Previous app versions from TrueNAS repo unavailable?

[omeganot]

While trying to restore functionality to my applications after the 22.12.2 update (and since rolling back to 22.12.1) I ended up resetting my apps entirely. Unset the pool, removed the dataset, changed CIDR, everything to start from scratch. But that's not the point...

I went to install an app and noticed that the version number had changed, and not only that, but the previous version doesn't exist anymore. There's a dropdown to select a version, but only one option is present. Seems like the old version was removed from https://github.com/truenas/charts and it seems like this is the case for any app updates. I'm curious, why are the old ones removed? How can we install them from the official repo, especially in cases like this when rolling back the boot and potentially wanting to get back to an older version of an app for compatibility?

 

[ShaggyKris]

Looks like the way that the Github repo history is maintained that directories are simply renamed and chart values refactored, rather than keeping a directory history of previous versions. It would be preferable if the build system had a history of versions rather than simply refactoring the previous ones, otherwise what is the purpose of being able to "choose" a version? I understand that it is likely a space-saving measure, but ultimately it would be wise to have the ability to revert to previous versions if possible.

 

[whodat]

@omeganot you might get some traction by asking the same here?

Reddit - Dive into anything

www.reddit.com

 

[omeganot]

@whodat - I appreciate the link! I thought that I should look for something iX official to ping as well, but before I did thought I'd engage the community and see what's what. I'll catch up on the thread there and chime in where appropriate.

This type of package management isn't so much an "error" as it is a preference, as @ShaggyKris notes. They're using GitHub as a mere file repo, which is fine, but the fact that previous versions are removed is really wonky. I'd rather see a proper package repository used to manage applications and let me point my TrueNAS SCALE towards numerous package repos, not file repos.

 

[jw314159]

@omeganot - Were you ever able get to the bottom of this behavior/practice?

I noticed the same thing today; that the TrueNAS official apps only seem to have one available (current) version to deploy, while TrueCharts apps have several historical versions. This bit me today when I found that the app I was trying to use (TP-Link Omada controller) had a pretty severe bug in the current version related to restoring config file backups. The bug was inherited from the source 3rd party Docker image, and required you to go back several minor versions to resolve.

Using the TrueCharts version of the app I was able to walk back a couple versions to find something that worked, however with the TrueNAS official version you seem to be SOL for new deployments.

 

[omeganot]

@omeganot - Were you ever able get to the bottom of this behavior/practice?

Nope. iX Systems has not updated the way packages are managed in TrueNAS and the GitHub repo continues to only show the latest of any given application. It would be really nice if there were at least different folders for each version, or if a true package repository was used instead.

There could be a workaround, but I'll admit, I haven't tried it. You could potentially create a catalog at a different version of the GitHub repo. This might be possible by using a URL that is pointed specifically at a different commit. Or, you could fork/copy https://github.com/truenas/charts/ from a specific version to a local repo of your own, and use that as the catalog. It's annoying, but it should work.

 

[jw314159]

@omeganot - Thanks for the update. In the end, for my particular issue, I filed a bug report with the 3rd party image maintainer and they were able to get a fix out overnight. This was then picked up by redeploying the associated TrueNAS / TrueCharts apps.

This would probably not have gone as well if the bug was in the actual source application, or if the random guy that maintains the docker image for it was not a rockstar.

I agree that it seems useful to be able to deploy alternate versions of apps. I am very new to this ecosystem, however, so could easily be missing something. I described this situation to a friend who highlighted that this is essentially how consumer facing mobile-app stores work.

Is it clear that the TrueNAS apps will never have multiple versions available by design, or is this something that might happen in the future?