Making Slackbots deploy iOS apps for you

In this presentation I talked about the issues a big dev team like ours had when deploying iOS apps to TestFlight and Crashlytics, as well as the solutions that Fastlane, Slack, and Vapor framework has provided us.

Presented originally at the Tokyo iOS Meetup.(https://www.meetup.com/TokyoiOSMeetup/events/237038601/)

Transcript

1. MAKING SLACKBOTS DEPLOY IOS APPS FOR YOU Tokyo iOS Meetup @johnestropia
2. @JOHNESTROPIA ➤ Been writing iOS apps since 2011 ➤ Author of Swift Core Data framework, CoreStore ➤ Creator of Pokemon GO utility app, PokeRater
3. @JOHNESTROPIA ➤ Currently Senior Engineer at (member of IAC / Match Group) ➤ ➤ iOS Daily active users: 120k+ ! ➤ ➤ iOS Daily active users: 118k+ !, 10k+ " ➤ Deployment is taken very seriously
4. THE IOS DEPLOYMENT PROCESS
5. TYPICAL IOS DEPLOYMENT PROCESS 1. Compile 2. Code-Sign 3. Upload to iTunesConnect or other distribution services (e.g. Crashlytics) 4. Submit for Apple Review
6. 1. COMPILING ➤ In our case: • 350+ *.swift files • 220+ *.h files • 230+ *.m files • (3rd party libraries not included) ➤ Problem: Compile time • Debug: 5~mins • Release: 15~mins • Dev can’t do any coding during this time (Xcode is busy)
7. 2. CODE-SIGNING ➤ In our case: • Multiple schemes each with their own certificates/mobileprovisioning • Mix-and-match of: ✦ Country: ! / " ✦ Deployment: Debugger / Crashlytics / TestFlight / AppStore ✦ Server: Staging / Production ➤ Problem: Error prone across multiple developers • Missing certificates / private keys • Sharing vs. Security • Confusing (which scheme uploads to where?)
8. 3. UPLOADING TO ITUNESCONNECT ETC. ➤ In our case: • Many team members ✦ Pairs ! → 6 devs ✦ Pairs " → 3 devs ➤ Problem: Sensitive to Mac’s installed tools and configurations • Xcode version (sometimes Mac version) • Apple accounts • Code-Signing again
9. 4. SUBMITTING FOR APPLE REVIEW ➤ Nothing much we can do here
10. MEET FASTLANE https://fastlane.tools/
11. WHAT’S ➤ Let the website speak for itself:
12. WHAT’S ➤ Set of tools (Ruby scripts) for common actions such as: ➤ git branch management ➤ ensuring Xcode version ➤ managing certificates and keys ➤ building / archiving the app ➤ uploading to TestFlight, Crashlytics, HockeyApp, Appetize, etc., etc. ➤ notifications through Slack, Chatwork, Twitter, etc. ➤ A whole lot more: https://docs.fastlane.tools/actions/
13. WHAT’S ➤ Just declare script invocations in a FastFile (ruby) file: lane :deploy do |options| country = options[:country] deployment = options[:deployment] server = options[:server] # ... sigh(...) # manages certificates (auto-downloads certs) gym(...) # archives the app pilot(...) # uploads to iTunesConnect end $ fastlane deploy country:jp deployment:testflight server:production
14. THANKS TO FASTLANE 1. Compile 2. Code-Sign 3. Upload to iTunesConnect 4. Submit for Apple Review ← Problems solved! ← Problems solved! ← Still long and disruptive
15. SO MUCH ROOM FOR IMPROVEMENT… ➤ Compilations are still long and waste time. ➤ We still have security concerns sharing our certificates and keys. ➤ We found more problems: Fastlane’s tools are convenient, but everyone is doing things independently. ➤ Incrementing version numbers (e.g. Which branch’s version should be incremented?) ➤ Hard to track who uploaded what. ➤ Build notifications became noise.
16. BUILD SERVER ☁☁☁☁☁☁☁☁☁☁☁
17. THE IDEA ➤ With a centralized build server, devs can freely use their Xcode even during deployment. ➤ Certificates and keys are in one place and do not need to be shared. ➤ Prioritize tasks appropriately (e.g. version bumps) ➤ Granular control of notifications ➤ Basically, if we wrote our own server anything is possible.
18. THE IDEA Build server ???
19. DECISIONS, DECISIONS… ➤ We thought of two scenarios to make this work: ➤ Cloud service for the build server + integrated Slack app to send commands. ➤ Dedicated local Mac as the build server + write a Mac app to run a Slack bot to parse chat commands.
20. ➤ We thought of two scenarios to make this work: ➤ Cloud service for the build server + integrated Slack app to send commands. ➤ Dedicated local Mac as the build server + write a Mac app to run a Slack bot to parse chat commands. DECISIONS, DECISIONS… ➤ Most services cost $$$ (# of concurrent tasks, builds per day, users) ➤ Would be a pain to configure the level of control we want ➤ Local Mac = Secure ➤ Runs on company network but still have access to Slack ➤ Certifications/authentications don’t need to leave the machine. ➤ Coding a bot sounded very cool!
21. OUR INTERFACE: SLACKBOT Build server
22. SLACKBOT ➤ WebSocket-based API (Real Time Messaging API) ➤ but Web API also available ➤ https://api.slack.com/rtm ➤ The bot is just like a normal user, on steroids: ➤ Can passively listen to ALL chat messages in ALL channels it is invited to ➤ the bot app can then parse those messages and handle appropriately ➤ and also send Slack responses
23. OUR SLACKBOT'S APP Build server
24. VAPOR ➤ "Server-side" Swift web framework ➤ By default has no dependence on Cocoa frameworks (can run on Linux) ➤ They have a Slackbot template! ➤ https://github.com/vapor-community/slack-bot ➤ Just provide Slack auth tokens in the bot-config.json file and the bot is ready
25. BASIC SWIFT CODE LOGIC ➤ Parse messages of the form @<botname> <command> <parameters> ➤ Interpret the command, transform parameters if needed ➤ Validate sender permissions, enqueue tasks as appropriate ➤ Execute Fastlane from Swift using Process (NSTask in Obj-C) ➤ Process Fastlane's console output using Pipe (NSPipe in Obj-C) ➤ Interpret the output, report back to Slack chat ➤ Abuse Slack's custom emoji support! :partyparrot: :sadparrot: :loading: :done:
26. PROCESS + PIPE (NSTASK + NSPIPE) let task = Process() task.launchPath = "/bin/bash" task.arguments = ["fastlane deploy country:jp deployment:appstore server:staging"] // ... let pipe = Pipe() task.standardOutput = pipe task.standardError = pipe pipe.fileHandleForReading.waitForDataInBackgroundAndNotify() let logObserver = NotificationCenter.default.addObserver( forName: NSNotification.Name.NSFileHandleDataAvailable, object: pipe.fileHandleForReading, queue: nil, using: { (notification) -> Void in // ... read fileHandle for console output strings } ) task.launch() task.waitUntilExit()
27. ALL SET!
28. MEET OUR SLACKBOT @porygon
29. DEPLOYMENT WITH CHAT COMMAND
30. DEPLOYMENT WITH CHAT COMMAND
31. DEPLOYMENT WITH CHAT COMMAND
32. DEPLOYMENT WITH CHAT COMMAND
33. DEPLOYMENT FAILURES
34. CUSTOM BOT = INFINITE POSSIBILITIES
35. CUSTOM BOT = INFINITE POSSIBILITIES
36. CUSTOM BOT = INFINITE POSSIBILITIES
37. CUSTOM BOT = INFINITE POSSIBILITIES
38. CUSTOM BOT = INFINITE POSSIBILITIES
39. CUSTOM BOT = INFINITE POSSIBILITIES
40. INFRASTRUCTURE: LAST LOOK Build server
41. THANKS FOR YOUR TIME! ➤ Questions? ➤ Twitter: @JohnEstropia ➤ Github: github.com/JohnEstropia