Portage Continuous Delivery

:: gentoo, linux, sysadmin, system

By: Maciej Barć

Portage as a CD system

This is a very simple way to use any system with Portage installed as a Continuous Delivery server.

I think for a testing environment this is a valid solution to consider.

Create a repository of software used in your organization

Those articles from the Gentoo Wiki describe how to create a custom ebuild repository (overlay) pretty well:

Set up your repo with eselect-repository

Install the my-org repository:

eselect repository add my-org git https://git.my-org.local/portage/my-org.git

Sync my-org:

emerge --sync my-org

Install live packages of a your software

First, enable live packages (keywordless) for your my-org repo:

echo '*/*::my-org' >> /etc/portage/package.accept_keywords/0000_repo_my-org.conf

Install some packages from my-org:

emerge -av "=mycategory/mysoftware-9999"

Install smart-live-rebuild

smart-live-rebuild can automatically update live software packages that use git as their source URL.

Set up cron to run smart-live-rebuild

Refresh your my-org repository every hour:

0 */1 * * * emerge --sync my-org

Refresh the main Gentoo tree every other 6th hour:

0 */6 * * * emerge --sync gentoo

Run smart-live-rebuild every other 3rd hour:

0 */3 * * * smart-live-rebuild

Restarting services after update

All-in-one script

You can either restart all services after successful update:

File: /opt/update.sh

#!/bin/sh

set -e

smart-live-rebuild

systemctl restart my-service-1.service
systemctl restart my-service-2.service

Crontab:

0 */3 * * * /opt/update.sh

Via ebuilds pkg_ functions

File: my-service-1.ebuild

pkg_postinst() {
    systemctl restart my-service-1.service
}

More about pkg_postinst:

Example Gentoo overlays