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Roll back a deployment

syslet has no rollback command and keeps no history. To roll back, apply the specs of the last good state again; syslet diffs them against the host like any other change.

Revert in git

With the specs in a git repository, revert the commit that broke the host:

Bash
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git revert <commit>
cue cmd plan
Bash
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git revert <commit>
cat hosts/web01/*.json | ssh web01 sudo syslet --diff --stdin

Check the plan, then apply it, or push it with GitOps.

What a rollback can't restore

Applying old specs restores unit files, config files and secrets, but not what the bad apply deleted:

  • A volume removed under reclaimPolicy: "Delete", or recreated by a change, comes back empty.
  • A built image deleted under "Delete" is rebuilt on start, and a pulled image is pulled again if it's gone.
  • A podman network or volume left behind under "Retain" is reattached as it is.

Check the plan of a risky change for Podman volumes to delete: before applying it, and lock volumes whose data matters (see Lock resources).