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Changelog

All notable changes to Genifest will be documented in this page.

This project adheres to Semantic Versioning.

v1.0.0-rc6 2025-11-17

  • Output Mode Support: Flexible output formatting for different use cases and environments

    • Multiple output modes supporting color, plain, markdown, and auto detection
    • TTY detection automatically switches between color and plain modes based on terminal context
    • Markdown output for documentation generation and integration with documentation workflows
    • Consistent interface across validate and run commands with --output flag
    • Backwards compatibility maintaining existing behavior when no output mode specified

  • Installation Script Improvements: Enhanced user documentation and binary optimization

    • Documentation added to install script explaining each step and why sudo is required
    • Binary size optimization with build flags -s -w to strip debugging information
    • User reassurance with clear explanations of what the install script is doing
    • Variable expansion fix in sudo command to properly handle download URLs

v1.0.0-rc5 2025-09-21

Complete revamp of tag system with groups-based selection, multi-format support, enhanced value generation, and improved developer experience.

  • Groups-Based Tag System: Revolutionary new approach to tag selection and organization

    • Groups configuration with customizable tag expression patterns for organizing changes
    • Default "all" group containing ["*"] for backward compatibility with existing workflows
    • Tag expressions supporting wildcards (*), negations (!tag-name), and directory scoping (dir:tag)
    • Expression evaluation with sequential processing where later expressions override earlier ones
    • Flexible matching allowing complex combinations like ["*", "!secret-*", "secret-foo"]

  • Enhanced CLI Argument Structure: Modernized command-line interface with intuitive argument handling

    • Zero arguments: Uses "all" group in current directory (genifest run)
    • One argument: Group name in current directory OR directory path with "all" group
    • Two arguments: Specified group name in specified directory (genifest run dev examples/guestbook)
    • Intelligent parsing that distinguishes between group names and directory paths
    • --tag option for adding additional tag expressions to any group selection

  • Multi-Format Configuration Support: Extended beyond YAML to support additional configuration formats

    • TOML support with complete read/write capabilities for .toml configuration files
    • Format detection automatically identifies file format from extension (.yaml, .yml, .toml)
    • Universal processing allows changes to be applied to any supported format
    • Extensible architecture in internal/fileformat/ for future format additions
    • Format-agnostic operations with unified AST representation for all formats

  • Enhanced Value Generation System: Expanded ValueFrom types with new capabilities

    • Environment variable support with new envRef type for reading environment variables
    • Default value handling for environment variables when not set or empty
    • Transient changes in file inclusion allowing temporary modifications during file embedding
    • Document context preservation for documentRef operations within included files
    • Validation improvements with filename context in error messages for better debugging

  • File Inclusion Enhancements: Advanced file embedding with on-the-fly modifications

    • Transient changes apply modifications to included files without persisting changes to disk
    • DocumentSelector support for targeting specific documents in multi-document included files
    • Tag-based filtering allowing conditional application of transient changes
    • Context-aware operations preserving document references and variable scoping
    • Non-destructive processing ensuring original files remain unmodified

  • Directory-Scoped Tag Expressions: Advanced scoping system for complex project structures

    • Scoped expressions using <directory>:<tag-expression> syntax for targeted rule application
    • Automatic directory prefixing when merging subordinate configurations
    • Nested rule application where child directory rules are applied after parent rules
    • Path-aware matching ensuring expressions only apply to appropriate directory contexts

  • Developer Experience Improvements: Enhanced tooling and validation feedback

    • Contextual error messages with filename and path information for configuration validation
    • Improved validation feedback making debugging configuration issues significantly easier
    • Enhanced documentation structure with comprehensive guidance for contributors
    • Cleaner CLI validation with removal of redundant validation tips and warnings

  • Configuration Merging Improvements: Enhanced configuration loading with groups support

    • Groups merging with proper directory scoping and inheritance
    • Default groups automatically provided when not specified in configuration
    • Hierarchical merging preserving parent-child relationships in nested configurations
    • Context preservation maintaining directory information throughout the merge process

  • Breaking Changes (no backward compatibility for RC software):

    • Removed --include-tags/--exclude-tags in favor of groups-based selection
    • New argument structure requires explicit group names for non-default selections
    • Groups section now required for custom tag selection (defaults provided automatically)

  • Real-World Examples:

    groups:
  all: ["*"]                           # All tags (default behavior)
  config-only: ["config"]              # Only configuration changes
  no-secrets: ["*", "!secret-*"]       # Everything except secrets
  dev: ["config", "image", "!production"] # Development environment
  prod: ["*", "!dev-*", "!test-*"]     # Production with exclusions

changes:
  - keySelector: ".database.host"
    valueFrom:
      envRef:                          # Read from environment variable
        name: "DB_HOST"
        default: "localhost"           # Fallback if not set

  - keySelector: ".spec.template"
    valueFrom:
      fileInclusion:                   # Include file with modifications
        source: "templates/base.yaml"
        changes:                       # Transient changes (not persisted)
          - keySelector: ".metadata.name"
            valueFrom:
              default:
                value: "custom-name"

  • Advanced Usage Patterns:

    genifest run                          # All changes (default group)
genifest run config-only             # Only config changes
genifest run dev examples/app        # Dev group in specific directory
genifest run --tag "!secret" prod    # Add negation to prod group

# Multi-format support
genifest run --include-tags toml     # Process TOML configuration files

v1.0.0-rc4 2025-08-29

DocumentSelector for multi-document YAML targeting and smart bracket parsing enhancements.

  • DocumentSelector Feature: Multi-document YAML file targeting capability

    • Document targeting using simple key-value matching with dot notation (metadata.name, kind)
    • Multi-document support for YAML files with resources separated by ---
    • Precise selection allowing different changes to different documents in the same file
    • Optional usage - when omitted, changes apply to all documents in the file
    • Real-world usage for ConfigMaps, Secrets, and Deployments in consolidated files

  • Smart Bracket Parsing: Enhanced keySelector expression parsing for complex keys

    • Quote-aware parsing correctly distinguishes numeric indices from quoted string keys
    • String key support for keys starting with numbers like ["1password.json"]
    • Prevents numeric parsing of quoted strings that happen to start with digits
    • Backward compatibility maintaining existing numeric index functionality [0], [-1]
    • Special character support for keys with dots, dashes, and complex names

  • README Documentation Enhancements:

    • Document Selection section with comprehensive multi-document YAML examples
    • Smart bracket parsing examples showing ["1password.json"] vs numeric [1]
    • Alternative operator documentation with // fallback value examples
    • Enhanced key features highlighting quote handling and parsing improvements
    • DocumentSelector features explaining targeting capabilities and use cases

v1.0.0-rc3 2025-08-22

Enhanced keySelector syntax with advanced pipeline operations and comprehensive documentation updates.

  • Advanced KeySelector Syntax: Complete implementation of complex yq-style expressions

    • Array iteration with [] syntax for processing all elements in arrays
    • Pipeline operations using | operator for chaining multiple operations
    • Filtering functions with select() for conditional element selection
    • Comparison operators supporting == and != for equality tests
    • Complex expressions like .spec.containers[] | select(.name == "frontend") | .image
    • Grammar-based parsing using participle/v2 for robust expression handling
    • Write operation support for complex expressions enabling modification of selected elements

  • Implementation Architecture:

    • New parser package internal/keysel with complete AST-based expression parsing
    • Evaluation engine supporting pipeline processing with array iteration and filtering
    • Backward compatibility maintaining support for simple path expressions
    • Expression validation at parse-time with clear error messages
    • Dual write paths handling both simple and complex expressions efficiently

  • Real-world Applications:

    • Container targeting by name instead of index (.containers[] | select(.name == "app"))
    • Multi-container deployments with selective updates to specific containers
    • Sidecar management updating proxy, logging, and monitoring containers independently
    • Environment-specific configuration with conditional container selection
    • Modern Kubernetes patterns supporting named container architectures

  • Documentation Enhancements:

    • Comprehensive keySelector reference with complete syntax guide and examples
    • Advanced patterns documentation with real-world pipeline examples
    • Updated schema documentation reflecting new syntax capabilities
    • Enhanced README with modern keySelector examples and feature comparisons
    • Changelog synchronization between main changelog and docs site

  • Code Quality Improvements:

    • Parser grammar fixes resolving infinite loop issues with empty path components
    • Expression evaluation supporting complex pipelines with proper error handling
    • Test coverage comprehensive tests for all new syntax features
    • Integration validation verified with guestbook examples

v1.0.0-rc2 2025-08-19

Major CLI restructuring and enhanced user experience improvements.

  • CLI Architecture Overhaul: Converted from flag-based to subcommand-based architecture

    • genifest run [directory] - Apply changes with enhanced progress reporting
    • genifest tags [directory] - List all available tags in configuration
    • genifest validate [directory] - Validate configuration without applying changes
    • genifest config [directory] - Display merged configuration in YAML format
    • genifest version - Show version information
    • All commands support optional directory arguments for operation from any location

  • Enhanced Output and Reporting:

    • Detailed progress reporting with emoji indicators
    • Change tracking shows file -> document[index] -> key: old → new for all modifications
    • Clear distinction between changes applied vs actual modifications made
    • Comprehensive statistics and file modification summaries

  • Code Quality Improvements:

    • Extracted ~100 lines of duplicate code into shared utilities (internal/cmd/common.go)
    • Improved error handling with rich context and user-friendly messages
    • Fixed file path handling bug in configuration loading for nested directories
    • Enhanced file selector pattern matching logic

  • User Experience Enhancements:

    • Running genifest without subcommand now shows help instead of applying changes
    • Better validation with actionable error messages
    • Configuration display for debugging and understanding project structure

v1.0.0-rc1 2025-08-18

This is a complete rewrite of genifest, removing all the old cruft and making it more flexible.

  • The primary configuration file is now named genifest.yaml and must be in the same directory that the genifest binary is run.

  • The system supports three top-level types of configuration files: manifests, files, and scripts.

    • Manifests are for YAML files organized into application sub-directories, a typical arrangement for a Kubernetes cluster configuration.
    • Files are for general configuration files, also organized into application sub-directories. These may be embedded into other files using valueFrom.file.
    • Scripts are for executable scripts used to derive content for inclusion in manifests. Only scripts found in these directories will be permitted to run using valueFrom.script.

  • Other genifest.yaml configurations found in these directories are loaded and merged into the top-level one before processing and applying changes.

  • Changes are applied in-place, expecting the user to use version control to track changes as part of a gitops process.
  • The system defines a simple tag-based scheme for choosing which changes to execute on each run.

  • The following valueFrom types are defined:

    • call functions as a simple macro for calling other valueFrom expressions.
    • pipeline defines a way of chaining operations together so that the output from a previous step can feed into a following step
    • file embeds a file from a file directory into another YAML file
    • template allows for the creation of simple templates using ${var} style interpolation
    • script executes custom scripts found in a scripts directory
    • argRef is used to read variables and arguments inside a valueFrom or function definition
    • default is used for literal values
    • documentRef is used to lookup values elsewhere in the current YAML document and use the looked up value

v0.2.0 2025-07-17

  • The ddbLookup function in templates now supports BOOL fields and also nested fields with M (e.g., Counter.M.prod.N).
  • Updated github.com/bmatcuk/doublestar/v4 to v4.9.0
  • Updated k8s.io/apimachinery to v0.33.2
  • Updated k8s.io/client-go to v0.33.2
  • Updated github.com/spf13/cobra to v1.9.1
  • Updated github.com/bitnami/labs to v0.30.0

v0.1.4 2024-10-15

  • Upgraded to go-std v0.9.1 to fix a bug in string indents.

v0.1.3 2024-09-05

  • Adding Arm64 builds for Linux.

v0.1.2 2024-08-09

  • Upgraded to Ghost v0.6.2

v0.1.1 2024-08-09

  • Fix a bug in file that caused it to files when files_dir was set.

v0.1.0 2024-08-09

  • Added the files_dir setting to cluster configuration to set the location of the directory used to load files when calling the files function when templating.
  • Fixed a minor problem with secrets skipping. It didn't always work correctly when the applyTemplate function to template a second file.
  • Added the ghost section to cluster configuration for configuring ghost for secrets management.
  • Added ghost.config to cluster configuration to select the configuration file to use for working with secrets.
  • Added ghost.keeper to cluster configuration to select the secrets keeper to use for working with secrets.

v0.0.2 2024-06-27

  • Fixing the install script.

v0.0.1 2024-06-27

  • Adding binaries to the release.

v0.0.0 2024-06-25

  • Initial release.

For more details about any release, see the GitHub releases page.