Provided by: sqitch_1.4.0-1_all 
Name
sqitch - Sensible database change management
Synopsis
sqitch <command> [options] [command-options] [args]
Description
Sqitch is a database change management application. It currently supports:
• PostgreSQL <https://postgresql.org/> 8.4+
• YugabyteDB <https://www.yugabyte.com/yugabytedb/> 2.6+
• CockroachDB <https://www.cockroachlabs.com/product/> 21+
• SQLite <https://sqlite.org/> 3.8.6+
• MySQL <https://dev.mysql.com/> 5.1+
• MariaDB <https://mariadb.org> 10.0+
• Oracle <https://www.oracle.com/database/> 10g+,
• Firebird <https://www.firebirdsql.org/> 2.0+
• Vertica <https://www.vertica.com/> 7.2+
• Exasol <https://www.exasol.com/> 6.0+
• Snowflake <https://www.snowflake.net/>
What makes it different from your typical migration-style approaches? A few things:
No opinions
Sqitch is not tied to any framework, ORM, or platform. Rather, it is a standalone
change management system with no opinions about your database engine, application
framework, or development environment.
Native scripting
Changes are implemented as scripts native to your selected database engine. Writing a
PostgreSQL <https://postgresql.org/> application? Write SQL scripts for "psql"
<https://www.postgresql.org/docs/current/static/app-psql.html>. Writing an Oracle
<https://www.oracle.com/us/products/database/>-backed app? Write SQL scripts for
SQL*Plus <https://www.orafaq.com/wiki/SQL*Plus>.
Dependency resolution
Database changes may declare dependencies on other changes -- even on changes from
other Sqitch projects. This ensures proper order of execution, even when you've
committed changes to your VCS out-of-order.
Deployment integrity
Sqitch manages changes and dependencies via a plan file, and employs a Merkle tree
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Merkle_tree> pattern similar to Git
<https://stackoverflow.com/a/18589734/> and Blockchain <https://medium.com/byzantine-
studio/blockchain-fundamentals-what-is-a-merkle-tree-d44c529391d7> to ensure
deployment integrity. As such, there is no need to number your changes, although you
can if you want. Sqitch doesn't much care how you name your changes.
Iterative Development
Up until you tag and release your project, you can modify your change deployment
scripts as often as you like. They're not locked in just because they've been
committed to your VCS. This allows you to take an iterative approach to developing
your database schema. Or, better, you can do test-driven database development.
Ready to get started? Here's where:
Sqitch Tutorials
Detailed tutorials demonstrating the creation, development, and maintenance of a
database with Sqitch.
• PostgreSQL, YugabyteDB, CockroachDB Tutorial
• SQLite Tutorial
• MySQL Tutorial
• Oracle Tutorial
• Firebird Tutorial
• Vertica Tutorial
• Exasol Tutorial
• Snowflake Tutorial
PDX.pm Presentation <https://speakerdeck.com/theory/sane-database-change-management-with-
sqitch>
Slides from "Sane Database Management with Sqitch", presented to the Portland Perl
Mongers in January, 2013.
PDXPUG Presentation <https://vimeo.com/50104469>
Movie of "Sane Database Management with Sqitch", presented to the Portland PostgreSQL
Users Group in September, 2012.
Agile Database Development <https://speakerdeck.com/theory/agile-database-development-2ed>
Three-hour tutorial session on using Git <https://git-scm.org/>, test-driven
development with pgTAP <https://pgtap.org>, and change management with Sqitch.
Terminology
"change"
A named unit of change. A change name must be used in the file names of its deploy and
a revert scripts. It may also be used in a verify script file name.
"tag"
A known deployment state, pointing to a single change, typically corresponding to a
release. Think of it is a version number or VCS revision. A given point in the plan
may have any number of tags.
"state"
The current state of the database. This is represented by the most recently-deployed
change. If the state of the database is the same as the most recent change, then it is
considered "up-to-date".
"plan"
A list of one or more changes and their dependencies that define the order of
deployment execution. The plan is stored in a "plan file," usually named sqitch.plan.
Sqitch reads the plan file to determine what changes to execute to change the database
from one state to another.
"target"
A named database to which to deploy changes. Always has an associated connection URI,
and may also have an associated command-line client and registry name.
"registry"
The name of the database object where Sqitch's state and history data is stored.
Typically a schema name (as in PostgreSQL and Oracle) or a database name (as in SQLite
and MySQL).
"add"
The act of adding a change to the plan. Sqitch will generate scripts for the change,
which you then may modify with the necessary code (typically DDLs) to actually deploy,
revert, and verify the change.
"deploy"
The act of deploying changes to a database. Sqitch reads the plan, checks the current
state of the database, and applies all the changes necessary to either bring the
database up-to-date or to a requested state (a change name or tag).
"revert"
The act of reverting database changes to reach an earlier deployment state. Sqitch
reads the list of deployed changes from the database and reverts them in the reverse
of the order in which they were applied. All changes may be reverted, or changes may
be reverted to a requested state (a change name or tag).
"committer"
User who commits or reverts changes to a database.
"planner"
User who adds a change to the plan.
Options
-C --chdir --cd DIR Change to directory before performing any actions.
--etc-path Print path to etc directory and exit.
--no-pager Do not pipe output into a pager.
--quiet Quiet mode with non-error output suppressed.
-V --verbose Increment verbosity.
--version Print version number and exit.
--help Show a list of commands and exit.
--man Print introductory documentation and exit.
Options Details
"--chdir"
"--cd"
"-C"
sqitch --chdir dbproject
sqitch --cd /usr/local/somedb
sqitch -C dbcheckout
Change to the specified directory before performing any actions. Effectively the same
as:
(cd somedir && sqitch ...)
But a bit friendlier when managing multiple projects.
"--etc-path"
sqitch --etc-path
Print out the path to the Sqitch etc directory and exit. This is the directory where
the system-wide configuration file lives, as well as change script templates.
"--no-pager"
sqitch --no-pager
Do not pipe Sqitch output into a pager. Currently limited to the "log" and "plan"
commands.
"--quiet"
sqitch --quiet
Suppress normal output messages. Error messages will still be emitted to "STDERR".
Overrides any value specified by "--verbose".
"-V"
"--verbose"
sqitch --verbose
sqitch -VVV
Pass multiple times to specify a value between 0 and 3 to determine how verbose Sqitch
should be. Unless "--quiet" is specified, the default is 1, meaning that Sqitch will
output basic status messages as it does its thing. Values of 2 and 3 each cause
greater verbosity. Ignored if "--quiet" is specified.
"--help"
sqitch --help
Outputs a brief description all known Sqitch commands and exits.
"--man"
sqitch --man
Outputs this documentation and exits.
"--version"
sqitch --version
Outputs the program name and version and exits.
Sqitch Commands
"init"
Create the plan file and directories for deploy, revert, and verify scripts if they do
not already exist. This command is useful for starting a new Sqitch project.
"status"
Output information about the current deployment state of a database, including the
name of the last deployed change, as well as any tags applied to it. If any changes in
the plan have not been deployed, they will be listed separately.
"log"
Search and Output the complete change history of a database. Provides information
about when changes were deployed, reverted, or failed, as well as who planned and
committed the changes, and when.
"add"
Add a new change.
"tag"
List tags or tag the latest change.
"rework"
Rework an existing change.
"target"
Manage target databases.
"deploy"
Deploy changes to a database
"revert"
Revert changes from a database.
"verify"
Verify changes deployed to a database.
"config"
Get and set project, user, or system Sqitch options.
"bundle"
Bundle a Sqitch project for distribution. This command copies the Sqitch
configuration, plan, and deploy, revert, and verify scripts to a directory, so that it
can be packaged up for distribution, such as in an RPM or tarball.
"help"
Show help for a specific command or, if no command is specified, show the same
documentation as "--help".
Configuration
Sqitch configuration can be set up on a project, user, or system-wide basis. The format
of the configuration file, named sqitch.conf, is the same as for git.
Here's an example of a configuration file that might be useful checked into a VCS for a
project that deploys to PostgreSQL and stores its deployment scripts with the extension
ddl under the "migrations" directory. It also wants bundle to be created in the _build/sql
directory, and to deploy starting with the "gamma" tag:
[core]
engine = pg
top_dir = migrations
extension = ddl
[engine "pg"]
target = widgetopolis
[revert]
to = gamma
[bundle]
from = gamma
tags_only = yes
dest_dir = _build/sql
[target "widgetopolis"]
uri = db:pg:widgetopolis
And here's an example of useful configuration in ~/.sqitch/sqitch.conf, to point to
system-specific engine information:
[user]
name = Marge N. OXVera
email = marge@example.com
[engine "pg"]
client = /usr/local/pgsql/bin/psql
[engine "mysql"]
client = /usr/local/mysql/bin/mysql
[engine "oracle"]
client = /usr/local/instantclient_11_2/sqlplus
[engine "sqlite"]
client = /usr/local/bin/sqlite3
Various commands read from the configuration file and adjust their operation accordingly.
See sqitch-config for a list.
See Also
The original design for Sqitch was sketched out in a number of blog posts:
• Simple SQL Change Management <https://justatheory.com/computers/databases/simple-sql-
change-management.html>
• VCS-Enabled SQL Change Management <https://justatheory.com/computers/databases/vcs-
sql-change-management.html>
• SQL Change Management Sans Duplication
<https://justatheory.com/computers/databases/sql-change-management-sans-
redundancy.html>
Other tools that do database change management include:
Rails migrations <https://guides.rubyonrails.org/migrations.html>
Numbered migrations for Ruby on Rails <https://rubyonrails.org/>.
Module::Build::DB
Numbered changes in pure SQL, integrated with Perl's Module::Build build system. Does
not support reversion.
DBIx::Migration
Numbered migrations in pure SQL.
Versioning <https://www.depesz.com/2010/08/22/versioning/>
PostgreSQL-specific dependency-tracking solution by depesz <https://www.depesz.com/>.
Author
David E. Wheeler <david@justatheory.com>
License
Copyright (c) 2012-2023 iovation Inc., David E. Wheeler
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