Add support for removed block

[nevelis]

Terraform Version

Terraform v1.6.5
on linux_amd64
+ provider registry.terraform.io/hashicorp/aws v5.28.0
+ provider registry.terraform.io/hashicorp/external v2.3.1
+ provider registry.terraform.io/hashicorp/null v3.2.1

Use Cases

The proposal is to add a block to mark state to be removed from the state file.

The last few major Terraform releases has been good to us. We had moved, we got import, we got for_each over import blocks. With these, and the -replace flag, we can now prepare plans that encapsulate the entire transition of the infrastructure state, instead of doing:

• Use terraform apply -replace=x over terraform taint x
• Use import { from = x, to = y } over terraform import x y
• Use moved { from = x, to = y } over terraform state mv x y

... but we have nothing for terraform state rm x

We support moving objects around, we support importing, but we cannot support un-importing. Being able to detach an object from being managed by Terraform during the application of a plan would prevent the last of our remaining needs to manually manipulate the state file. For now. :)

Attempted Solutions

Initial condition:

# main.tf:

resource "aws_vpc" "myvpc" {
   ...
}

resource "aws_vpc" "theirvpc" {
   ...
}

import {
  id = "xxx"
  to = aws_vpc.othervpc
}

moved {
  from = aws_vpc.othervpc
  to   = aws_vpc.theirvpc
}

Now lets say that we have released this, and we either decide we've imported the wrong othervpc that has been moved to theirvpc. If we remove aws_vpc.their_vpc from main.tf, the object will be removed. In order to prevent this, we would do terraform state rm aws_vpc.theirvpc before applying these changes.

Proposal

# main.tf:

resource "aws_vpc" "myvpc" {
   ...
}

removed {
  from = aws_vpc.theirvpc
}

terraform apply

References

No response

[jbardin]

Hi @nevelis,

A removed block feature will be available in v1.7. You can see the first beta release notes here: https://github.com/hashicorp/terraform/releases/tag/v1.7.0-beta1

Thanks!

[nevelis]

YOU ARE AMAZING. Love your work! 😁

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