Deploying Angular App Susper on GitHub Pages

What are the issues we had with automatic deployment of Susper?

SUSPER project which is built on Angular is kept on master branch of the repository .

Whenever any PR is merged,Travis CI does all the builds, and checks for any error. After successful checking it triggers deployment script in SUSPER (deploy.sh) .

Here is the deployment script:

#!/bin/bash

# SOURCE_BRANCH & TARGET_BRANCH stores the name of different susper.com github branches.
SOURCE_BRANCH="master"
TARGET_BRANCH="gh-pages"

# Pull requests and commits to other branches shouldn't try to deploy.
if [ "$TRAVIS_PULL_REQUEST" != "false" -o "$TRAVIS_BRANCH" != "$SOURCE_BRANCH" ]; then
    echo "Skipping deploy; The request or commit is not on master"
    exit 0
fi

# Store some useful information into variables
REPO=`git config remote.origin.url`
SSH_REPO=${REPO/https:\/\/github.com\//git@github.com:}
SHA=`git rev-parse --verify HEAD`

# Decryption of the `deploy.enc`
openssl aes-256-cbc -k "$super_secret_password" -in deploy.enc -out deploy_key -d

# give `deploy_key`. the permission to read and write
chmod 600 deploy_key
eval `ssh-agent -s`
ssh-add deploy_key

# Cloning the repository to repo/ directory,
# Creating gh-pages branch if it doesn't exists else moving to that branch
git clone $REPO repo
cd repo
git checkout $TARGET_BRANCH || git checkout --orphan $TARGET_BRANCH
cd ..

# Setting up the username and email.
git config user.name "Travis CI"
git config user.email "$COMMIT_AUTHOR_EMAIL"

# Cleaning up the old repo's gh-pages branch except CNAME file and 404.html
find repo/* ! -name "CNAME" ! -name "404.html" -maxdepth 1  -exec rm -rf {} \; 2> /dev/null
cd repo

# commit the changes, move to SOURCE_BRANCH
git add --all
git commit -m "Travis CI Clean Deploy : ${SHA}"

git checkout $SOURCE_BRANCH

# Actual building and setup of current push or PR. Move to `TARGET_BRANCH` and move the `dist` folder
npm install
ng build --prod --aot
mv susper.xml dist/
mv 404.html dist/

git checkout $TARGET_BRANCH
mv dist/* .

# Staging the new build for commit; and then committing the latest build
git add .
git commit --amend --no-edit --allow-empty

# Actual push to gh-pages branch via Travis
git push --force $SSH_REPO $TARGET_BRANCH

This script starts after successfully checking the project (comments shows working of each command). The repository is cleaned,except some files like CNAME and 404.html and a commit is made. Then SUSPER’s build artifacts are generated in dist folder and all the files from dist folder are moved to gh-pages and the changes are amended. GitHub Pages engine then uses the build artifacts to generate static site at susper.com. But we faced a weird problem when we were unable to see changes from latest commits on susper.com. Slowly number of commits increased but still changes were not reflecting on susper.com .

What was the error in deployment of SUSPER?

All the changes were getting committed to the gh-pages branch properly. But the GitHub Pages engine was unable to process the branch to build static site. Due to this the site was not getting updated. The failing builds from gh-engine are notified to the owner via email.

The failing builds from gh-pages can be seen here https://github.com/fossasia/susper.com/commits/gh-pages

Between 21 May to 18 March.

There was a weird error ( Failure: The tag `chartjs` in line 4 on `node_modules/chart.js/docs/charts/bar.md` is not recognized liquid tag) while building the site from build artifacts. There was an issue with `gh-pages` engine as `node_modules/chart.js/docs/charts/bar.md`  was previously also present but then there was no such errors than.

Due to this error all commits which were made to SUSPER repository was not shown on susper.com as the site was not getting updated.

How we solved it?

We tried to search a lot about the above mentioned error but we were unable to find a proper solution. While searching we came across this question https://stackoverflow.com/questions/24713112/my-github-page-wont-update-its-content

on StackOverflow. There was no accepted answer for this question and every answer was different from other. So, we just reproduced the bug in our own repository by just making a similar repository to SUSPER with same branches. Once we successfully reproduced the bug. We tried to correlate all the answers to arrive at a solution to fix this bug. Luckily we found that any commit with no significant change from previous commit removed the error and allowed the gh-pages engine to successfully create the site. So we made a dummy commit in which we created a hidden file with no content and pushed it to gh-pages. This did the trick for us and gh-pages was now able build the site for us.

The whole problem was due to a bug in GitHub pages engine which got fixed by a dummy commit.

Resources

  1. Stackoverflow:https://stackoverflow.com/questions/24713112/my-github-page-wont-update-its-content
  2. Publishing to GitHub Pages:https://help.github.com/articles/configuring-a-publishing-source-for-github-pages/
  3. Commits(gh-pages):https://github.com/fossasia/susper.com/commits/gh-pages
Continue ReadingDeploying Angular App Susper on GitHub Pages

Auto Deployment of SUSI Web Chat on gh-pages with Travis-CI

SUSI Web Chat uses Travis CI with a custom build script to deploy itself on gh-pages after every pull request is merged into the project. The build system auto updates the latest changes hosted on chat.susi.ai. In this blog, we will see how to automatically deploy the repository on gh pages.

To proceed with auto deploy on gh-pages branch,

  1. We first need to setup Travis for the project.
  2. Register on https://travis-ci.org/ and turn on the Travis for this repository.

Next, we add .travis.yml in the root directory of the project.

# Set system config
sudo: required
dist: trusty
language: node_js

# Specifying node version
node_js:
  - 6

# Running the test script for the project
script:
  - npm test

# Running the deploy script by specifying the location of the script, here ‘deploy.sh’ 

deploy:
  provider: script
  script: "./deploy.sh"


# We proceed with the cache if there are no changes in the node_modules
cache:
  directories:
    - node_modules

branches:
  only:
    - master

To find the code go to https://github.com/fossasia/chat.susi.ai/blob/master/.travis.yml

The Travis configuration files will ensure that the project is building for every change made, using npm test command, in our case, it will only consider changes made on the master branch.

If one wants to watch other branches one can add the respective branch name in travis configurations. After checking for build passing we need to automatically push the changes made for which we will use a bash script.

#!/bin/bash

SOURCE_BRANCH="master"
TARGET_BRANCH="gh-pages"

# Pull requests and commits to other branches shouldn't try to deploy.
if [ "$TRAVIS_PULL_REQUEST" != "false" -o "$TRAVIS_BRANCH" != "$SOURCE_BRANCH" ]; then
    echo "Skipping deploy; The request or commit is not on master"
    exit 0
fi

# Save some useful information
REPO=`git config remote.origin.url`
SSH_REPO=${REPO/https:\/\/github.com\//git@github.com:}
SHA=`git rev-parse --verify HEAD`

ENCRYPTED_KEY_VAR="encrypted_${ENCRYPTION_LABEL}_key"
ENCRYPTED_IV_VAR="encrypted_${ENCRYPTION_LABEL}_iv"
ENCRYPTED_KEY=${!ENCRYPTED_KEY_VAR}
ENCRYPTED_IV=${!ENCRYPTED_IV_VAR}
openssl aes-256-cbc -K $ENCRYPTED_KEY -iv $ENCRYPTED_IV -in deploy_key.enc -out ../deploy_key -d

chmod 600 ../deploy_key
eval `ssh-agent -s`
ssh-add ../deploy_key

# Cloning the repository to repo/ directory,
# Creating gh-pages branch if it doesn't exists else moving to that branch
git clone $REPO repo
cd repo
git checkout $TARGET_BRANCH || git checkout --orphan $TARGET_BRANCH
cd ..

# Setting up the username and email.
git config user.name "Travis CI"
git config user.email "$COMMIT_AUTHOR_EMAIL"

# Cleaning up the old repo's gh-pages branch except CNAME file and 404.html
find repo/* ! -name "CNAME" ! -name "404.html" -maxdepth 1  -exec rm -rf {} \; 2> /dev/null
cd repo

git add --all
git commit -m "Travis CI Clean Deploy : ${SHA}"

git checkout $SOURCE_BRANCH

# Actual building and setup of current push or PR.
npm install
npm run build
mv build ../build/

git checkout $TARGET_BRANCH
rm -rf node_modules/
mv ../build/* .
cp index.html 404.html

# Staging the new build for commit; and then committing the latest build
git add -A
git commit --amend --no-edit --allow-empty

# Deploying only if the build has changed
if [ -z `git diff --name-only HEAD HEAD~1` ]; then

  echo "No Changes in the Build; exiting"
  exit 0

else
  # There are changes in the Build; push the changes to gh-pages
  echo "There are changes in the Build; pushing the changes to gh-pages"

  # Actual push to gh-pages branch via Travis
  git push --force $SSH_REPO $TARGET_BRANCH
fi

This bash script will enable Travis CI user to push changes to gh pages, for this we need to store the credentials of the repository in encrypted form.

1. To get the public/private rsa keys we use the following command

ssh-keygen -t rsa -b 4096 -C "your_email@example.com"

2.  It will generate keys in .ssh/id_rsa folder in your home repository.

  1. Make sure you do not enter any passphrase while generating credentials otherwise Travis will get stuck at the time of decryption of the keys.
  2. Copy the public key and deploy the key to repository by visiting  

5. We also need to set the environment variable ENCRYPTED_KEY in Travis. Here’s a screenshot where to set it in the Travis repository dashboard.

6. Next, install Travis for encryption of keys.

sudo apt install ruby ruby-dev
sudo gem install travis

7. Make sure you are logged in to Travis, to login use the following command.

travis login

8. Make sure you have copied the ssh to deploy_key and then encrypt your private deploy_key and add it to root of your repository, use command –

travis encrypt-file deploy_key

9. After successful encryption, you will see a message

Please add the following to your build script (before_install stage in your .travis.yml, for instance):

openssl aes-256-cbc -K $encrypted_3dac6bf6c973_key -iv $encrypted_3dac6bf6c973_iv -in deploy_key.enc -out ../deploy_key -d
  1. Add the above-generated deploy_key in Travis and push the changes on your master branch. Do not push the deploy_key only the encryption file i.e., deploy_key.enc
  1. Finally, push the changes and create a Pull request and merge it to test the deployment. Visit Travis logs for more details and debugging.

Resources

Continue ReadingAuto Deployment of SUSI Web Chat on gh-pages with Travis-CI

Auto deployment of SUSI Skill CMS on gh pages

Susi Skill CMS is a web application framework to edit susi skills. It is currently in development stage, hosted on http://skills.susi.ai. It is built using ReactJS . In this blogpost we will see how to automatically deploy the repository on gh pages.
Setting up the project
Fork susi_skill_cms repository and clone it to your desktop, make sure you have node and npm versions greater than 6 and 3 respectively. Next go to cloned folder and install all the dependencies by running :

:$ npm install

Next run on http://localhost:3000 by running the command

:$ npm run start

To auto deploy changes on gh-pages branch, we need to setup Travis for the project. Register yourself on https://travis-ci.org/ and turn on the Travis for this repository. Next add .travis.yml in the root directory of the source folder.  

sudo: required
dist: trusty
language: node_js
node_js:
  - 6

before_install:
  - export CHROME_BIN=chromium-browser
  - export DISPLAY=:99.0
  - sh -e /etc/init.d/xvfb start

before_script:
  - npm run build

script:
  - npm run test

after_success:
  - bash ./deploy.sh

cache:
  directories: node_modules

# safelist
branches:
  only:
  - master 

Source: https://github.com/fossasia/susi_skill_cms/blob/master/.travis.yml

The travis configuration files will ensure that the project is building for every changes made, using npm run test command, in our case it will only consider changes made on master branch , if you want to watch other branches to add the respective branch name in travis configurations. After checking for build passing we need to automatically push the changes made for which we will use a bash script.

#!/bin/bash

SOURCE_BRANCH="master"
TARGET_BRANCH="gh-pages"

# Pull requests and commits to other branches shouldn't try to deploy.
if [ "$TRAVIS_PULL_REQUEST" != "false" -o "$TRAVIS_BRANCH" != "$SOURCE_BRANCH" ]; then
    echo "Skipping deploy; The request or commit is not on master"
    exit 0
fi

# Save some useful information
REPO=`git config remote.origin.url`
SSH_REPO=${REPO/https:\/\/github.com\//git@github.com:}
SHA=`git rev-parse --verify HEAD`

ENCRYPTED_KEY_VAR="encrypted_${ENCRYPTION_LABEL}_key"
ENCRYPTED_IV_VAR="encrypted_${ENCRYPTION_LABEL}_iv"
ENCRYPTED_KEY=${!ENCRYPTED_KEY_VAR}
ENCRYPTED_IV=${!ENCRYPTED_IV_VAR}
openssl aes-256-cbc -K $encrypted_2662bc12c918_key -iv $encrypted_2662bc12c918_iv -in deploy_key.enc -out ../deploy_key -d
chmod 600 ../deploy_key
eval `ssh-agent -s`
ssh-add ../deploy_key

# Cloning the repository to repo/ directory,
# Creating gh-pages branch if it doesn't exists else moving to that branch
git clone $REPO repo
cd repo
git checkout $TARGET_BRANCH || git checkout --orphan $TARGET_BRANCH
cd ..

# Setting up the username and email.
git config user.name "Travis CI"
git config user.email "$COMMIT_AUTHOR_EMAIL"

# Cleaning up the old repo's gh-pages branch except CNAME file and 404.html
find repo/* ! -name "CNAME" ! -name "404.html" -maxdepth 1  -exec rm -rf {} \; 2> /dev/null
cd repo

git add --all
git commit -m "Travis CI Clean Deploy : ${SHA}"

git checkout $SOURCE_BRANCH

# Actual building and setup of current push or PR.
npm install
npm run build
mv build ../build/

git checkout $TARGET_BRANCH
rm -rf node_modules/
mv ../build/* .
cp index.html 404.html

# Staging the new build for commit; and then committing the latest build
git add -A
git commit --amend --no-edit --allow-empty

# Deploying only if the build has changed
if [ -z `git diff --name-only HEAD HEAD~1` ]; then

  echo "No Changes in the Build; exiting"
  exit 0

else
  # There are changes in the Build; push the changes to gh-pages
  echo "There are changes in the Build; pushing the changes to gh-pages"

  # Actual push to gh-pages branch via Travis
  git push --force $SSH_REPO $TARGET_BRANCH
fi

Source : Bash script for automatic deployment

This bash script will enable travis ci user to push changes to gh pages, for this we need to store the credentials of the repository in encrypted form. To get the public/ private rsa keys use the following command

ssh-keygen -t rsa -b 4096 -C "your_email@example.com"

It will generate keys in .ssh/id_rsa folder in your home repository.

Make sure you do not enter any passphrase while generating credentials otherwise travis will get stuck at time of decrypting the keys. Copy the public key and deploy the key to repository by visiting  https://github.com/<your name>/<your repo>/settings/keys


Next install travis for encryption of keys.

sudo apt install ruby ruby-dev
sudo gem install travis

Encrypt your private deploy_key and add it to root of your repository using command

travis encrypt-file deploy_key

After successful encryption, you will see a message

Please add the following to your build script (before_install stage in your .travis.yml, for instance):

openssl aes-256-cbc -K $encrypted_2662bc12c918_key -iv $encrypted_2662bc12c918_iv -in deploy_key.enc -out ../deploy_key -d

Add the above generated script in travis and push the changes on your master branch. Do not push the deploy_key only the encryption file deploy_key.enc
Finally, add the deploy link of gh pages in package.json of your using key “homepage”.

 "homepage": "http://skills.susi.ai/"

And in scripts of package.json add

"deploy": "gh-pages -d build",

Commit and push your changes and from now onward all your changes will be automatically pushed to gh pages branch. For contribution visit Susi_Skill_CMS.

Resources

Continue ReadingAuto deployment of SUSI Skill CMS on gh pages

React Routes to Deploy 404 page on gh-pages and surge

Web applications need 404 page to handle broken urls. If we can have a productive 404 page we can keep users with our application. This is how we made 404 page to SUSI.AI web chat application.
React routes ?
We use react routes to navigate throughout the application.we have to define which page to go from each and every route. If user is trying to go to broken Link application should show 404 page.
In the SUSI Web Chat application we have setuped routes in index.js file which is on the root of the application.

<Router history={hashHistory}>
        <MuiThemeProvider>
            <Switch>
                <Route exact path="/" component={ChatApp} />
                <Route exact path="/signup" component={SignUp} />
                <Route exact path="/logout" component={Logout} />
                <Route exact path="/forgotpwd" component={ForgotPassword} />
                <Route exact path="*" component={NotFound} />
            </Switch>
        </MuiThemeProvider>
    </Router>

 

“<Route exact path=”*” component={NotFound} />”  This line defines the 404 page route . this should be defined after all other routes. Because application should first search for defined routes.If the requested route is not defined, Application should show the 404 route.
To use these JSX elements we have to import this dependency on top of the index.js

import {
    BrowserRouter as Router,
    Route,
    Switch,
    hashHistory
} from 'react-router-dom';

 

After you define like this It will work correctly on your localhost after you deployed it on gh-pages or surge it will not be work there as we wish.
When we try to access URL directly or when we try to access wrong URL it will redirect to default github 404 page.

After we built our application we get static index.html file and another set of files.when we try to access chat.susi.ai it will load index.html file. If we access another url it will automatically loads default github pages 404 page.
So we can do a little hack for use direct URLs like this .
We can add same copy of index.html file as 404.html then user tries to go to different URL instead of chat.susi.ai It loads our 404.html file since it contains all other routes it redirects to the correct route.if there is no matching route it shows our 404 page instead of default github pages 404 page.
Since all our deployment tasks are handle by we have to add this actions into deploy.sh file like this.

rm -rf node_modules/	 
mv ../build/* .
cp index.html 404.html   <--- this part

 

Then it will create 404.html file with the content of index.html file after each and every commit.
If you need to do the same thing on surge.sh (we use surge for show previews of every PR ) we have to add a copy of index.html file as 200.html .
You can do this after you run the

npm run deploy

 

Just before giving the deployment URL you need to create a copy of index.html file on build folder and it should be renamed as 200.html and continue.now it will work as we wish. This is all for today.

Resources

  • Read More – Adding a 200 page for client-side routing : https://surge.sh/help/adding-a-200-page-for-client-side-routing
Continue ReadingReact Routes to Deploy 404 page on gh-pages and surge