How stable is SalesforceDX specs ? How does weekly CLI release maintain backward compatibility

Question

The metadata api source structure has its limitation but it is stable given it is part of metadata API specs, which guarantees full backward compatibility for at least 3 years. That means you can set up build script, CI and everything once without worrying that it will break, at least for a good period of time.

On the other hands, Salesforce DX changes are released every week. How do I ensure my CI scripts and everything is stable. What if it breaks next week ? What if guys at Salesforce decide to change the convention and introduce changes, for instance, all aura components should be placed in a folder named 'aura2' instead of 'aura'.

This is part of the reason I didn't like to rely on the CLI for integration and prefer using API instead. Based on what I've seen, it's awfully unstable.

Take this as an example, CLI update caused force:source:push to spike CPU to 67%: https://bitbucket.org/RoseSilverSoftware/illuminatedcloud/issues/751/high-cpu-usage-on-source-push

Even the format of the sfdx-project.json & scratch org config files are changing occasionally. I am not opposed to changes but what is the end user agreement for backward compatibility using the CLI ? I couldn't find it anywhere.

I'm aware that the CLI has version and it is also auto updated. But We need to understand the full impacts of specs changes too frequently.

Answer 1

You can peg your continuous integration solution to a specific SFDX version so that you don't have to worry about unexpected changes modifying the CI pathway.

For example, on CircleCI, you can do something like

    - restore_cache:
        keys:
            - sfdx-6.8.2-local
    - run:
        name: Install Salesforce DX
        command: |
            if [ ! -d node_modules/sfdx-cli ]; then
                export SFDX_AUTOUPDATE_DISABLE=true
                export SFDX_USE_GENERIC_UNIX_KEYCHAIN=true
                export SFDX_DOMAIN_RETRY=300
                npm install [email protected]
                node_modules/sfdx-cli/bin/run --version
                node_modules/sfdx-cli/bin/run plugins --core
            fi
    - save_cache:
        key: sfdx-6.8.2-local
        paths: 
          - node_modules

to fix your solution on Salesforce DX 6.8.2, much as you might build a solution against a specific versioned API.

If you do not take such steps, you are correct that (versioned) changes may cause alterations to your CI solution.