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werkator/docs/prs/2026-07-08-PR#000-permanent-artifact-links-for-latest-green-builds.md
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Michael HönnigandClaude Opus 5 d0169e57bc Renaming gitTally to Werkator because there is another git-related tool named gittally (#1) 
* renaming from gitTally to Werkator

* Rename GitTally to Werkator

`gitTally` is the name of another product in the git space, so the
rename is a precaution; nothing about what the build system does changes.

The name follows one rule: `Werkator` where it is prose, capitalized
where it is a Kotlin type and its file, lowercase everywhere a machine
reads it — the command, packages, paths, configuration keys and values,
the Gitea check context. Environment variables keep their convention and
are uppercase throughout.

Every configuration file is still found under its pre-rename name
(`ConfigFiles`): `.gittally.yml` at the repository root, in a build
worktree and as committed on a branch, `.git/gittally/.gittally.yml` for
the machine layer. The current name wins where both exist, and the old
file is then ignored rather than merged — two files side by side are a
half-done rename, not a layering. Without the fallback an installation
that updated without renaming would not fail: a configuration that is
not found leaves every setting at its default, so it would come up
looking healthy while having forgotten its credentials and its builds.

`docs/werkator-migrationsplan.md` lists what the fallback does not
cover and has to be moved by hand — above all the state directory
`.git/werkator/`, which holds the build history, the control token and
the worktrees, and has no fallback of its own.

`docs/migration-from-legacy.md` is deleted with this: it mapped the
legacy script's environment variables, and every host it addressed has
long since moved to the YAML configuration.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>

* Move the pre-rename state directory at the first start

The configuration is found under either name, the state is not: build
history, control token, auto-build slots and worktrees live at one fixed
path. An installation that updates without moving `.git/gittally` would
not fail — it would come up with an empty history and a fresh control
token, quietly. So the first start moves it instead of the release notes
asking for it.

Only when the old directory exists and the new one does not. Where both
exist nothing is touched and a warning names the leftover: which of the
two is the live state is not something to guess. A failed move is an
error in the log, never an abort — a CI must not hang on it.

The worktrees are dropped rather than moved, since they point at their
old path in both directions; `GitWorktreeWorkspaces` prunes the stale
admin entry and recreates each on its branch's next build. A generated
systemd unit moves with the directory and leaves its symlink dangling,
which is warned about — the running service is unaffected, the next
start is not.

Runs from `CliRunner`, before any command resolves a path under the
directory, and so before the second context of `server` exists.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>

* Document PR#1: the rename to Werkator

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>

* Drop the legacy env-to-YAML conversion from the setup tool

The old bash script configured itself through `GITTALLY_*` environment
variables. The blanket rename rewrote those literals, so the converter
was looking for `WERKATOR_*` — a spelling no host has ever written. Fed
a real legacy file it would have found nothing and written an almost
empty configuration, without an error, which is the same silent failure
this rename is otherwise careful to avoid.

The conversion has served its purpose with the vm2176 to vm4006
migration, so it goes instead of being repaired. What remains is the
setup of a new instance: the preconditions, the credential prompt, and
the machine configuration written mode 600 — now carrying the host's
public URL as well, since that is host-specific too. Everything the
repository builds comes from `init` and its templates.

It also stops emitting a legacy `branches:` section, which step 18 is
about to reject outright.

`docs/plan/00-legacy-analysis.md` and `13-nginx-tls.md` get the real
`GITTALLY_*` spelling back: they record what the old script read.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>

* Describe this repository's build with a build definition

Its own `.werkator.yml` still used the deprecated `branches` section
with an `autoBuild` schedule that was switched off. That section is read
only while nothing defines a build at all, and step 18 rejects it by
name — so this repository would have blocked the precondition of that
step, which asks that no configuration still in play carries it.

Nothing about the build changes: `builds.default` with `trigger.onPush`
is a build of every new commit on every branch, which is what the branch
section said. `config:print --full` resolves the definition completely
and logs no deprecation warning any more.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>

* Stop documenting the pre-rename fallback for users

Exactly one repository is configured with the old names, and it is
migrated by hand in the same move as this release. The fallback is
therefore a transition of days, not a feature anyone reading the release
notes or the configuration reference has to plan around.

Removed from `releases.html` and `docs/configuration.md`. The mechanism
itself is unchanged and stays described where it is worked on: in
`ConfigFiles`, in `StateDirMigration`, and in the migration plan.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>

* Bring the PR-doc to its final state

The `statusContext` question is answered and marked as decided rather
than left standing: it is the one value a human reads as a label, and it
stays lowercase because Gitea matches it and the client reads it back,
which makes it a value.

Also records that the pre-rename fallback is deliberately absent from
the release notes and the configuration reference.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>

* Release v1.0.0: Werkator

The release after 0.9.21 is 1.0.0, because a product that changes its
name is better off counting from one under it. The release note says as
much, so the jump is not read as a claim about maturity — plan steps 14,
17 and 18 are still open.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>

* Correct the PR-doc about the version

It claimed the PR carries no version bump, which the release commit made
untrue, and records why the number is 1.0.0 instead of 0.9.22.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>

* Point the legacy references at the history

`legacy/gitTally` was removed from the tree with the rename, but the
README still described it as a reference kept in the repository, and the
plan told an executing session to read parts of it — including step 14,
which is open.

The README section is gone; `docs/plan/README.md`, step 14 and the
legacy analysis now say where the script actually is
(`git show 7f55068^:legacy/gitTally`). Executed steps and ADR 0004 keep
their wording: they record what was true when they ran.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>

* Retarget the links in the historic PR-docs

The package rename moved every file the older PR-docs link to, leaving
60 dead links. Only the link targets are rewritten, never the visible
text and never a statement: those documents record what was true when
they were written, GitTally in the prose included. A snapshot may be
outdated; it should still be navigable.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>

* Add the v1.0.0 deployment procedure for vm4006

Measured, not estimated: the state directory is 878 MB, of which 878 MB
are the nine build worktrees. What cannot be recreated is 84 KB, so the
snapshot before an in-place switch is instant and the rollback is one
sequence of moves.

Records the three expected non-failures — a cold Gradle volume, one
image rebuild, containers left under the old label — and that
`gitea.statusContext` needs no attention because it comes from the
watched repository's committed configuration.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>

* Rename the machine configuration along with its directory

Found by the deployment to vm4006: the move renames the directory and
leaves the file inside it alone, so the machine configuration ended up at
`.git/werkator/.gittally.yml` — a pair of names the lookup did not
expect, because it pairs directory and file name. The instance resolved
empty credentials, no public URL and none of the host's build
definitions, and said nothing about it. That is the exact failure this
change exists to prevent, produced by the change itself.

`StateDirMigration` now renames the configuration with the directory,
unless one under the current name is already there. `ConfigFiles` carries
`.git/werkator/.gittally.yml` as a third candidate as well, for a
directory somebody moved by hand, where the migration never runs and so
can rename nothing.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>

* Let init see a configuration under its previous name

`init --systemd` runs `init`, and its "already exists" check knew only
the current name. On the one repository still carrying `.gittally.yml`
it therefore wrote a fresh template `.werkator.yml` beside it — and
since the current name wins, that repository would have built the
template's `./gradlew test` instead of what its own configuration says.
Found on vm4006, where the file was created in the watched working tree
and removed again by hand.

Both checks now ask `ConfigFiles`, so init decides existence by the same
rule the loader uses to read.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>

* Record the v1.0.0 deployment to vm4006

Deployed from the branch as the final test of PR#1, and it did what a
final test is for: it found two silent-failure defects before the
service was started, both fixed and redeployed in the same window.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>

* Drop the control token left under the old localStorage key

The key is named after the product, so the rename left every browser
with a token under `gittally.controlToken`, which nothing reads any more
and which "forget token" can no longer reach. It is a write-scope token
in a browser store, not a password, but a secret nobody owns is worth
one line to remove.

Removed on load. The token on the server is unchanged, so re-entering it
once per browser is all the rename costs.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>

---------

Co-authored-by: Claude Opus 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
2026-08-31 13:32:54 +02:00

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> **WARNING:** This document describes only the change applied in this PR.
> It may already be outdated once the next PR is merged.
> Historic PR-documentation is not maintained along with new PRs — treat it as a snapshot, not as current documentation.
## The Problem
Artifact URLs contain the full build key (branch hash, timestamp, build hash), e.g. `/artifacts/main-81d8471cd4ea-2026-07-08T14_27_21Z-2c6fbf59869f/reports/build/doc/`.
These URLs are cryptic, and they die when the build is pruned by retention.
There is no stable URL to share in READMEs, wikis, or bookmarks that always shows the current artifacts of a branch — especially painful for `main`, which is never deleted.
## Non-Goals
- No permanent links to failed builds — permanent links are green-only by design.
- No change to the concrete `/artifacts/<artifact-key>/…` and `/builds/<artifact-key>` URLs; they keep working as before.
- No fallback from "latest green" to "latest build"; a branch that never built successfully has no permanent link (404).
## The Scenarios
### Feature: permanent artifact links for the latest green build of a branch
#### Background
- The *permanent branch key* is the sanitized branch name without the hash suffix, e.g. `feature_demo` for `feature/demo` (the full branch key with hash suffix is accepted too).
- *Green* means build status `success`.
#### Scenario#000.01: A permanent URL serves the latest green build's artifacts
So that links in READMEs, wikis, and bookmarks stay valid across new builds.
- **Given** a branch `main` with a green build that stored artifacts
- **When** `GET /branches/main/build.stdout.log` is requested
- **Then** the file from the latest green build of `main` is served
- **and** it is served with `no-store` cache headers, because the content behind the URL changes with every new green build.
##### Verified by
- [ArtifactFileControllerTest](../../src/test/kotlin/de/hoennig/werkator/server/ArtifactFileControllerTest.kt)
- [BranchPermalinksTest](../../src/test/kotlin/de/hoennig/werkator/server/BranchPermalinksTest.kt)
#### Scenario#000.02: Directory URLs serve their index page like a static web server
So that legacy-style report links such as `/branches/main/reports/build/doc/` work.
- **Given** a stored report directory containing an `index.html`
- **When** the directory URL with trailing slash is requested
- **Then** its `index.html` is served
- **When** the directory URL without trailing slash is requested
- **Then** a redirect to the trailing-slash form is answered, so relative links inside the report resolve correctly.
##### Verified by
- [ArtifactFileControllerTest](../../src/test/kotlin/de/hoennig/werkator/server/ArtifactFileControllerTest.kt)
#### Scenario#000.03: The bare permanent URL renders a permanent artifact index
So that users can browse the latest green artifacts from one stable bookmark.
- **Given** a branch with a green build
- **When** `GET /branches/<branch-key>` is requested
- **Then** the artifact index page of the latest green build renders
- **and** all its log and report links stay on the permanent `/branches/…` paths
- **and** a note explains the permanent semantics and links to the concrete build page.
##### Verified by
- [UiControllerTest](../../src/test/kotlin/de/hoennig/werkator/server/UiControllerTest.kt)
- [PermanentBranchRoutesTest](../../src/test/kotlin/de/hoennig/werkator/server/PermanentBranchRoutesTest.kt) (the `/branches`, `/branches/<key>`, and `/branches/<key>/<path>` routes coexist)
#### Scenario#000.04: Green-only and unambiguous resolution
So that a permanent link never points at broken artifacts or the wrong branch.
- **Given** a branch whose builds all failed
- **When** its permanent URL is requested
- **Then** 404 is answered.
- **Given** two branches whose names sanitize to the same permanent key (e.g. `feature/x` and `feature_x`)
- **When** the ambiguous permanent key is requested
- **Then** 409 is answered naming the candidates
- **and** the full branch key with hash suffix still resolves uniquely.
##### Verified by
- [BranchPermalinksTest](../../src/test/kotlin/de/hoennig/werkator/server/BranchPermalinksTest.kt)
#### Scenario#000.05: The latest green build survives pruning
So that a permanent link stays valid while newer builds fail, as long as the branch exists.
- **Given** `artifacts.keepLatestGreen: true` (the default)
- **and** a branch whose latest green build is older than `artifacts.retentionPerBranch` newer failed builds
- **When** the watcher prunes results and artifacts
- **Then** the latest green build and its artifacts are kept
- **and** they are still dropped once the branch is deleted from origin.
##### Verified by
- [FileBuildResultRepositoryTest](../../src/test/kotlin/de/hoennig/werkator/build/FileBuildResultRepositoryTest.kt)
- [WatcherTest](../../src/test/kotlin/de/hoennig/werkator/watcher/WatcherTest.kt)
#### Scenario#000.06: The branches view links the permanent URL
So that users can discover the permanent link without constructing it by hand.
- **Given** the branches view (`/branches` and `GET /api/branches`)
- **When** a branch has a green build
- **Then** the API entry carries `latestGreenUrl`
- **and** the Artifacts column shows a 🔗 link to it, next to the 📄 link of the concrete latest build.
##### Verified by
- [BranchListingTest](../../src/test/kotlin/de/hoennig/werkator/server/BranchListingTest.kt)
- [UiControllerTest](../../src/test/kotlin/de/hoennig/werkator/server/UiControllerTest.kt)
## The Solution
Permanent URLs are resolved dynamically per request instead of via filesystem symlinks, because `BuildResultRepository` already knows the latest green build authoritatively and symlinks would fight the `NOFOLLOW_LINKS` guards in serving and pruning.
- `ArtifactKeys.permanentBranchKey` is the hash-free sanitized branch name; `BranchPermalinks` resolves it (or the full branch key) to the branch's latest green build, rejecting ambiguous keys with 409.
- `ArtifactFileController` gained `GET /branches/{branchKey}/{*path}`: it serves the resolved build's files with the existing traversal guards, adds directory→`index.html` handling with a trailing-slash redirect, and answers everything `no-store`.
- `UiController` gained `GET /branches/{branchKey}`, reusing the artifact-index view with a parameterized link base (`filesBase`), so the permanent index page only emits permanent links.
- `BuildResultRepository.latestGreenFor` and a `keepLatestGreen` prune flag protect the link target: the newest SUCCESS entry per branch survives retention pruning (config `artifacts.keepLatestGreen`, default `true`), and the artifact store keeps its directory because it prunes by the surviving results.
- `GET /api/branches` entries carry `latestGreenUrl`; the branches view renders it as a 🔗 icon in the Artifacts column (server-rendered Thymeleaf and `gittally.js` alike).
## Open Questions
- `artifacts.keepLatestGreen` defaults to `true`; set it to `false` to restore strict retention (the permanent URL then 404s once the green build is pruned).
- Redirecting the bare `/branches/<key>/` (trailing slash) to the index page keeps the file route and the UI route disjoint; a direct render was not worth duplicating the page mapping.
## Additional Changes
- The concrete artifact index page (`/builds/<artifact-key>`) now builds its file links from the shared `filesBase` model attribute; rendered output is unchanged.
## Follow-up PRs
- Optionally mention the permanent URL in the Gitea commit status or README badge documentation.
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