Provided by: sqitch_1.4.1-1_all 
Name
sqitchtutorial-firebird - A tutorial introduction to Sqitch change management on Firebird
Synopsis
sqitch *
Description
This tutorial explains how to create a sqitch-enabled Firebird project, use a VCS for deployment
planning, and work with other developers to make sure changes remain in sync and in the proper order.
We'll start by creating new project from scratch, a fictional antisocial networking site called Flipr.
All examples use Git <https://git-scm.com/> as the VCS and Firebird <https://www.firebirdsql.org/> as the
storage engine.
If you'd like to manage a PostgreSQL database, see sqitchtutorial.
If you'd like to manage an SQLite database, see sqitchtutorial-sqlite.
If you'd like to manage an Oracle database, see sqitchtutorial-oracle.
If you'd like to manage a MySQL database, see sqitchtutorial-mysql.
If you'd like to manage a Vertica database, see sqitchtutorial-vertica.
If you'd like to manage an Exasol database, see sqitchtutorial-exasol.
If you'd like to manage a Snowflake database, see sqitchtutorial-snowflake.
Starting a New Project
Usually the first thing to do when starting a new project is to create a source code repository. So let's
do that with Git:
> mkdir flipr
> cd flipr
> git init .
Initialized empty Git repository in /flipr/.git/
> touch README.md
> git add .
> git commit -am 'Initialize project, add README.'
[main (root-commit) 761ffcd] Initialize project, add README.
1 files changed, 39 insertions(+), 0 deletions(-)
create mode 100644 README.md
If you're a Git user and want to follow along the history, the repository used in these examples is on
GitHub <https://github.com/sqitchers/sqitch-firebird-intro>.
Now that we have a repository, let's get started with Sqitch. Every Sqitch project must have a name
associated with it, and, optionally, a unique URI. We recommend including the URI, as it increases the
uniqueness of object identifiers internally, and will prevent the deployment of a different project with
the same name. So let's specify one when we initialize Sqitch:
> sqitch init flipr --uri https://github.com/sqitchers/sqitch-firebird-intro/ --engine firebird
Created sqitch.conf
Created sqitch.plan
Created deploy/
Created revert/
Created verify/
Let's have a look at sqitch.conf:
> cat sqitch.conf
[core]
engine = firebird
# plan_file = sqitch.plan
# top_dir = .
# [engine "firebird"]
# target = db:firebird:
# registry = sqitch
# client = isql-fb
Good, it picked up on the fact that we're creating changes for the Firebird engine, thanks to the
"--engine firebird" option, and saved it to the file. Furthermore, it wrote a commented-out "[engine
"firebird"]" section with all the available Firebird engine-specific settings commented out and ready to
be edited as appropriate.
By default, Sqitch will read sqitch.conf in the current directory for settings. But it will also read
~/.sqitch/sqitch.conf for user-specific settings.
The current implementation of the engine will try to find Firebird's "firebird" client
<https://www.firebirdsql.org/manual/isql-commands.html> (implemented for GNU/Linux and Microsoft
Windows). This might fail, so we go ahead an tell it where to find the client on our computer, for
example on GNU/Linux with the standard location of the Firebird installation the command is (don't bother
if you're using the Docker image <https://hub.docker.com/r/sqitch/sqitch/> because it uses the client
inside the container, not on your host machine):
> sqitch config --user engine.firebird.client /opt/firebird/bin/isql
Note: On some GNU/Linux distributions the firebird client is renamed to "isql-fb", for example in Debian
and Fedora, or "fbsql" in Gentoo.
And let's also tell it who we are, since this data will be used in all of our projects:
> sqitch config --user user.name 'Marge N. O’Vera'
> sqitch config --user user.email 'marge@example.com'
Have a look at ~/.sqitch/sqitch.conf and you'll see something like this:
> cat ~/.sqitch/sqitch.conf
[engine "firebird"]
client = /opt/local/bin/isql
[user]
name = Marge N. O’Vera
email = marge@example.com
Which means that Sqitch should be able to find "isql" for any project, and that it will always properly
identify us when planning and committing changes.
Back to the repository. Have a look at the plan file, sqitch.plan:
> cat sqitch.plan
%syntax-version=1.0.0
%project=flipr
%uri=https://github.com/sqitchers/sqitch-firebird-intro/
Note that it has picked up on the name and URI of the app we're building. Sqitch uses this data to
manage cross-project dependencies. The "%syntax-version" pragma is always set by Sqitch, so that it
always knows how to parse the plan, even if the format changes in the future.
Let's commit these changes and start creating the database changes.
> git add .
> git commit -am 'Initialize Sqitch configuration.'
[main 2177ce4] Initialize Sqitch configuration.
2 files changed, 19 insertions(+), 0 deletions(-)
create mode 100644 sqitch.conf
create mode 100644 sqitch.plan
Let's create our flipr test database using "isql":
> sudo -u firebird mkdir /tmp/flipr_test
> echo "CREATE DATABASE 'localhost:/tmp/flipr_test/flipr.fdb'; exit;" \
| isql-fb -q -u SYSDBA -p masterkey
Our First Change
Let's create a table. Our app will need users, of course, so we'll create a table for them. Run this
command:
> sqitch add users -n 'Creates table to track our users.'
Created deploy/users.sql
Created revert/users.sql
Created verify/users.sql
Added "users" to sqitch.plan
The "add" command adds a database change to the plan and writes deploy, revert, and verify scripts that
represent the change. Now we edit these files. The "deploy" script's job is to create the table. By
default, the deploy/users.sql file looks like this:
-- Deploy flipr:users to firebird
-- XXX Add DDLs here.
COMMIT;
What we want to do is to replace the "XXX" comment with the "CREATE TABLE" statement, like so:
-- Deploy flipr:users to firebird
CREATE TABLE users (
nickname VARCHAR(50) PRIMARY KEY,
password VARCHAR(512) NOT NULL,
fullname VARCHAR(512) NOT NULL,
twitter VARCHAR(512) NOT NULL,
created_at TIMESTAMP DEFAULT CURRENT_TIMESTAMP NOT NULL
);
COMMIT;
The "revert" script's job is to precisely revert the change to the deploy script, so we edit this to
revert/users.sql to look like this:
-- Revert flipr:users from firebird
DROP TABLE users;
COMMIT;
Now we can try deploying this change. We tell Sqitch where to send the change via a database URI
<https://github.com/libwww-perl/uri-db/>. Here we've specified a database file,
/tmp/flipr_test/flipr.fdb:
> sqitch deploy db:firebird://sysdba:masterkey@localhost//tmp/flipr_test/flipr.fdb
Adding registry tables to db:firebird://sysdba:@localhost//tmp/flipr_test/sqitch.fdb
Deploying changes to db:firebird://sysdba:@localhost//tmp/flipr_test/flipr.fdb
+ users .. ok
First Sqitch created the registry database and tables used to track database changes. The registry is
separate from the database to which the "users" change was deployed; by default, its name is
"sqitch.$suffix", where $suffix is the same as the suffix on the target database, if any. It lives in the
same directory as the target database, which means that one registry database is used for all the
databases with the same suffix in a single directory. In this case, we should end up with two databases:
• /tmp/flipr_test/sqitch.fdb
The Sqitch registry database.
• /tmp/flipr_test/flipr.fdb
The database Sqitch manages.
Next, Sqitch deploys changes to the target database. We only have one change so far; the "+" reinforces
the idea that the change is being added to the database.
If you'd like it to have a different name for the registry database, use "sqitch engine add firebird
$name" to configure it (or via the "target" command; more below). This will be useful if you don't want
to use the same registry database to manage multiple databases, or if you do, but they live in different
directories.
Next, Sqitch deploys changes to the target database, which we specified on the command-line. We only have
one so far; the "+" reinforces the idea that the change is being added to the database.
With this change deployed, if you connect to the database, you'll be able to see the "users" table:
> echo "CONNECT 'localhost:/tmp/flipr_test/flipr.fdb'; SHOW TABLES; quit;" \
| isql-fb -q -u SYSDBA -p masterkey
USERS
Trust, But Verify
But that's too much work. do you really want to do something like that after every deploy?
Here's where the "verify" script comes in. Its job is to test that the deploy did was it was supposed to.
It should do so without regard to any data that might be in the database, and should throw an error if
the deploy was not successful. The easiest way to do that with a table is to simply "SELECT" from it. Put
this query into verify/users.sql:
SELECT nickname, password, fullname, twitter
FROM users
WHERE 1=2;
Now you can run the "verify" script with the "verify" command:
> sqitch verify db:firebird://sysdba:masterkey@localhost//tmp/flipr_test/flipr.fdb
Verifying db:firebird://sysdba:@localhost//tmp/flipr_test/flipr.fdb
* users .. ok
Verify successful
Looks good! If you want to make sure that the verify script correctly dies if the table doesn't exist,
temporarily change the table name in the script to something that doesn't exist, something like:
SELECT nickname, password, fullname, twitter, created_at
FROM users_nonesuch
WHERE 1=2;
Then "verify" again:
> sqitch verify db:firebird://sysdba:masterkey@localhost//tmp/flipr_test/flipr.fdb
Verifying db:firebird://sysdba:@localhost//tmp/flipr_test/flipr.fdb
* users .. Statement failed, SQLSTATE = 42S02
Dynamic SQL Error
-SQL error code = -204
-Table unknown
-USERS_NONESUCH
-At line 3, column 2
At line 3 in file verify/users.sql
# Verify script "verify/users.sql" failed.
not ok
Verify Summary Report
---------------------
Changes: 1
Errors: 1
Verify failed
Firebird is kind enough to tell us what the problem is. Don't forget to change the table name back before
continuing!
Status, Revert, Log, Repeat
For purely informational purposes, we can always see how a deployment was recorded via the "status"
command, which reads the tables from the registry database:
> sqitch status db:firebird://sysdba:masterkey@localhost//tmp/flipr_test/flipr.fdb
# On database db:firebird://sysdba:@localhost//tmp/flipr_test/flipr.fdb
# Project: flipr
# Change: 2cde9cc8c19161e9837de57741502243b2ad380e
# Name: users
# Deployed: 2014-01-05 14:05:22 -0800
# By: Marge N. O’Vera <marge@example.com>
#
Nothing to deploy (up-to-date)
Let's make sure that we can revert the change:
> sqitch revert db:firebird://sysdba:masterkey@localhost//tmp/flipr_test/flipr.fdb
Revert all changes from db:firebird://sysdba:@localhost//tmp/flipr_test/flipr.fdb? [Yes]
- users .. ok
The "revert" command first prompts to make sure that we really do want to revert. This is to prevent
unnecessary accidents. You can pass the "-y" option to disable the prompt. Also, notice the "-" before
the change name in the output, which reinforces that the change is being removed from the database. And
now the "users" table should be gone:
> echo "CONNECT 'localhost:/tmp/flipr_test/flipr.fdb'; SHOW TABLES; quit;" \
| isql-fb -q -u SYSDBA -p masterkey
There are no tables in this database
And the status message should reflect as much:
> sqitch status db:firebird://sysdba:masterkey@localhost//tmp/flipr_test/flipr.fdb
# On database db:firebird://sysdba:@localhost//tmp/flipr_test/flipr.fdb
No changes deployed
Of course, since nothing is deployed, the "verify" command has nothing to verify:
> sqitch verify db:firebird://sysdba:masterkey@localhost//tmp/flipr_test/flipr.fdb
Verifying db:firebird://sysdba:@localhost//tmp/flipr_test/flipr.fdb
No changes deployed
However, we still have a record that the change happened, visible via the "log" command:
> sqitch log db:firebird://sysdba:masterkey@localhost//tmp/flipr_test/flipr.fdb
On database db:firebird://sysdba:@localhost//tmp/flipr_test/flipr.fdb
Revert 2cde9cc8c19161e9837de57741502243b2ad380e
Name: users
Committer: Marge N. O’Vera <marge@example.com>
Date: 2014-01-05 14:06:59 -0800
Creates table to track our users.
Deploy 2cde9cc8c19161e9837de57741502243b2ad380e
Name: users
Committer: Marge N. O’Vera <marge@example.com>
Date: 2014-01-05 14:05:22 -0800
Creates table to track our users.
Note that the actions we took are shown in reverse chronological order, with the revert first and then
the deploy.
Cool. Now let's commit it.
> git add .
> git commit -m 'Add users table.'
[main ec72105] Add users table.
4 files changed, 24 insertions(+), 0 deletions(-)
create mode 100644 deploy/users.sql
create mode 100644 revert/users.sql
create mode 100644 verify/users.sql
And then deploy again. This time, let's use the "--verify" option, so that the "verify" script is applied
when the change is deployed:
> sqitch deploy db:firebird://sysdba:masterkey@localhost//tmp/flipr_test/flipr.fdb --verify
Deploying changes to db:firebird://sysdba:@localhost//tmp/flipr_test/flipr.fdb
+ users .. ok
And now the "users" table should be back:
> echo "CONNECT 'localhost:/tmp/flipr_test/flipr.fdb'; SHOW TABLES; quit;" \
| isql-fb -q -u SYSDBA -p masterkey
USERS
When we look at the status, the deployment will be there:
> sqitch status db:firebird://sysdba:masterkey@localhost//tmp/flipr_test/flipr.fdb
# On database db:firebird://sysdba:@localhost//tmp/flipr_test/flipr.fdb
# Project: flipr
# Change: 2cde9cc8c19161e9837de57741502243b2ad380e
# Name: users
# Deployed: 2014-01-05 14:19:32 -0800
# By: Marge N. O’Vera <marge@example.com>
#
Nothing to deploy (up-to-date)
On Target
I'm getting a little tired of always having to type
"db:firebird://sysdba:masterkey@localhost//tmp/flipr_test/flipr.fdb", aren't you? This database
connection URI <https://github.com/libwww-perl/uri-db/> tells Sqitch how to connect to the deployment
target, but we don't have to keep using the URI. We can name the target:
> sqitch target add flipr_test db:firebird://sysdba:masterkey@localhost//tmp/flipr_test/flipr.fdb
The "target" command, inspired by "git-remote" <https://git-scm.com/docs/git-remote>, allows management
of one or more named deployment targets. We've just added a target named "flipr_test", which means we can
use the string "flipr_test" for the target, rather than the URI. But since we're doing so much testing,
we can also tell Sqitch to deploy to the "flipr_test" target by default:
> sqitch engine add firebird target flipr_test
Now we can omit the target argument altogether, unless we need to deploy to another database. Which we
will, eventually, but at least our examples will be simpler from here on in, e.g.:
> sqitch status
# On database flipr_test
# Project: flipr
# Change: 2cde9cc8c19161e9837de57741502243b2ad380e
# Name: users
# Deployed: 2014-01-05 14:19:32 -0800
# By: Marge N. O’Vera <marge@example.com>
#
Nothing to deploy (up-to-date)
Yay, that allows things to be a little more concise. Let's also make sure that changes are verified after
deploying them:
> sqitch config --bool deploy.verify true
> sqitch config --bool rebase.verify true
We'll see the "rebase" command a bit later. In the meantime, let's commit the new configuration and and
make some more changes!
> git commit -am 'Set default target and always verify.'
[main cfc9fea] Set default target and always verify.
1 files changed, 8 insertions(+), 0 deletions(-)
Deploy with Dependency
Let's add another change. Our app will need to store status messages from users. Let's call them -- and
the table to store them -- "flips". First, add the new change:
> sqitch add flips --requires users -n 'Adds table for storing flips.'
Created deploy/flips.sql
Created revert/flips.sql
Created verify/flips.sql
Added "flips [users]" to sqitch.plan
Note that we're requiring the "users" change as a dependency of the new "flips" change. Although that
change has already been added to the plan and therefore should always be applied before the "flips"
change, it's a good idea to be explicit about dependencies.
Now edit the scripts. When you're done, deploy/flips.sql should look like this:
-- Deploy flipr:flips to firebird
-- requires: users
CREATE TABLE flips (
id INTEGER NOT NULL PRIMARY KEY,
nickname VARCHAR(50) NOT NULL REFERENCES users(nickname),
body VARCHAR(512) DEFAULT '' NOT NULL CHECK ( char_length(body) <= 180 ),
created_at TIMESTAMP DEFAULT CURRENT_TIMESTAMP NOT NULL
);
COMMMIT;
A couple things to notice here. On the second line, the dependence on the "users" change has been listed.
This doesn't do anything, but the default "deploy" template lists it here for your reference while
editing the file. Useful, right?
The "users.nickname" column references the "users" table. This is why we need to require the "users"
change.
Now for the verify script. Again, all we need to do is "SELECT" from the table. I recommend selecting
each column by name, too, to be sure that no column is missing. Here's the verify/flips.sql:
-- Verify flipr:flips on firebird
SELECT id, nickname, body, created_at
FROM flips
WHERE 1=2;
Now for the revert script: all we have to do is drop the table. Add this to revert/flips.sql:
-- Revert flipr:flips from firebird
DROP TABLE flips;
COMMIT;
Couldn't be much simpler, right? Let's deploy this bad boy:
> sqitch deploy
Deploying changes to flipr_test
+ flips .. ok
We know, since verification is enabled, that the table must have been created. But for the purposes of
visibility, let's have a quick look:
> echo "CONNECT 'localhost:/tmp/flipr_test/flipr.fdb'; SHOW TABLES; quit;" \
| isql-fb -q -u SYSDBA -p masterkey
FLIPS USERS
We can also verify all currently deployed changes with the "verify" command:
> sqitch verify
Verifying flipr_test.db
* users .. ok
* flips .. ok
Verify successful
Now have a look at the status:
> sqitch status
# On database flipr_test
# Project: flipr
# Change: dfe72351c686bd36017a2b586042b5336301e809
# Name: flips
# Deployed: 2014-01-05 14:22:33 -0800
# By: Marge N. O’Vera <marge@example.com>
#
Nothing to deploy (up-to-date)
Success! Let's make sure we can revert the change, as well:
> sqitch revert --to @HEAD^ -y
Reverting changes to users from flipr_test
- flips .. ok
Note that we've used the "--to" option to specify the change to revert to. And what do we revert to? The
symbolic tag @HEAD, when passed to "revert", always refers to the last change deployed to the database.
(For other commands, it refers to the last change in the plan.) Appending the caret ("^") tells Sqitch
to select the change prior to the last deployed change. So we revert to "users", the penultimate change.
The other potentially useful symbolic tag is @ROOT, which refers to the first change deployed to the
database (or in the plan, depending on the command).
Back to the database. The "flips" table should be gone but the "users" table should still be around:
> echo "CONNECT 'localhost:/tmp/flipr_test/flipr.fdb'; SHOW TABLES; quit;" \
| isql-fb -q -u SYSDBA -p masterkey
USERS
The "status" command politely informs us that we have undeployed changes:
> sqitch status
# On database flipr_test
# Project: flipr
# Change: 2cde9cc8c19161e9837de57741502243b2ad380e
# Name: users
# Deployed: 2014-01-05 14:19:32 -0800
# By: Marge N. O’Vera <marge@example.com>
#
Undeployed change:
* flips
As does the "verify" command:
> sqitch verify
Verifying flipr_test
* users .. ok
Undeployed change:
* flips
Verify successful
Note that the verify is successful, because all currently-deployed changes are verified. The list of
undeployed changes (just "flips" here) reminds us about the current state.
Okay, let's commit and deploy again:
> git add .
> git commit -am 'Add flips table.'
[main 09c636c] Add flips table.
4 files changed, 24 insertions(+), 0 deletions(-)
create mode 100644 deploy/flips.sql
create mode 100644 revert/flips.sql
create mode 100644 verify/flips.sql
> sqitch deploy
Deploying changes to flipr_test
+ flips .. ok
Looks good. Check the status:
> sqitch status
# On database flipr_test
# Project: flipr
# Change: dfe72351c686bd36017a2b586042b5336301e809
# Name: flips
# Deployed: 2014-01-05 14:24:06 -0800
# By: Marge N. O’Vera <marge@example.com>
#
Nothing to deploy (up-to-date)
View to a Thrill
One more thing to add before we are ready to ship a first beta release. Let's create a view that lists
user names with their flips.
> sqitch add userflips --requires users --requires flips \
-n 'Creates the userflips view.'
Created deploy/userflips.sql
Created revert/userflips.sql
Created verify/userflips.sql
Added "userflips [users flips]" to sqitch.plan
Now add this SQL to deploy/userflips.sql:
CREATE OR ALTER VIEW userflips AS
SELECT f.id, u.nickname, u.fullname, f.body, f.created_at
FROM users u
JOIN flips f ON u.nickname = f.nickname;
Add this SQL to verify/userflips.sql
SELECT id, nickname, fullname, body, created_at
FROM userflips
WHERE 1=2;
And add the "DROP VIEW" statement to revert/userflips.sql:
DROP VIEW userflips;
Now Try it out!
> sqitch deploy
Deploying changes to flipr_test
+ userflips .. ok
> sqitch revert -y
Reverting all changes from flipr_test
- userflips .. ok
- flips ...... ok
- users ...... ok
> sqitch deploy
Deploying changes to flipr_test
+ users ...... ok
+ flips ...... ok
+ userflips .. ok
Looks good! Commit it.
> git add .
> git commit -m 'Add the userflips view.'
[main 28ffa63] Add the userflips view.
4 files changed, 23 insertions(+), 0 deletions(-)
create mode 100644 deploy/userflips.sql
create mode 100644 revert/userflips.sql
create mode 100644 verify/userflips.sql
Ship It!
Now we're ready for the first development release of our app. Let's call it "1.0.0-dev1" Since we want to
have it go out with deployments tied to the release, let's tag it:
> sqitch tag v1.0.0-dev1 -n 'Tag v1.0.0-dev1.'
Tagged "userflips" with @v1.0.0-dev1
> git commit -am 'Tag the database with v1.0.0-dev1.'
[main 696a891] Tag the database with v1.0.0-dev1.
1 files changed, 1 insertions(+), 0 deletions(-)
> git tag v1.0.0-dev1 -am 'Tag v1.0.0-dev1'
We can try deploying to make sure the tag gets picked up like so:
> sudo -u firebird mkdir /tmp/flipr_dev
> echo "CREATE DATABASE 'localhost:/tmp/flipr_dev/flipr.fdb'; exit;" \
| isql-fb -q -u SYSDBA -p masterkey
> sqitch deploy db:firebird://sysdba:masterkey@localhost//tmp/flipr_dev/flipr.fdb
Adding registry tables to db:firebird://sysdba:@localhost//tmp/flipr_dev/sqitch.fdb
Deploying changes to db:firebird://sysdba:@localhost//tmp/flipr_dev/flipr.fdb
+ users ................... ok
+ flips ................... ok
+ userflips @v1.0.0-dev1 .. ok
Great, both changes were deployed and "userflips" was tagged with "@v1.0.0-dev1". Let's have a look at
the status:
> sqitch status db:firebird://sysdba:masterkey@localhost//tmp/flipr_dev/flipr.fdb
# On database db:firebird://sysdba:@localhost//tmp/flipr_dev/flipr.fdb
# Project: flipr
# Change: 785a0d14a5e26b2ae24882a137db45d34f71b5ff
# Name: userflips
# Tag: @v1.0.0-dev1
# Deployed: 2014-01-05 14:43:28 -0800
# By: Marge N. O’Vera <marge@example.com>
#
Nothing to deploy (up-to-date)
Note the listing of the tag as part of the status message. Now let's bundle everything up for release:
> sqitch bundle
Bundling into bundle
Writing config
Writing plan
Writing scripts
+ users
+ flips
+ userflips @v1.0.0-dev1
Now we can package the bundle directory and distribute it. When it gets installed somewhere, users can
use Sqitch to deploy to the database. Let's try deploying it:
> cd bundle
> sudo -u firebird mkdir /tmp/flipr_prod
> echo "CREATE DATABASE 'localhost:/tmp/flipr_prod/flipr.fdb'; exit;" \
| isql-fb -q -u SYSDBA -p masterkey
> sqitch deploy db:firebird://sysdba:masterkey@localhost//tmp/flipr_prod/flipr.fdb
Adding registry tables to db:firebird://sysdba:@localhost//tmp/flipr_prod/sqitch.fdb
Deploying changes to db:firebird://sysdba:@localhost//tmp/flipr_prod/flipr.fdb
+ users ................... ok
+ flips ................... ok
+ userflips @v1.0.0-dev1 .. ok
Looks much the same as before, eh? Package it up and ship it!
> cd ..
> mv bundle flipr-v1.0.0-dev1
> tar -czf flipr-v1.0.0-dev1.tgz flipr-v1.0.0-dev1
Making a Hash of Things
Now that we've got the basics of the app done, let's add a feature. Gotta track the hashtags associated
with flips, right? Let's add a table for them. But since other folks are working on other tasks in the
repository, we'll work on a branch, so we can all stay out of each other's way. So let's branch:
> git checkout -b hashtags
Switched to a new branch 'hashtags'
Now we can add a new change to create a table for hashtags.
> sqitch add hashtags --requires flips -n 'Adds table for storing hashtags.'
Created deploy/hashtags.sql
Created revert/hashtags.sql
Created verify/hashtags.sql
Added "hashtags [flips]" to sqitch.plan
You know the drill by now. Add this to deploy/hashtags.sql
CREATE TABLE hashtags (
flip_id INTEGER NOT NULL REFERENCES flips(id),
hashtag VARCHAR(512) NOT NULL CHECK(char_length(hashtag) > 0),
PRIMARY KEY (flip_id, hashtag)
);
Again, select from the table in verify/hashtags.sql:
SELECT flip_id, hashtag FROM hashtags WHERE 1=2;
And drop it in revert/hashtags.sql
DROP TABLE hashtags;
And give it a whirl:
> sqitch deploy
Deploying changes to flipr_test
+ hashtags .. ok
Look good?
> sqitch status --show-tags
# On database flipr_test
# Project: flipr
# Change: 9474af3b057294633ccf81b9e8d7771a9588ac67
# Name: hashtags
# Deployed: 2014-01-05 14:55:56 -0800
# By: Marge N. O’Vera <marge@example.com>
#
# Tag:
# @v1.0.0-dev1 - 2014-01-05 14:49:56 -0800 - Marge N. O’Vera <marge@example.com>
#
Nothing to deploy (up-to-date)
Note the use of "--show-tags" to show all the deployed tags. Now make it so:
> rm -rf flipr-v1.0.0-dev1*
> git add .
> git commit -am 'Add hashtags table.'
[hashtags 9c40bf5] Add hashtags table.
4 files changed, 22 insertions(+), 0 deletions(-)
create mode 100644 deploy/hashtags.sql
create mode 100644 revert/hashtags.sql
create mode 100644 verify/hashtags.sql
Good, we've finished this feature. Time to merge back into "main".
Emergency
Let's do it:
> git checkout main
Switched to branch 'main'
> git pull
Updating 696a891..9af80a1
Fast-forward
deploy/lists.sql | 11 +++++++++++
revert/lists.sql | 5 +++++
sqitch.plan | 2 ++
verify/lists.sql | 7 +++++++
4 files changed, 25 insertions(+), 0 deletions(-)
create mode 100644 deploy/lists.sql
create mode 100644 revert/lists.sql
create mode 100644 verify/lists.sql
Hrm, that's interesting. Looks like someone made some changes to "main". They added list support. Well,
let's see what happens when we merge our changes.
> git merge --no-ff hashtags
Auto-merging sqitch.plan
CONFLICT (content): Merge conflict in sqitch.plan
Automatic merge failed; fix conflicts and then commit the result.
Oh, a conflict in sqitch.plan. Not too surprising, since both the merged "lists" branch and our
"hashtags" branch added changes to the plan. Let's try a different approach.
The truth is, we got lazy. Those changes when we pulled main from the origin should have raised a red
flag. It's considered a bad practice not to look at what's changed in "main" before merging in a branch.
What one should do is either:
• Rebase the hashtags branch from main before merging. This "rewinds" the branch changes, pulls from
"main", and then replays the changes back on top of the pulled changes.
• Create a patch and apply that to main. This is the sort of thing you might have to do if you're
sending changes to another user, especially if the VCS is not Git.
So let's restore things to how they were at main:
> git reset --hard HEAD
HEAD is now at d5e7e86 Merge branch 'lists'
That throws out our botched merge. Now let's go back to our branch and rebase it on "main":
> git checkout hashtags
Switched to branch 'hashtags'
> git rebase main
First, rewinding head to replay your work on top of it...
Applying: Add hashtags table.
Using index info to reconstruct a base tree...
M sqitch.plan
Falling back to patching base and 3-way merge...
Auto-merging sqitch.plan
CONFLICT (content): Merge conflict in sqitch.plan
Failed to merge in the changes.
Patch failed at 0001 Add hashtags table.
The copy of the patch that failed is found in:
.git/rebase-apply/patch
When you have resolved this problem, run "git rebase --continue".
If you prefer to skip this patch, run "git rebase --skip" instead.
To check out the original branch and stop rebasing, run "git rebase --abort".
Oy, that's kind of a pain. It seems like no matter what we do, we'll need to resolve conflicts in that
file. Except in Git. Fortunately for us, we can tell Git to resolve conflicts in sqitch.plan differently.
Because we only ever append lines to the file, we can have it use the "union" merge driver, which,
according to its docs <https://git-scm.com/docs/gitattributes#_built-in_merge_drivers>:
Run 3-way file level merge for text files, but take lines from both versions, instead of leaving
conflict markers. This tends to leave the added lines in the resulting file in random order and the
user should verify the result. Do not use this if you do not understand the implications.
This has the effect of appending lines from all the merging files, which is exactly what we need. So
let's give it a try. First, back out the botched rebase:
> git rebase --abort
Now add the union merge driver to .gitattributes for sqitch.plan and rebase again:
> echo sqitch.plan merge=union > .gitattributes
> git rebase main
First, rewinding head to replay your work on top of it...
Applying: Add hashtags table.
Using index info to reconstruct a base tree...
M sqitch.plan
Falling back to patching base and 3-way merge...
Auto-merging sqitch.plan
Ah, that looks a bit better. Let's have a look at the plan:
> cat sqitch.plan
%syntax-version=1.0.0
%project=flipr
%uri=https://github.com/sqitchers/sqitch-firebird-intro/
users 2014-01-05T22:01:30Z Marge N. O’Vera <marge@example.com> # Creates table to track our users.
flips [users] 2014-01-05T22:21:24Z Marge N. O’Vera <marge@example.com> # Adds table for storing flips.
userflips [users flips] 2014-01-05T22:40:29Z Marge N. O’Vera <marge@example.com> # Creates the userflips view.
@v1.0.0-dev1 2014-01-05T22:42:36Z Marge N. O’Vera <marge@example.com> # Tag v1.0.0-dev1.
lists [flips] 2014-01-05T22:44:41Z Marge N. O’Vera <marge@example.com> # Adds table for storing lists.
hashtags [flips] 2014-01-05T22:54:27Z Marge N. O’Vera <marge@example.com> # Adds table for storing hashtags.
Note that it has appended the changes from the merged "lists" branch, and then merged the changes from
our "hashtags" branch. Test it to make sure it works as expected:
> sqitch rebase -y
Reverting all changes from flipr_test
- hashtags ................ ok
- userflips @v1.0.0-dev1 .. ok
- flips ................... ok
- users ................... ok
Deploying changes to flipr_test
+ users ................... ok
+ flips ................... ok
+ userflips @v1.0.0-dev1 .. ok
+ lists ................... ok
+ hashtags ................ ok
Note the use of "rebase", which combines a "revert" and a "deploy" into a single command. Handy, right?
It correctly reverted our changes, and then deployed them all again in the proper order. So let's commit
.gitattributes; seems worthwhile to keep that change:
> git add .
> git commit -m 'Add `.gitattributes` with union merge for `sqitch.plan`.'
[hashtags 52ed9a2] Add `.gitattributes` with union merge for `sqitch.plan`.
1 files changed, 1 insertions(+), 0 deletions(-)
create mode 100644 .gitattributes
Merges Mastered
And now, finally, we can merge into "main":
> git checkout main
Switched to branch 'main'
> git merge --no-ff hashtags -m "Merge branch 'hashtags'"
Merge made by recursive.
.gitattributes | 1 +
deploy/hashtags.sql | 10 ++++++++++
revert/hashtags.sql | 5 +++++
sqitch.plan | 1 +
verify/hashtags.sql | 5 +++++
5 files changed, 22 insertions(+), 0 deletions(-)
create mode 100644 .gitattributes
create mode 100644 deploy/hashtags.sql
create mode 100644 revert/hashtags.sql
create mode 100644 verify/hashtags.sql
And double-check our work:
> cat sqitch.plan
%syntax-version=1.0.0
%project=flipr
%uri=https://github.com/sqitchers/sqitch-firebird-intro/
users 2014-01-05T22:01:30Z Marge N. O’Vera <marge@example.com> # Creates table to track our users.
flips [users] 2014-01-05T22:21:24Z Marge N. O’Vera <marge@example.com> # Adds table for storing flips.
userflips [users flips] 2014-01-05T22:40:29Z Marge N. O’Vera <marge@example.com> # Creates the userflips view.
@v1.0.0-dev1 2014-01-05T22:42:36Z Marge N. O’Vera <marge@example.com> # Tag v1.0.0-dev1.
lists [flips] 2014-01-05T22:44:41Z Marge N. O’Vera <marge@example.com> # Adds table for storing lists.
hashtags [flips] 2014-01-05T22:54:27Z Marge N. O’Vera <marge@example.com> # Adds table for storing hashtags.
Much much better, a nice clean main now. And because it is now identical to the "hashtags" branch, we can
just carry on. Go ahead and tag it, bundle, and release:
> sqitch tag v1.0.0-dev2 -n 'Tag v1.0.0-dev2.'
Tagged "hashtags" with @v1.0.0-dev2
> git commit -am 'Tag the database with v1.0.0-dev2.'
[main 7d07ee3] Tag the database with v1.0.0-dev2.
1 file changed, 1 insertion(+)
> git tag v1.0.0-dev2 -am 'Tag v1.0.0-dev2'
> sqitch bundle --dest-dir flipr-1.0.0-dev2
Bundling into flipr-1.0.0-dev2
Writing config
Writing plan
Writing scripts
+ users
+ flips
+ userflips @v1.0.0-dev1
+ lists
+ hashtags @v1.0.0-dev2
Note the use of the "--dest-dir" option to "sqitch bundle". Just a nicer way to create the top-level
directory name so we don't have to rename it from bundle.
In Place Changes
Well, some folks have been testing the "1.0.0-dev2" release and have demanded that Twitter user links be
added to Flipr pages. Why anyone would want to include social network links in an anti-social networking
app is beyond us programmers, but we're just the plumbers, right? Gotta go with what Marketing demands.
The upshot is that we need to update the "userflips" view, which is used for the feature in question, to
include the Twitter user names.
Normally, modifying views in database changes is a PITA
<https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=pita>. You have to make changes like these:
1. Copy deploy/userflips.sql to deploy/userflips_twitter.sql.
2. Edit deploy/userflips_twitter.sql to re-create the view with the new "twitter" column added to the
view.
3. Copy deploy/userflips.sql to revert/userflips_twitter.sql. Yes, copy the original change script to
the new revert change.
4. Add a "DROP VIEW" statement to revert/userflips_twitter.sql.
5. Copy verify/userflips.sql to verify/userflips_twitter.sql.
6. Modify verify/userflips_twitter.sql to include a check for the "twiter" column.
7. Test the changes to make sure you can deploy and revert the "userflips_twitter" change.
But you can have Sqitch do most of the work for you. The only requirement is that a tag appear between
the two instances of a change we want to modify. In general, you're going to make a change like this
after a release, which you've tagged anyway, right? Well we have, with "@v1.0.0-dev2" added in the
previous section. With that, we can let Sqitch do most of the hard work for us, thanks to the "rework"
command, which is similar to "add":
> sqitch rework userflips -n 'Adds userflips.twitter.'
Added "userflips [userflips@v1.0.0-dev2]" to sqitch.plan.
Modify these files as appropriate:
* deploy/userflips.sql
* revert/userflips.sql
* verify/userflips.sql
Oh, so we can edit those files in place. Nice! How does Sqitch do it? Well, in point of fact, it has
copied the files to stand in for the previous instance of the "userflips" change, which we can see via
"git status":
> git status
# On branch main
# Your branch is ahead of 'origin/main' by 4 commits.
# (use "git push" to publish your local commits)
#
# Changes not staged for commit:
# (use "git add <file>..." to update what will be committed)
# (use "git checkout -- <file>..." to discard changes in working directory)
#
# modified: revert/userflips.sql
# modified: sqitch.plan
#
# Untracked files:
# (use "git add <file>..." to include in what will be committed)
#
# deploy/userflips@v1.0.0-dev2.sql
# revert/userflips@v1.0.0-dev2.sql
# verify/userflips@v1.0.0-dev2.sql
no changes added to commit (use "git add" and/or "git commit -a")
The "untracked files" part of the output is the first thing to notice. They are all named
"userflips@v1.0.0-dev2.sql". What that means is: "the "userflips" change as it was implemented as of the
"@v1.0.0-dev2" tag." These are copies of the original scripts, and thereafter Sqitch will find them when
it needs to run scripts for the first instance of the "userflips" change. As such, it's important not to
change them again. But hey, if you're reworking the change, you shouldn't need to.
The other thing to notice is that revert/userflips.sql has changed. Sqitch replaced it with the original
deploy script. As of now, deploy/userflips.sql and revert/userflips.sql are identical. This is on the
assumption that the deploy script will be changed (we're reworking it, remember?), and that the revert
script should actually change things back to how they were before.
Fortunately, our view deploy scripts are already almost idempotent
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Idempotence> -- that is, able to be applied multiple times without
changing the result beyond the initial application. If it's not, you will likely need to modify it so
that it properly restores things to how they were after the original deploy script was deployed. Or, more
simply, it should revert changes back to how they were as-of the deployment of
deploy/userflips@v1.0.0-dev2.sql.
Fortunately, our view deploy scripts are already idempotent, thanks to the use of the "OR ALTER"
expression. No matter how many times a deployment script is run, the end result will be the same instance
of the view, with no duplicates or errors.
As a result, there is no need to explicitly add changes. So go ahead. Modify deploy/userflips.sql to add
the "twitter" column.
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@
-- requires: flips
CREATE OR ALTER VIEW userflips AS
-SELECT f.id, u.nickname, u.fullname, f.body, f.created_at
+SELECT f.id, u.nickname, u.fullname, u.twitter, f.body, f.created_at
FROM users u
JOIN flips f ON u.nickname = f.nickname;
Next, modify verify/userflips.sql to check for the "twitter" column. Here's the diff:
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
-- Verify flipr:userflips on firebird
-SELECT id, nickname, fullname, body, created_at
+SELECT id, nickname, twitter, fullname, body, created_at
FROM userflips
WHERE 1=2;
Now try a deployment:
> sqitch deploy
Deploying changes to flipr_test
+ userflips .. ok
So, are the changes deployed?
> echo "CONNECT 'localhost:/tmp/flipr_test/flipr.fdb'; SHOW VIEW userflips; quit;" \
| isql-fb -q -u SYSDBA -p masterkey
ID INTEGER Not Null
NICKNAME VARCHAR(50) Not Null
FULLNAME VARCHAR(512) Not Null
TWITTER VARCHAR(512) Not Null
BODY VARCHAR(512) Not Null
CREATED_AT TIMESTAMP Not Null
View Source:
==== ======
SELECT f.id, u.nickname, u.fullname, u.twitter, f.body, f.created_at
FROM users u
JOIN flips f ON u.nickname = f.nickname
Awesome, the view now includes the "twitter" column. But can we revert?
> sqitch revert --to @HEAD^ -y
Reverting changes to hashtags @v1.0.0-dev2 from flipr_test
- userflips .. ok
Did that work, is the "twitter" column gone?
> echo "CONNECT 'localhost:/tmp/flipr_test/flipr.fdb'; SHOW VIEW userflips; quit;" \
| isql-fb -q -u SYSDBA -p masterkey
ID INTEGER Not Null
NICKNAME VARCHAR(50) Not Null
FULLNAME VARCHAR(512) Not Null
BODY VARCHAR(512) Not Null
CREATED_AT TIMESTAMP Not Null
View Source:
==== ======
SELECT f.id, u.nickname, u.fullname, f.body, f.created_at
FROM users u
JOIN flips f ON u.nickname = f.nickname
Yes, it works! Sqitch properly finds the original instances of these changes in the new script files that
include tags.
Excellent. Let's go ahead and commit these changes:
> rm -rf flipr-1.0.0-dev2
> git add .
> git commit -m 'Add the twitter column to the userflips view.'
[main f530359] Add the twitter column to the userflips view.
7 files changed, 32 insertions(+), 4 deletions(-)
create mode 100644 deploy/userflips@v1.0.0-dev2.sql
create mode 100644 revert/userflips@v1.0.0-dev2.sql
create mode 100644 verify/userflips@v1.0.0-dev2.sql
More to Come
Sqitch is a work in progress. Better integration with version control systems is planned to make managing
idempotent reworkings even easier. Stay tuned.
Authors
• Ștefan Suciu <stefbv70@gmail.com>
• David E. Wheeler <david@justatheory.com>
License
Copyright (c) 2012-2024 iovation Inc., David E. Wheeler
Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy of this software and
associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal in the Software without restriction, including
without limitation the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell
copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is furnished to do so, subject to the
following conditions:
The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all copies or substantial
portions of the Software.
THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT
LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO
EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER
IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR
THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.