Mix.Tasks.Upload.Hotswap

This package provides a mix task named mix upload.hotswap to deploy local code changes to remote node(s) and to apply them without rebooting whole the application (the so-called hot code swapping).

It could be convenient when you code for IoT devices backed by Nerves because it's much faster than mix firmware && mix upload. Although you eventually need to update the firmware if you want to persist the changes onto devices, this task could be your help in development phase because it allows you to quickly confirm if your changes work fine on the devices without waiting long time.

Installation

Add mix_tasks_upload_hotswap to your list of dependencies in mix.exs:

def deps do
  [
    {:mix_tasks_upload_hotswap, "~> 0.1.0", only: :dev}
  ]
end

Prerequisites

To use this package, you need to meet the requirements below:

1. Add configurations for mix upload.hotswap
2. Start node(s) on your device(s) through which your code changes are deployed

1. Add configurations for mix upload.hotswap

The task mix upload.hotswap depends on the settings below are available:

config :mix_tasks_upload_hotswap,
  app_name: :example,
  nodes: [:"[email protected]"],
  cookie: :"secret token shared between nodes"

All the pairs above are required to be set.

See example/config/config.exs for working example.

2. Start node(s) on your device(s) through which your code changes are deployed

Start a node which has the name and cookie set in the configuration above. The code should be like below:

# Start a node through which local code changes are deployed
# only when the device is running in the develop environment
if Application.get_env(:example, :env) == :dev do
  System.cmd("epmd", ["-daemon"])
  Node.start(:"[email protected]")
  Node.set_cookie(Application.get_env(:mix_tasks_upload_hotswap, :cookie))
end

Notice that the node starts only when the :env of the application is set to :dev. Below is an example to configure the environment value in config.exs:

config :example, env: Mix.env()

See example/lib/example/application.ex and example/config/config.exs for working example.

Usage

Mix Task

Make some changes into your code and just execute the mix task as below:

$ mix upload.hotswap

Illustration by Example App

Imagine there is an Example application which has hello method as below:

def hello do
  :world
end

You can confirm the method invoked on your device:

$ ssh nerves.local
(snip)

iex([email protected])1> Example.hello
:world

Suppose you made some changes like below:

diff --git a/example/lib/example.ex b/example/lib/example.ex
index ca49896..81c696a 100644
--- a/example/lib/example.ex
+++ b/example/lib/example.ex
@@ -13,6 +13,6 @@ defmodule Example do

   """
   def hello do
-    :world
+    :"new world"
   end
 end

You can deploy the changes to the device as below:

$ mix upload.hotswap
==> nerves
==> example

Nerves environment
  MIX_TARGET:   rpi3
  MIX_ENV:      dev

Compiling 2 files (.ex)
Generated example app
Successfully connected to [email protected]
Successfully deployed Elixir.Example to [email protected]
Successfully deployed Elixir.Example.Application to [email protected]

Now you can see the changes applied into the code on the device:

$ ssh nerves.local
(snip)

iex([email protected])1> Example.hello
:"new world"

It's much faster than mix firmware && mix upload.

Acknowledgement

Using Erlang Distribution to test hardware - Embedded Elixir inspired me how to implement this package.

Author

Kentaro Kuribayashi

License

MIT