Since we added support for PLSPs recently, and it will be released as part of 1.9.3, we add some documentation regarding the environment variables we added, and a note regarding their relation to PLSP support.
* docs: add a paragraph on fingerprint generation
Since version 1.9.0+ changed the way Packer generates fingerprints for
HCP Packer, we add a small paragraph to explain how it used to be
generated before, and how it changed in this version.
* Apply suggestions from code review
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Co-authored-by: Wilken Rivera <wilken@hashicorp.com>
With HCP supporting multi-projects now, Packer needs to take it into
account when picking a project from an organisation.
This commit adds two cases:
1. multiple projects are defined, none is supplied through
HCP_PROJECT_ID: in this case we will default to the oldest project
defined for the organisation.
2. we supply HCP_PROJECT_ID: in this case, we pick the project with the
corresponding ID, and use it for publishing metadata.
Fingerprints are how we link a packer build to an iteration on HCP.
These are computed automatically from the Git SHA in the current state,
and are unique to the bucket/iteration.
The main problem with this approach is that while sound in theory, it
quickly falls apart when users want to run the same build configuration
twice, but expect a new image to be created.
With the current model, this fails, as the iteration with the current
SHA already exists.
While this is solvable through environment variables, or by committing a
change to the repository, we think this is not clear enough, and causes
an extra step to what should otherwise be a simple process.
Therefore, to lower the barrier of entry into HCP, we change this
behaviour with this commit.
Now, fingerprints are randomly generated ULIDs instead of a git SHA, and
a new one is always generated, unless one is already specified in the
environment.
This makes continuation of an existing iteration a conscious choice
rather than something automatic, and virtually eliminates conflicts such
as the ones described above.
* Add documentation for configuring Packer for HCP Packer
This change works to document the two configuration options for setting
up Packer to publish build artifacts to an active HCP Packer registry.
Currently the HashiCorp Cloud Platform documents the process for
configuring Packer via a HCL template, which is the preferred route.
This documentation focuses more on the use of environment variables for
configuring Packer for HCP Packer, which is necessary for legacy JSON
template users looking to publish to HCP Packer.
In light of the new HCP Packer documentation page we've opted for a shorter
version of the HCP Packer introduction section.
* Applying the first round of suggestions to tighten up the documentation.
* Move HCP Packer side bar to top
* Move intro into docs
* Add redirects for intro pages
Co-authored-by: Laura Pacilio <83350965+laurapacilio@users.noreply.github.com>
