Deploy with single file using distillery?

Question

Background

I have an OTP Application that I now need to deploy. To achieve this, I am using distillery. My objective is to pass a self-sufficient file to the PROD machine that contains everything and doesn't need to be extracted.

The usual route

Most people using distillery will know the usual route:

1. Run MIX_ENV=prod mix release
2. Copy the tarball in build/prod/rel/<name>/releases/<version>/<name>.tar.gz to the deploy server
3. Extract the tarbal
4. Run the code.

Objective

My objective is to eliminate step 3. I don't want to extract anything, I just want to copy the release and run it, like a sudo executable.

–executable

According to the documentation one can also run MIX_ENV=prod mix release --executable or MIX_ENV=prod mix release --transient . This will create a pseudo executable file that doesn't need to be extracted.

Question

However, after running the MIX_ENV=prod mix release --executable command, I usually search the file build/prod/rel/<name>/releases/<version>/<name>.run . In theory this should be the file I need to copy into my deploy server but I can't find it anywhere.

• Which file do I need to copy into the deploy server and where is it?

Answer 1

Try double checking what you're doing. For reference, I just tried this, and it worked fine. I'm using Elixir 1.7.4 and distillery 2.0.12.

Here's what I did:

1. create a new project:

    mix new test_executable --sup 

2. added distillery to mix.exs ,

3. ran

    mix release.init 

4. ran:

    env MIX_ENV=prod mix release --executable 

   Got this output:

    ==> Assembling release.. ==> Building release test_executable:0.1.0 using environment prod ==> Including ERTS 10.2 from /usr/local/Cellar/erlang/21.2/lib/erlang/erts-10.2 ==> Packaging release.. Release successfully built! To start the release you have built, you can use one of the following tasks: # start a shell, like 'iex -S mix' > _build/prod/rel/test_executable/bin/test_executable.run console # start in the foreground, like 'mix run --no-halt' > _build/prod/rel/test_executable/bin/test_executable.run foreground # start in the background, must be stopped with the 'stop' command > _build/prod/rel/test_executable/bin/test_executable.run start If you started a release elsewhere, and wish to connect to it: # connects a local shell to the running node > _build/prod/rel/test_executable/bin/test_executable.run remote_console # connects directly to the running node's console > _build/prod/rel/test_executable/bin/test_executable.run attach For a complete listing of commands and their use: > _build/prod/rel/test_executable/bin/test_executable.run help 

5. I can now copy the file elsewhere and run it:

    cp _build/prod/rel/test_executable/bin/test_executable.run /tmp cd /tmp ./test_executable.run console Erlang/OTP 21 [erts-10.2] [source] [64-bit] [smp:12:12] [ds:12:12:10] [async-threads:1] [hipe] [dtrace] Interactive Elixir (1.7.4) - press Ctrl+C to exit (type h() ENTER for help) iex(test_executable@127.0.0.1)1>