deploy_helper – Manages some of the steps common in deploying projects.¶

New in version 2.0.

Synopsis
Parameters
Notes
Examples
Status

Synopsis ¶

The Deploy Helper manages some of the steps common in deploying software. It creates a folder structure, manages a symlink for the current release and cleans up old releases.
Running it with the state=query or state=present will return the deploy_helper fact. project_path, whatever you set in the path parameter, current_path, the path to the symlink that points to the active release, releases_path, the path to the folder to keep releases in, shared_path, the path to the folder to keep shared resources in, unfinished_filename, the file to check for to recognize unfinished builds, previous_release, the release the ‘current’ symlink is pointing to, previous_release_path, the full path to the ‘current’ symlink target, new_release, either the ‘release’ parameter or a generated timestamp, new_release_path, the path to the new release folder (not created by the module).

Parameters ¶

Parameter	Choices/Defaults	Comments
clean boolean	Choices: no yes ←	Whether to run the clean procedure in case of `state=finalize`.
current_path -	Default: "current"	the name of the symlink that is created when the deploy is finalized. Used in `finalize` and `clean`. Returned in the `deploy_helper.current_path` fact.
keep_releases -	Default: 5	the number of old releases to keep when cleaning. Used in `finalize` and `clean`. Any unfinished builds will be deleted first, so only correct releases will count. The current version will not count.
path - / required		the root path of the project. Alias dest. Returned in the `deploy_helper.project_path` fact. aliases: dest
release -		the release version that is being deployed. Defaults to a timestamp format %Y%m%d%H%M%S (i.e. '20141119223359'). This parameter is optional during `state=present`, but needs to be set explicitly for `state=finalize`. You can use the generated fact `release={{ deploy_helper.new_release }}`.
releases_path -	Default: "releases"	the name of the folder that will hold the releases. This can be relative to `path` or absolute. Returned in the `deploy_helper.releases_path` fact.
shared_path -	Default: "shared"	the name of the folder that will hold the shared resources. This can be relative to `path` or absolute. If this is set to an empty string, no shared folder will be created. Returned in the `deploy_helper.shared_path` fact.
state -	Choices: present ← finalize absent clean query	the state of the project. `query` will only gather facts, `present` will create the project root folder, and in it the releases and shared folders, `finalize` will remove the unfinished_filename file, create a symlink to the newly deployed release and optionally clean old releases, `clean` will remove failed & old releases, `absent` will remove the project folder (synonymous to the file module with `state=absent`)
unfinished_filename -	Default: "DEPLOY_UNFINISHED"	the name of the file that indicates a deploy has not finished. All folders in the releases_path that contain this file will be deleted on `state=finalize` with clean=True, or `state=clean`. This file is automatically deleted from the new_release_path during `state=finalize`.

Notes ¶

Note

Facts are only returned for state=query and state=present. If you use both, you should pass any overridden parameters to both calls, otherwise the second call will overwrite the facts of the first one.
When using state=clean, the releases are ordered by creation date. You should be able to switch to a new naming strategy without problems.
Because of the default behaviour of generating the new_release fact, this module will not be idempotent unless you pass your own release name with release. Due to the nature of deploying software, this should not be much of a problem.

Examples ¶

# General explanation, starting with an example folder structure for a project:

# root:
#     releases:
#         - 20140415234508
#         - 20140415235146
#         - 20140416082818
#
#     shared:
#         - sessions
#         - uploads
#
#     current: releases/20140416082818


# The 'releases' folder holds all the available releases. A release is a complete build of the application being
# deployed. This can be a clone of a repository for example, or a sync of a local folder on your filesystem.
# Having timestamped folders is one way of having distinct releases, but you could choose your own strategy like
# git tags or commit hashes.
#
# During a deploy, a new folder should be created in the releases folder and any build steps required should be
# performed. Once the new build is ready, the deploy procedure is 'finalized' by replacing the 'current' symlink
# with a link to this build.
#
# The 'shared' folder holds any resource that is shared between releases. Examples of this are web-server
# session files, or files uploaded by users of your application. It's quite common to have symlinks from a release
# folder pointing to a shared/subfolder, and creating these links would be automated as part of the build steps.
#
# The 'current' symlink points to one of the releases. Probably the latest one, unless a deploy is in progress.
# The web-server's root for the project will go through this symlink, so the 'downtime' when switching to a new
# release is reduced to the time it takes to switch the link.
#
# To distinguish between successful builds and unfinished ones, a file can be placed in the folder of the release
# that is currently in progress. The existence of this file will mark it as unfinished, and allow an automated
# procedure to remove it during cleanup.


# Typical usage
- name: Initialize the deploy root and gather facts
  deploy_helper:
    path: /path/to/root
- name: Clone the project to the new release folder
  git:
    repo: git://foosball.example.org/path/to/repo.git
    dest: '{{ deploy_helper.new_release_path }}'
    version: v1.1.1
- name: Add an unfinished file, to allow cleanup on successful finalize
  file:
    path: '{{ deploy_helper.new_release_path }}/{{ deploy_helper.unfinished_filename }}'
    state: touch
- name: Perform some build steps, like running your dependency manager for example
  composer:
    command: install
    working_dir: '{{ deploy_helper.new_release_path }}'
- name: Create some folders in the shared folder
  file:
    path: '{{ deploy_helper.shared_path }}/{{ item }}'
    state: directory
  with_items:
    - sessions
    - uploads
- name: Add symlinks from the new release to the shared folder
  file:
    path: '{{ deploy_helper.new_release_path }}/{{ item.path }}'
    src: '{{ deploy_helper.shared_path }}/{{ item.src }}'
    state: link
  with_items:
      - path: app/sessions
        src: sessions
      - path: web/uploads
        src: uploads
- name: Finalize the deploy, removing the unfinished file and switching the symlink
  deploy_helper:
    path: /path/to/root
    release: '{{ deploy_helper.new_release }}'
    state: finalize

# Retrieving facts before running a deploy
- name: Run 'state=query' to gather facts without changing anything
  deploy_helper:
    path: /path/to/root
    state: query
# Remember to set the 'release' parameter when you actually call 'state=present' later
- name: Initialize the deploy root
  deploy_helper:
    path: /path/to/root
    release: '{{ deploy_helper.new_release }}'
    state: present

# all paths can be absolute or relative (to the 'path' parameter)
- deploy_helper:
    path: /path/to/root
    releases_path: /var/www/project/releases
    shared_path: /var/www/shared
    current_path: /var/www/active

# Using your own naming strategy for releases (a version tag in this case):
- deploy_helper:
    path: /path/to/root
    release: v1.1.1
    state: present
- deploy_helper:
    path: /path/to/root
    release: '{{ deploy_helper.new_release }}'
    state: finalize

# Using a different unfinished_filename:
- deploy_helper:
    path: /path/to/root
    unfinished_filename: README.md
    release: '{{ deploy_helper.new_release }}'
    state: finalize

# Postponing the cleanup of older builds:
- deploy_helper:
    path: /path/to/root
    release: '{{ deploy_helper.new_release }}'
    state: finalize
    clean: False
- deploy_helper:
    path: /path/to/root
    state: clean
# Or running the cleanup ahead of the new deploy
- deploy_helper:
    path: /path/to/root
    state: clean
- deploy_helper:
    path: /path/to/root
    state: present

# Keeping more old releases:
- deploy_helper:
    path: /path/to/root
    release: '{{ deploy_helper.new_release }}'
    state: finalize
    keep_releases: 10
# Or, if you use 'clean=false' on finalize:
- deploy_helper:
    path: /path/to/root
    state: clean
    keep_releases: 10

# Removing the entire project root folder
- deploy_helper:
    path: /path/to/root
    state: absent

# Debugging the facts returned by the module
- deploy_helper:
    path: /path/to/root
- debug:
    var: deploy_helper

Status ¶

This module is not guaranteed to have a backwards compatible interface. [preview]
This module is maintained by the Ansible Community. [community]

Authors¶

Ramon de la Fuente (@ramondelafuente)

Hint

If you notice any issues in this documentation you can edit this document to improve it.

deploy_helper – Manages some of the steps common in deploying projects.¶

Synopsis¶

Parameters¶

Notes¶

Examples¶

Status¶

Authors¶

Synopsis ¶

Parameters ¶

Notes ¶

Examples ¶

Status ¶