rv

rv is a command-line tool that manages multiple local release versions of a software bundle under a user-specified workspace directory. rv does not manage the deployment process, i.e. the bundle (in the form of a compressed archive such as zip) must already exist in the localhost.

rv also manages a current link under the user-specified workspace directory. The current link points to the "active" release version. rv can also be instructed to keep the N most recent releases (default: 3).

rv is agnostic as to the type of the software bundle; it will just decompress its contents to the appropriate release directory under the workspace.

Usage

All commands and options can be inspected by using rv help.

Release new version

rv can be instructed to "release" a new version of the software bundle in the form of an archive file (e.g. zip) under a user-specified workpace directory. rv will create a new release directory under the workspace to which the archive contents will be extracted. It will also update the current link to point to the new release version. Clients can use the $WORKSPACE/current path in order to obtain access to the "active" release.

For example, given a software bundle located at /tmp/bundle.zip and the workspace directory /opt/workspace, the release will unzip the contents of the zip file to a release directory under /opt/workspace and will update the current link:

$ rv release -w /opt/workspace -a /tmp/bundle.zip
[info] workspace=/opt/workspace
[info] release=20240313151207.365
[release] unpacking bundle=/tmp/bundle.zip to /opt/workspace/20240313151207.365
[release] update current to 20240313151207.365
[success] active version is 20240313151207.365

$ ls -l /opt/workspace
drwxr-xr-x 3 user group 4096 Mar 13 15:12 20240313151207.365
lrwxrwxrwx 1 user group   18 Mar 13 15:12 current -> 20240313151207.365

If we release a new version, the old version will be kept (subject to the --keep flag) and the current link will be updated to point to the new release:

$ rv release -w /opt/workspace -a /tmp/bundle.zip
[info] workspace=/opt/workspace
[info] release=20240313151323.508
[release] unpacking bundle=/tmp/bundle.zip to /opt/workspace/20240313151323.508
[release] update current to 20240313151323.508
[success] active version is 20240313151323.508

$ ls -l /opt/workspace
drwxr-xr-x 3 user group 4096 Mar 13 15:12 20240313151207.365
drwxr-xr-x 3 user group 4096 Mar 13 15:13 20240313151323.508
lrwxrwxrwx 1 user group   18 Mar 13 15:13 current -> 20240313151323.508

List all available release versions

rv can display all installed versions under a workspace with the following command:

$ rv list -w /opt/workspace
20240313151323.508 <== current
20240313151207.365

Rewind to an existing version

rv can be instructed to perform a rewind operation from the latest release to a previous target release. If no specific target is specified by the user, then the current link is set to the release that precedes the current one.

The rewind operation will delete all releases that were performed after the target release so as to maintain the integrity of the cleanup operations.

So, given:

$ rv list -w /opt/workspace
20240313151323.508 <== current
20240313151207.365

the rollback operation to the previous version can be achieved by:

$ rv rollback -w /opt/workspace
[info] current=20240313151323.508
[rewind] setting current to 20240313151207.365
[cleanup] deleting 20240313151323.508
[success] active version is 20240313151207.365