Avoid the `env` file baked into the image

[dsha256]

Problem

The env file is baked into the image. It’s an arguable topic, but here’s my other opinion: such an approach is ok when a configuration file changes the app’s logic, and the config itself is changed rarely. For example PostgreSQL config file. But the feed aggregator’s config is just URLs, IDs, credentials, and other dynamic data, which do not change app logic, and are changed pretty often. With the current approach, we have to build a new image on every change in configuration, which complicates the delivery workflow.

[ABGEO]

@dsha256 you definitely have to try viper and override configuration with ENV variables.

You can check one of my projects for reference: https://github.com/ABGEO/mailtm/blob/main/configs/config.go

[dsha256]

Thanks, @ABGEO! Currently, I'm using viper. I mean that the ENV vars should be changed during the runtime and this ganna be happened completely randomly by the admin tool or maybe from any of the cloud provider's secret management tools. This depends on the decision we'll make and develop. Personally, I'd prefer a cloud-agnostic approach which should be the admin UI developed by me or probably someone from the community. I'd love to go with a highly flexible solution while preferring to minimize third-party dependencies.

[ABGEO]

@dsha256 you can use viper's AutomaticEnv() method and pass the values via ENV variables on runtime. e.g for docker it would be:

version: "3"
services:
  app:
    image: dsha256/plfa
    environment:
        PRAGMATIC_FEED_WS_URL: "The vendor WS URL"
        CASINO_ID: "Casino's ID"
        TABLE_IDS: "Comma-seperated tables IDs"
        CURRENCY_IDS: "Comma-seperated Currency IDs"
        REDIS_PORT: "Port to run and connect to Redis DB"
        SERVER_PORT: "Port to run the HTTP server on"
        PUSHER_CHANNEL_ID: "Pusher.com's channel ID"
        PUSHER_PERIOD_MINUTES: "Period to push data into the pusher channel"
        PUSHER_APP_ID: "Pusher.com's app ID"
        PUSHER_KEY: "Pusher.com's app key"
        PUSHER_SECRET: "Pusher.com's app secret"
        PUSHER_CLUSTER: "Pusher.com's app cluster"

It would by same for other orchestrators like k8s

[dsha256]

@ABGEO so I guess it should require to listening on a specific signal or something which can fire viper.Get(). Firing this function on every socket API request might not be the best approach. The trigger can be varied and I consider an additional protected endpoint as one of them. Anyways, this hits the flexibility. On the other hand protected endpoint hits the delivery workflow again. I think a Slack or Discord integration might fit this need efficiently. This also avoids us to develop the custom UI and reduces the maintenance cost of the security. What do you think?

P.S. Just to make sure that I fully describe the need: When the service starts with the default ENVs (If there are any) and let's say after an hour if the user wants to aggregate data for different currencies, the service should do that with a zero downtime in the case of a single instance.

[ABGEO]

Oh, now I got your point. So in this case, some performant key-value storage is the right solution, I think. What about KeyDB or etcd?

The flow is following:

• The app gets initial variables from .env file
• The app stores variables in the key-value database
• The app reads variables from the key-value DB on each request
• The user updates variables from the UI directly in the key-value DB

I can provide some Time chart, but currently, I really do not have time :d