thoughtcroft / ding

cli for managing feature branch merging by non devs

Ding

Simple command line tool for deploying a specific feature branch of a repo to a testing branch for driving CI deployment for QA.

Installation

Since we are installing from a repository, we can't use the usual gem install ding method. But don't worry, we have rake tasks for that!

If you are going to contribute, clone this guy and use your own copy otherwise you can set to be 'thoughtcroft'

cd <my_stuff>
git clone https://github.com/<gituser>/ding.git
cd ding
rake

Updates

From time to time, the software may change and you will want to update ding. Well, there is a rake task for that too!

cd <my_stuff>/ding
rake update

Note that if you have uncommitted changes (you are a dev I hope) then the update will halt and warn you of it.

Configuration

By default, ding will create a branch called testing from the selected feature branch. It also assumes that the master branch is called master and the main development branch is called develop. These main branches cannot be deleted using Ding::Git.delete_branch.

These defaults can be over-ridden by providing ENV vars to the shell:

DING_MASTER_BRANCH       - main branch to switch to for synchronising
DING_DEVELOP_BRANCH      - used to compare merge against feature
DING_TESTING_BRANCH      - branch to over-ride 'testing' branch
DING_SACROSANCT_BRANCHES - space separated list of protected branches

The testing branch can also be over-ridden by passing the -b option.

Using Ding

There are several commands available with global options for verbosity and forcing actions:

Commands:
  ding help [COMMAND]  # Describe available commands or one specific command
  ding key-gen         # Create a new private/public key pair and associated ssh config
  ding key-show        # Copy a public ssh key signature to the system clipboard (use -v to also display the signature)
  ding push            # Push a feature branch to the testing branch (this is the default action)
  ding version         # Display current gem version

Options:
  -f, [--force], [--no-force]      # use the force on commands that allow it e.g. git push
  -v, [--verbose], [--no-verbose]  # show verbose output such as full callstack on errors

ding push

This is the default action so running ding is the equivalent of ding push.

There is an option to specify the feature branch pattern to display for selection of the code to be pushed to testing. By default, only remote branches that haven't already been merged to develop will be listed, this can be over-ridden by using the -m flag.

$ ding help push

Usage:
  ding push

Options:
  -b, [--branch=BRANCH]            # specify an over-ride for the testingbranch
  -l, [--local], [--no-local]      # operate on local branches (merged from remote)
  -m, [--merged], [--no-merged]    # display branches that have been merged
  -p, [--pattern=PATTERN]          # specify a pattern for listing feature branches
                                   # Default: *XAP*
  -s, [--skip], [--no-skip]        # skip feature branch selection; just push develop to testing
  -f, [--force]                    # use the force on commands that allow it e.g. git push
                                   # Default: true
  -v, [--verbose], [--no-verbose]  # show verbose output such as full callstack on errors

Push feature branch(es) to the testing branch (this is the default action)

The destination branch is selected in the following order:

1. The branch specified by the -b option
2. The branch specified in ENV['DING_TESTING_BRANCH']
3. Otherwise defaults to the testing branch

ding key-gen

This will generate a new ssh key pair and configure them into the ssh config for the relevant host. This allows ding test to push code to github.com or bitbucket.org so that you aren't prompted for a userid and password each time.

On completion, the public key is copied to the system clipboard so that it can be pasted into the users account on bitbucket.org.

Usage:
  ding key-gen

Options:
  -h, [--host=HOST]                # specify repository host for ssh config
                                   # Default: bitbucket.org
  -n, [--name=NAME]                # name for key, defaults to host name
  -p, [--passphrase=PASSPHRASE]    # optional passphrase for key
  -s, [--secure], [--no-secure]    # secure hosts do not need strict host key checking
  -t, [--type=TYPE]                # type of key to create per -t option on ssh-keygen
                                   # Default: rsa

Create a new private/public key pair and associated ssh config

ding key-show

If the public key is needed again for pasting into the github.com or bitbucket.org config it can be captured on the clipboard by running this command and selecting the appropriate key from the list presented.

Contributing

If you need to make a change to ding then follow these steps:

1. Clone this repository (if you are not a current user)
2. Base your commits on the master branch
3. Update to the next version in lib\ding\version.rb using SemVer
4. Use the rake tasks - see rake -T - to install the new version
5. When you are ready to release, use the rake release task to tag and push

Good luck!

(PS if you get stuck, reach out to [email protected])