Continuous Integration: Why Hotfix each instance?

Robert Redhead asked on October 3, 2018 22:31

I was reading the documentation on Continuous Integration, and hit the part about hotfixes:

"For hotfixes, you need to apply the update separately for each development instance. After one developer commits the hotfixed changes to the source control, other developers CANNOT commit or load changes until they apply the hotfix to their own instance."

This brings up a couple questions, first and foremost: Why? If we have CI to track DB changes, and that checked into a code repository, why can't other developers pull those changes and run CI restore? What is in the hotfix that isn't being captured by CI?

Second, what does this mean for restoring to points before the hotfix? If taken at face value and there is something in the hotfix that is not captured in source control is it possible to go back after applying a hotfix to your instance? Part of the appeal of CI is the ability to go to an earlier release or commit and have the database come with. Is a hot fix a point of no return or am I missing something?

Thanks

Recent Answers

David te Kloese answered on October 4, 2018 12:35

Ideally I'd say it's just the number in the database that tells Kentico what the current hotfix version is.

But I can imagine scenario's where there is a 'transformation' of current data or just elements not covered by CI.

In regards to go back a Hotfix including DB changes (either content or objects) is basically an small upgrade so I'd keep a DB backup for that. But it all depends on the changes in the hotfix.

1 votesVote for this answer Mark as a Correct answer