Octopus Deploy uses a snapshot of deployment until I create a new release

Question

I'm trying to set up a deployment in Octopus Deploy. As many other devs, I do that through iterations: tweak steps/scripts/packages -> click "Deploy" -> inspect the outcome -> start again if not satisfied. In case of Octopus Deploy, it uses a snapshot of the deployment process if any steps/scripts were changed since last release. Basically, when it comes to deploy, I get this warning:

Warning: for consistency, this deployment will use a snapshot of the variables and deployment process, which do not include the latest changes that have been made to the project. A changed process can only be incorporated by creating a new release (this one may be renamed if desired). Variables can be updated via the release page.

This means that I need to add a new release just to check if my deployment scripts change has taken effect or not. To add a release, I need to update the version and so on.

My question would be: how can I redeploy the same release with all the step changes introduced since the previous release? Is there a way to not create a new release to do that?

Answer 1

I asked this question of Paul Stovall several months ago when I started working with Octopus. His answer was "no".

I'm afraid there is not a way to do this without creating a new release. When you create a release, Octopus deploy stores an object in its internal database which is a snapshot in time containing everything needed to deploy. It doesn't have a mechanism to update these stored objects, and so it is required for you to create a new release each time.

Answer 2

Please note that even though a snapshot of the process is taken, the variables can be updated if you're redeploying a previous release. If you're just changing variable values, then yes, you can reuse the same release over and over. If you're changing any of the process steps, then no - you have to create a new release.

If anything the version number just helps keep things segregated. The only time this becomes a problem is if you're using NuGet versioning, but if you're using the standard variable template versioning in Octopus deploy, it's incrementing the last digit in the version number.