recover .tf config from .tfstate

phalient

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Mar 27, 2015, 5:34:17 PM3/27/15

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Hi guys

Just started with Terraform so nothing serious and not backing up my work.

I just hit a bump where my .tf file is hosed (by my own doing) but my .tfstate is fine (still reflective of my island) and terraform plan/refresh

Probably won't happen when I start getting real work done (version control, backups etc) but curious what you guys do if ever this situation eventuated for you. ie .tf file not usable/too hard to rebuild but .tfstate is still ok.

Or have I missed something about the inherent workflow in terraform?

cheers

Mitchell Hashimoto

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Mar 27, 2015, 5:39:27 PM3/27/15

to phalient, <terraform-tool@googlegroups.com>

Hi,

This isn't possible right now but this is planned as a major feature, likely for 0.6+, not for 0.5.

Best,

Mitchell

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David Cunningham

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Mar 30, 2015, 7:25:40 AM3/30/15

to Mitchell Hashimoto, phalient, <terraform-tool@googlegroups.com>

I think there is information lost in the tf -> tfstate process but not sure exactly what:

Variables? Interpolation code? Modules?

Even so it should be possible to generate something useful from the tfstate (analogous to reverse engineering a compiled executable) and then that tf file could then be refactored manually.

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Armon Dadgar

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Mar 30, 2015, 12:56:02 PM3/30/15

to David Cunningham, Mitchell Hashimoto, 'David Cunningham' via Terraform, phalient, <terraform-tool@googlegroups.com>

Hey David,

The state file contains a snapshot of the world view of Terraform, where the TF files themselves

are the desired state. Inside the TF file, attributes of resources may be specified as a constant,

a variable, interpolation, or allowed to be computed. But once the state file is created that information

is lost and only the value is retained. For example an instance will have a “vpc_id” but there is no sane way

to reverse from that how it was populated.

It would be possible to generate TF config from a state file, but it would be a very lossy transformation.

Best Regards,

Armon Dadgar

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David Cunningham

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Mar 30, 2015, 1:01:42 PM3/30/15

to Armon Dadgar, Mitchell Hashimoto, 'David Cunningham' via Terraform, phalient

Does it also lose the module structure (flatten the resources)?

Mitchell Hashimoto

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Mar 30, 2015, 1:06:23 PM3/30/15

to David Cunningham, Armon Dadgar, 'David Cunningham' via Terraform, phalient

David,

The module structure is encoded in the state.

Best,

Mitchell

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