ddev-addon-template

• What is ddev-addon-template?
• Components of the repository
• Getting started
• How to debug in Github Actions

What is ddev-addon-template?

This repository is a template for providing DDEV add-ons and services.

In DDEV addons can be installed from the command line using the ddev get command, for example, ddev get ddev/ddev-redis or ddev get ddev/ddev-solr.

This repository is a quick way to get started. You can create a new repo from this one by clicking the template button in the top right corner of the page.

Components of the repository

• The fundamental contents of the add-on service or other component. For example, in this template there is a docker-compose.addon-template.yaml file.
• An install.yaml file that describes how to install the service or other component.
• A test suite in test.bats that makes sure the service continues to work as expected.
• Github actions setup so that the tests run automatically when you push to the repository.

Getting started

1. Choose a good descriptive name for your add-on. It should probably start with “ddev-“ and include the basic service or functionality. If it’s particular to a specific CMS, perhaps ddev-<CMS>-servicename.
2. Create the new template repository by using the template button.
3. Globally replace “addon-template” with the name of your add-on.
4. Add the files that need to be added to a DDEV project to the repository. For example, you might replace docker-compose.addon-template.yaml with the docker-compose.*.yaml for your recipe.

5. Update the install.yaml to give the necessary instructions for installing the add-on:

   • The fundamental line is the project_files directive, a list of files to be copied from this repo into the project .ddev directory.
   • You can optionally add files to the global_files directive as well, which will cause files to be placed in the global .ddev directory, ~/.ddev.
   • Finally, pre_install_commands and post_install_commands are supported. These can use the host-side environment variables documented in DDEV docs.
6. Update tests/test.bats to provide a reasonable test for your repository. Tests are triggered either by manually executing bats ./tests/test.bats, automatically on every push to the repository, or periodically each night. Please make sure to attend to test failures when they happen. Others will be depending on you. Bats is a simple testing framework that just uses Bash. To run a Bats test locally, you have to install bats-core first. Then you download your add-on, and finally run bats ./tests/test.bats within the root of the uncompressed directory. To learn more about Bats see the documentation.
7. When everything is working, including the tests, you can push the repository to GitHub.
8. Create a release on GitHub.
9. Test manually with ddev get <owner/repo>.
10. You can test PRs with ddev get https://github.com/<user>/<repo>/tarball/<branch>
11. Update the README.md to describe the add-on, how to use it, and how to contribute. If there are any manual actions that have to be taken, please explain them. If it requires special configuration of the using project, please explain how to do those. Examples in ddev/ddev-solr, ddev/ddev-memcached, and (advanced) ddev-platformsh.
12. Update the README.md header in Title Case format, for example, use # DDEV Redis, not # ddev-redis.
13. Add a good short description to your repo, and add the topic “ddev-get”. It will immediately be added to the list provided by ddev get --list --all.
14. When it has matured you will hopefully want to have it become an “official” maintained add-on. Open an issue in the DDEV queue for that.

Add-ons were covered in DDEV Add-ons: Creating, maintaining, testing (part of the DDEV Contributor Live Training).

Note that more advanced techniques are discussed in DDEV docs.

How to debug tests (Github Actions)

1. You need an SSH-key registered with GitHub. You either pick the key you have already used with github.com or you create a dedicated new one with ssh-keygen -t ed25519 -a 64 -f tmate_ed25519 -C "$(date +'%d-%m-%Y')" and add it at https://github.com/settings/keys.

2. Add the following snippet to ~/.ssh/config:

Host *.tmate.io
    User git
    AddKeysToAgent yes
    UseKeychain yes
    PreferredAuthentications publickey
    IdentitiesOnly yes
    IdentityFile ~/.ssh/tmate_ed25519

1. Go to https://github.com/<user>/<repo>/actions/workflows/tests.yml.

2. Click the Run workflow button and you will have the option to select the branch to run the workflow from and activate tmate by checking the Debug with tmate checkbox for this run.

1. After the workflow_dispatch event was triggered, click the All workflows link in the sidebar and then click the tests action in progress workflow.

2. Pick one of the jobs in progress in the sidebar.

3. Wait until the current task list reaches the tmate debugging session section and the output shows something like:

106 SSH: ssh [email protected]
107 or: ssh -i <path-to-private-SSH-key> [email protected]
108 SSH: ssh [email protected]
109 or: ssh -i <path-to-private-SSH-key> [email protected]

1. Copy and execute the first option ssh [email protected] in the terminal and continue by pressing either q or Ctrl + c.

2. Start the Bats test with bats ./tests/test.bats.

For a more detailed documentation about tmate see Debug your GitHub Actions by using tmate.

Contributed and maintained by @CONTRIBUTOR