cf-deploy is a tool designed to deploy configuration files for configuration management tools (CFEngine policies, Puppet manifests...). The script itself is part of a wider strategy where the code repository is designed to support multiple projects at once, sharing common libraries and keeping project-specific code separated.

You can read more about this approach in my blog post "Git repository and deployment procedures for CFEngine policies". You can also take a look at the slides of my presentation at Config Management Camp 2015.

The code is perfectly functional but doesn't support a configuration file yet. Some support has been added in version 2 by means of environment variables. If environment variables are not set, the defaults hardcoded in the script and the Makefile are used.

ENSURE THAT THE ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES ARE EXPORTED TO SUB-SHELLS, OTHERWISE cf-deploy WON'T BE ABLE TO USE THEM!

You are more than welcome to fork this project and modify cf-deploy to add support for a configuration file and command line options. In that respect, I am personally fond of AppConfig, but feel free to use any library that does the job.

The components of the tool are currently the following:

• a Makefile, the real workhorse of the system;
• cf-deploy, a Perl frontend to the Makefile;
• a configuration file called projects.db that establishes a correspondance between a project's name, the directory in which the files for those projects reside, and the type of project: remote (deploy the files to a remote server) or local (deploy the files in a local directory)
• a configuration file called hub.db that associates each hub with its location, the project it is assigned to and the environment it serves: production (prod), preproduction (preprod), staging, test...

A sample for hub.db and projects.db is provided.

• you are using git; you can use a different tool (e.g.: svn, hg...) by changing the Makefile;
• your local copy of the git repository is checked out in $CFDEPLOY_GITDIR, or /var/cfengine/git if the environment variable is not set
• cf-deploy and its database files are in $CFDEPLOY_GITDIR/$CFDEPLOY_TOOLDIR; if CFDEPLOY_TOOLDIR is not provided, the value common/tools/deploy is used;
• the hub database is in $CFDEPLOY_GITDIR/$CFDEPLOY_TOOLDIR/$CFDEPLOY_HUBDBFILE; if CFDEPLOY_HUBDB is not provided, the value hub.db is used;
• the projects database is in $CFDEPLOY_GITDIR/$CFDEPLOY_TOOLDIR/$CFDEPLOY_PROJDBFILE; if CFDEPLOY_PROJDB is not provided, the value projects.db is used;
• by default, cf-deploy will check out the branch master, unless a different default branch is provided in the variable CFDEPLOY_BRANCH; you can also override that default with the branch operand on the command line`;
• when deploying to a remote server, the destination directory is $CFDEPLOY_MASTERDIR, or /var/cfengine/masterfiles if the environment variable is not set;
• the files are deployed using rsync; you can use a different tool/system or different options for rsync by changing the Makefile;
• the options using when diff-ing files are set in the Makefile in the variable DIFF_OPTS.

Just run the command without operands and it will tell you. This is what it returns on my laptop where it is linked in /var/cfengine/bin:

$ cf-deploy 

Usage:
  /var/cfengine/bin/cf-deploy PROJECT_NAME
    deploys project PROJECT_NAME on all hubs. It's a shortcut for
    /var/cfengine/bin/cf-deploy deploy PROJECT_NAME

  /var/cfengine/bin/cf-deploy deploy PROJECT_NAME [ branch BRANCH ] [ hub SERVER ]
    Deploys PROJECT_NAME with the specified options

  /var/cfengine/bin/cf-deploy preview PROJECT_NAME [ branch BRANCH ] [ hub SERVER ]
    preview the changes that would be applied

  /var/cfengine/bin/cf-deploy diff PROJECT_NAME hub SERVER [ branch BRANCH ]
    runs a diff for a project (hub is mandatory)

  /var/cfengine/bin/cf-deploy show PROJECT_NAME
    Describes the project PROJECT_NAME, other options are ignored

  /var/cfengine/bin/cf-deploy list projects
    Lists all defined projects, other options are ignored

  /var/cfengine/bin/cf-deploy list hubs
    Lists all but the test hubs (normally they are the one you are
    mostly interested in, but in case you are more curious...)

  /var/cfengine/bin/cf-deploy list all_hubs
    List absolutely all hubs, skipping none of them.

  You can override the default branch of a project by using the keyword
  branch. You can also override the project's hub list by specifying an
  hub with the hub keyword -- notice that specifying a hub for a local
  project is pointless