Error config option "previous_release" does not exist for first release

[alexgit2k]

I do have a task in the YAML-file which should be only executed if a specific file changed compared to the previous release:

 - run: |
     if cmp --silent "{{release_path}}/file.txt" "{{previous_release}}/file.txt"; then exit; fi
     ...

It should also run at the first release. However, as previous_release can't be set for the first release obviously: https://github.com/deployphp/deployer/blob/e3faebe878a6327b10574e81117234dcbafe9a27/recipe/deploy/release.php#L137-L140 the following error occours:

 Deployer\Exception\ConfigurationException  in Configuration.php on line 111:

  Config option "previous_release" does not exist.

Any ideas on how to solve this in YAML?

Workarounds

• Deploy again (but as in the second run the files are identically the task will not be executed)
• Fake a release-entry on first deployment

  
  deploy:release:dummyrelease:
  - cd: '{{deploy_path}}'
  - run: |
      set -e -o pipefail
      if [ -f .dep/latest_release ]; then exit; fi
      mkdir -p releases/0 .dep
      echo '{"created_at":"2000-01-01T00:00:00+0000","release_name":"0","user":"","target":"dummyrelease"}' > .dep/releases_log

before: deploy:release: deploy:release:dummyrelease

**Possible Solutions**
- Maybe `previous_release` can be set to NULL or an empty-string in an else-branch directly in recipe/deploy/release.php.
- New variable `previous_release_or_empty`

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[github-actions[bot]]

This issue has been automatically closed. Please, open a discussion for bug reports and feature requests.

Read more: [https://github.com/deployphp/deployer/discussions/3888]

[github-actions[bot]]

This issue has been automatically closed. Please, open a discussion for bug reports and feature requests.

Read more: [https://github.com/deployphp/deployer/discussions/3888]