change suggested apply command after saving plan file to account for -chdir

[EugenKon]

Terraform Version

Terraform v1.8.5
on darwin_amd64
+ provider registry.terraform.io/hashicorp/aws v5.51.1
+ provider registry.terraform.io/hashicorp/external v2.3.3
+ provider registry.terraform.io/hashicorp/local v2.5.1
+ provider registry.terraform.io/hashicorp/null v3.2.2
+ provider registry.terraform.io/hashicorp/random v3.6.2
+ provider registry.terraform.io/hashicorp/tls v4.0.5

Terraform Configuration Files

not relevant

Debug Output

Expected Behavior

The plan should be run

Actual Behavior

plan was not found

Steps to Reproduce

1. terraform -chdir=derived-src/aws/ plan -state=../../state.d/terraform.tfstate -replace "module.private-cloud.aws_instance.server[0]" -out repl
2. terraform apply "repl"

Though the next command works: terraform -chdir=derived-src/aws/ apply -state=../../state.d/terraform.tfstate "repl"

It would be nice to output additional mandatory option for the plan instead of just terraform plan "repl" (see the debug output above).

Or, the better solution, save -chdir and -state options into the plan and save the plan into the current directory.

Additional Context

No response

References

No response

[jbardin]

Hi @EugenKon,

You specified that terraform should run in the derived-src/aws/ directory, and since that was the working directory for the process, that is where the repl file will have been saved.

We use GitHub issues for tracking bugs and enhancements, rather than for questions. While we can sometimes help with certain simple problems here, it's better to use the community forum where there are more people ready to help.

Thanks!

[EugenKon]

@jbardin This is not the question, this is the proposition to improve TF output. Here instead of terraform apply "repl" (see the debug output section) it should print terraform -chdir=derived-src/aws/ apply -state=../../state.d/terraform.tfstate "repl", because terraform knows that directory was changed and state is on the different path.

This is misleading to see the hint which does not work.

[jbardin]

@EugenKon, thanks I see what you mean now, and we can file this as an enhancement request. Getting that output might be a bit more difficult than it sounds, since terraform has already changed its working directory before the planning process has even begun.

[apparentlymart]

We do currently "remember" the original working directory so that path.cwd can return it instead of the switched working directory (for backward compatibility with how this used to work before we added -chdir):

terraform/internal/command/workdir/dir.go

Lines 114 to 124 in 8e4d466

	// OriginalWorkingDir returns the true, operating-system-originated working
	// directory that the current Terraform process was launched from.
	//
	// This is usually the same as the main working directory, but differs in the
	// special case where the user ran Terraform with the global -chdir=...
	// option. This is here only for a few backward compatibility affordances
	// from before we had the -chdir=... option, so should typically not be used
	// for anything new.
	func (d *Dir) OriginalWorkingDir() string {
	return d.originalDir
	}

The command.Meta object has a pointer to this workdir.Dir object inside it, and so in principle we could use filepath.Rel to resolve the current working directory relative to the original working directory and, if it turns out to be anything other than just ., add a -chdir=... option to the message using that result as the option's argument.

However, I think this specific message is being printed by the local backend rather than by package command, so we will probably need to arrange for this information to be included in the operation request object we send to the backend so that the information will be available in the right place.