Description

This script was initially created to manage the environment configuration and secrets of any file-based project.

It allows the developer to exclude sensitive files from git version control and help keep every environment folder organized with relative paths, similar to the root project.

The script conditionally includes special treatment for development with React Native and Expo, but can be easily adjusted to ignore this part.

Expo, React Native, EAS Build and .easignore

The EAS Build process uses the contents of .gitignore file to determine which files to include in the created JS bundle. If however the files are excluded from git version control, they are not included in the bundle unless they are explicitly included via the .easignore file.

If Expo is detected, the .easignore file will be automatically updated and the environment files entries will be included in the EAS Build process and still kept outside git version control.

How does it work?

chmod +x ./update-env.sh
./update-env.sh production

1. Copy the update-env.sh script to the root of the project
2. The script checks for the existence of the .environment folder in the root of the project
3. If the .environment folder exists, it checks for the existence of the production subfolder
4. It makes sure all files that need to be included in git version control are included, and all files that are not, are excluded.
5. It overrides the project files with the ones found in the production subfolder
6. To make sure everything is copied correctly, the production subfolder needs uses the same folder structure as the root project directory.
7. Once copied, the .gitignore file is updated to include the new entries
8. .gitignore changes that are managed by the script are organized neatly in a special section inside the .gitignore file
9. If Expo app.json, app.config.js or app.config.ts files are found, the .easignore file is also created and updated based on the .gitignore file with "a twist"
10. The environment files that are ignored in the .gitignore file are now included in the .easignore file.
11. .gitignore and .easignore existing entries are kept unchanged
12. The update-env.lock file is created to keep track of the changes made by the script and to make sure when changes are made, it is visible in git version control
13. If you want to add more files to the .gitignore file, but have them managed by the script, you can add them to the update-env.ignore file

Setup example

• This setup is meant for two environments, production and staging
• Add the use-production and use-staging scripts to your package.json file
• Create a .environment folder in the root of your project
• Create a production folder in the .environment folder
• Add production files to the production folder while respecting the same relative path structure as the root project
• Run ./update-env.sh production to update the project
• Create a staging folder in the .environment folder
• Add staging files to the staging folder while respecting the same relative path structure as the root project
• Run ./update-env.sh staging to update the project

Other notes

• The script can work with only one environment
• The .ignored folder is meant to be used as is and is useful for case where you need to use a secret/certificate, but it is not linked to the project files
• If you want to include a file in multiple environments, use copy and paste to add it manually to each one :) Trust me, it's better this way.
• Environments are determined by the subfolders present in the .environment folder
• An example archive of the .environment folder was committed along with the script
• There are 2 environments added, production and staging + a generic .ignored folder
• The update-env.ignore file is currently populated with entries used in Expo React Native projects
• The update-env.lock file is updated during the script execution, and used similar to a log file
• The #.gitignore file placeholder and #.easignore file placeholder are simple lines added to take place of existing lines in both files - they are used simply as part of the example and can be deleted