Smalltalk / Pharo image based persistence - How to deploy?

Question

how would I actually go about deploying an application that uses image based persistence? Here is my scenario: I Write a CMS in Smalltalk.In that case Data is mostly read, rarely written. Now everytime somebody writes data I can take a snapshot of the image. But how would I introduce a new version of my app and carry over the state of the running app? Wouldn't I need some form of serialization/data persistence other than the image? Thanks

Answer 1

The easiest way is to just pull in a new version using Monticello.

That shouldn't affect your existing data except where you've changed the shape of classes (for example, removing or renaming instvars) - and in those cases you'd need a migration strategy in place regardless of your persistence mechanism.

And of course, if you snapshot your image prior to updating, then rolling back is simple.