

#1647 had a failed run that looks related to this:

#43 [nginx intermediate 4/5] RUN files/prebuild/write-version.sh
#43 0.441 fatal: No names found, cannot describe anything.
#43 DONE 0.5s

...

#44 [service intermediate 5/9] RUN git describe --tags --dirty > /tmp/sentry-versions/central
#44 DONE 0.6s

...

#46 [service intermediate 7/9] RUN git describe --tags --dirty > /tmp/sentry-versions/server
#46 0.241 fatal: No names found, cannot describe anything.
#46 ERROR: process "/bin/sh -c git describe --tags --dirty > /tmp/sentry-versions/server" did not complete successfully: exit code: 128

...

#50 [nginx intermediate 5/5] RUN files/prebuild/build-frontend.sh
#50 CANCELED
------
 > [service intermediate 7/9] RUN git describe --tags --dirty > /tmp/sentry-versions/server:
0.241 fatal: No names found, cannot describe anything.
------
------
service.dockerfile:29

--------------------

  27 |     RUN git describe --tags --dirty > /tmp/sentry-versions/central

  28 |     WORKDIR /server

  29 | >>> RUN git describe --tags --dirty > /tmp/sentry-versions/server

  30 |     WORKDIR /client

  31 |     RUN git describe --tags --dirty > /tmp/sentry-versions/client

--------------------

target service: failed to solve: process "/bin/sh -c git describe --tags --dirty > /tmp/sentry-versions/server" did not complete successfully: exit code: 128

[alxndrsn]

#1647 had a failed run that looks related to this:

I suspect this failure is caused by server pointing to a repo without tags:

2026-02-20T09:58:41.1264439Z ##[group]Fetching submodules
2026-02-20T09:58:41.1268434Z [command]/usr/bin/git submodule sync --recursive
2026-02-20T09:58:41.1504111Z [command]/usr/bin/git -c protocol.version=2 submodule update --init --force --recursive
2026-02-20T09:58:41.1727362Z Submodule 'client' (https://github.com/getodk/central-frontend.git) registered for path 'client'
2026-02-20T09:58:41.1730110Z Submodule 'server' (https://github.com/brontolosone/central-backend.git) registered for path 'server'

Repo: https://github.com/brontolosone/central-backend/tags

A clearer error message would help here!

[alxndrsn]

Note that the error was observed in a 3rd-party repo from which a PR was made:

https://github.com/yoursdearboy/central/actions/runs/21819260531/job/62948189917

The problem with this build was that the root (central) repo was missing tags:

2026-02-09T09:22:48.7208846Z #40 [service intermediate 4/9] RUN mkdir /tmp/sentry-versions
...
2026-02-09T09:22:48.8551095Z #41 [service intermediate 5/9] RUN git describe --tags --dirty > /tmp/sentry-versions/central
2026-02-09T09:22:48.8551979Z #41 0.149 fatal: No names found, cannot describe anything.
2026-02-09T09:22:48.8553084Z #41 ERROR: process "/bin/sh -c git describe --tags --dirty > /tmp/sentry-versions/central" did not complete successfully: exit code: 128

Repo: https://github.com/yoursdearboy/central/tags

A clearer error message would also help here.