modeltee 0.1.1

A framework for automating software releases

Modeltee is a tool to automate software releases.

I find that release time often involves several manual steps: remember to update the version number in several places, commit, make a clean build, upload, make and push a git tag…

Why a new tool? I could automate all that with a shell script. Modeltee lets you:

• Define a reusable release procedure and subclass that for different projects.
• Automatically check for required tools before starting a release.
• Share components which can add checks and information.

Install it with:

pip install modeltee

You define a release process as a subclass of modeltee.ReleaserBase. There are five steps you can control.

1. Automated checks (check_prereqs): check that e.g. git is installed. The base method runs checks from components you’re using. If you override it, it’s recommended to call it using super().
2. Manual confirmation (user_confirm): present information to the user, and give them an opportunity to cancel. The base method presents information provided by components you’re using.
3. Steps before release (before_release): you might want to set the version number, make a clean build, give the tests a final run…
4. The release itself (do_release): upload and tag the release. This is the one step you must define.
5. Steps after release (after_release): e.g. set the version number to x+1.dev.

A simple releaser for a Python package might look like this:

from modeltee import ReleaserBase, Command, Bumpversion, Git
import sys

class Releaser(ReleaserBase):
    # These are components: they define checks to run before starting and
    # info to present, as well as providing shortcuts to use below.
    git = Git()
    twine = Command('twine')
    python = Command(sys.executable)
    bumpversion = Bumpversion()

    def before_release(self):
        self.bumpversion('--new-version', self.version, 'minor')
        self.python('setup.py', 'sdist')
        self.git('commit', '-am', 'version number -> {}'.format(self.version))
        self.git('push')

    def do_release(self):
        self.twine('upload', 'dist/foo-{}.tar.gz'.format(self.version))
        self.git('tag', str(self.version))
        self.git('push', '--tags')

if __name__ == '__main__':
    Releaser.main()

And you’d run it like this:

./release.py 1.3

Modeltee is named after the Ford Model T, one of the first cars to be mass produced on an assembly line.