Node VMC Pusher: A Github Service Hook for Cloudfoundry

Introduction

4/22/12

This is a github service hook application that works with cloudfoundry.

It can be deployed as an application on cloudfoundry.com, and then that application can be listed as a service hook for a repository on github.com. Then upon pushing to github, the service hook will be called and the application automatically deployed to cloudfoundry.com.

Instructions

The basic instructions involve setting up the application on cloudfoundry.com, setting CF authentication variables to the application, then adding the servicehook to your github application.

Step 1. Push the application into your cloudfoundry environment.

 vmc push node-vmc-pusher

You will need to pick your own a unique name for the service hook.

Step 2. Set the environment variables on the application so that it can login to your cloudfoundry account.

 vmc env-add node-vmc-pusher CF_TARGET=http://api.cloudfoundry.com
 vmc env-add node-vmc-pusher CF_USER=<username>
 vmc env-add node-vmc-pusher CF_PWD=<password>

Authorization: the code checks that the github pusher email address is the same as the cloudfoundry user specified. Optionally you can whitelist other addresses to use the pusher.

 vmc env-add node-vmc-pusher CF_WHITELIST=<emailaddress>,<emailaddress>

In a future version of cloudfoundry, this mechanism will need to be re-written to use CF's oauth functionality.

Step 3. Set the github service hook for your repository to this url.

 Repository -> Admin -> Service Hooks -> PostReceive URLs
 http://node-vmc-pusher.cloudfoundry.com/pusher

Step 4. You are ready to go.

 git push <repository>
 vmc apps

This will take the repository name as the application name and push that to cloudfoundry.com when pushed.

Notes

As of today, this service hook requires all assets (i.e., packages) to be part of the checked in repository. It is possible to modify this servicehook to try to stage packages into the repository as well during the execution of the hook, but because the package managers are not installed on cloudfoundry.com, this will require running the application on a self hosted server.

The fixtures needs a binary copy of git and a .fixtures/tmp/ directory for the application to properly function. In particular, git = Ubunto 10.04 LTS version compatible. And there is no compatible system tmp directory in cloud foundry, so the tmp directory needs to be stored locally. Do not move or rename these files.