v8.0.0 (2023-06-04)

[yajo]

BREAKING CHANGE

• Updates will overwrite existing files always. If you need to select only some files, just use git mergetool or git difftool after updating.
• Flag --overwrite/-w disappeared from copier update. It is now implicit.
• To update via API, overwrite=True is now required.
• The default update conflict mode is now inline instead of rej.
• By default, updates now consider 3 lines of context instead of just 1.
• All CLI calls to Copier must now include the subcommand as the 1st argument. For example, copier must become now copier update; also copier ./tpl ./dst must become copier copy ./tpl ./dst.
• All flags must go after the subcommand now. For example, copier -r HEAD update ./dst must now become copier update -r HEAD ./dst or copier update ./dst -r HEAD.
• Automatic mode removed. Since now subcommands are required, the automatic mode is removed.
• Deprecated copier.copy function is removed. Use copier.run_copy, copier.run_update or copier.run_recopy explicitly as needed.
• default values must be of the same type than the question.

Feat

• disable unsafe features by default and add --UNSAFE switch (feat: disable unsafe features by default and add --UNSAFE switch #1171)
• basic nixpkgs overlay
• add recopy command and function
• support conditional choices (feat: support choice validation via extended syntax  #1010)
• validate default values (feat: validate default values #1075)

Fix

• explain better why an answer casting fails
• cli: display subcommand args meaning
• preserver recursive symlinks
• work around Pydantic bug when parsing choices
• skip validating question and generating its default value when its skip condition is met

Refactor

• overwrite always on updates
• update: default to inline markers and 3 lines of context
• remove unused local overrides to answers

---

This discussion was created from the release v8.0.0 (2023-06-04).

[drewoldag]

Have tasks been deprecated now? i.e. commands under _tasks: in the copier.yml file?

Look over the code, it seems like for a copy command, if there are tasks associated, then an exception will be raised, copier will stop.

[drewoldag]

It sounds like a better option than the scary sounding "UNSAFE", but it also sounds like that might be a while before it's available?

[sisp]

Not necessarily. Anybody can contribute. 😉 Otherwise, I might be able to take a look next week. But before, we should discuss the implementation in a new issue, e.g. the location and format of the trusted list of templates, URL canonicalization, whether/how we might support wildcards in the URL, and possibly more.

[carlsylvia]

I second the concern about requiring an "--UNSAFE" flag to use tasks and extensions. We would not be able to release a template that required such a tag. This may render Copier unusable for our company. You should really think about corporate users when you make these types of changes. I would recommend you roll that change back.

[pawamoy]

@carlsylvia I'm sure Copier's maintainers think about all their users, corporate users comprised, whether they help to ensure the project's sustainability or not. As said in another thread, if v8 is problematic to you you can stay on v7 while a "trusted template" feature is implemented.

[yajo]

We're just making the already existing dangers obvious to the users. Before v8, a template could execute any random code in the user machine. Running copier copy ... had the same level of risk as curl ... | bash. Thus, it was extremely unsafe. Something had to be done.

Is a company eager to use unsafe tools as long as that unsafety is hidden under the carpet? Maybe the problem is the safety policy in the company, and not copier.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying this can't be improved. But I appreciate it when tools warn me before potentially breaking my system. Any UX improvements are welcome, but the feature will stay, one way or another.

[carlsylvia]

The addition of this flag is very problematic and I recommend you consider rolling this back. My guess is the majority of your users are building templates for in-house use, and your attempt to implement some form of "safeness" is not appropriate. How are you determining/defining what is "safe"?

[yajo]

A template that includes tasks or extra extensions is unsafe.

Also one update that will execute migrations.

[Kludex]

I didn't read what is written here, but I can't use copier . . anymore. Is this going to be fixed?

I don't know the background of this, but it would be cool to have a good error message. 🤷‍♂️

[yajo]

The shortcut syntaxes are removed to open room for more subcommands.

[gerektoolhy]

Update:

It appears that subcommands are now mandatory. See my next comment for explanation.

======

Hey, I am confused regarding Flag --overwrite/-w disappeared from copier update. It is now implicit. change. It seems that what worked in v7 does not work in v8. See command below:

copier init_project_dir /Users/destination_folder -w -d param_a=value_a -d param_b=value_b 
--
Error: Unknown switch -w
------
copier 8.0.0

Could this be an unwanted side effect? My initial thought was that by default copier executes update if no sub-command is given, however, checking the documentation it says otherwise:

(see Generating project documentation)

And to update a project one has to explicitly provide subcommand copier update (see Updating a project documentation)

[gerektoolhy]

Update:

ok, i missed this part:

All CLI calls to Copier must now include the subcommand as the 1st argument. For example, copier must become now copier update; also copier ./tpl ./dst must become copier copy ./tpl ./dst.

So looks like documentation has to be updated to reflect this, as it is still saying otherwise.

Also, this looks like a very important breaking change, and IMO should be somehow marked more explititly, e.g. perhaps this can be moved to the top of breaking changes. But maybe thats just me.

[sisp]

Thanks for reporting outdated docs! 🙏 Let me fix them quickly.

[gerektoolhy]

Thank you!

I also missed explanation on the subcommands, i.e. does copier source dest automatically default to copier copy source dest? That would be good to clarify as well!

[sisp]

Prior to Copier v8, copier source dest was implicitly equivalent to copier copy source dest, but we decided to require explicit subcommands like copy and update and move the flags and switches from the global level to the subcommands (see #1081, #1143).

[sisp]

I've submitted a PR that updates the docs: #1192