4.1. Versions

Preparation

Finish the Data Sources exercise and copy the directory:

mkdir -p $LAB_ROOT/intermediate/
cp -r $LAB_ROOT/basics/data_sources $LAB_ROOT/intermediate/versions
cd $LAB_ROOT/intermediate/versions

Step 4.1.1: Create versions.tf

Create a new file named versions.tf and add the following content:

terraform {
  required_version = "= 1.11.2"

  required_providers {
    random  = {
      source  = "hashicorp/random"
      version = "= 3.7.1"
    }
    local   = {
      source  = "hashicorp/local"
      version = "= 2.5.2"
    }
  }
}

Pin the required_version to the Terraform version you are using localy!

Explanation

With multiple engineers working on the same infrastructure code base, it is inevitable to have different versions of the Terraform CLI installed.

Furthermore, are Terraform providers under heavy development and have new features added daily. This rapid development can lead to incompatibilities and trigger regressions; neither are desirable in a production environment

It is best practice to lock the Terraform CLI and provider versions to a specific release. This ensures a controlled version management and planned upgrades.

Step 4.1.2: Init Terraform

Now delete the existing terraform providers and lock files (optional), init the stack and apply it by running:

rm -r .terraform/ .terraform.lock.hcl
terraform init
terraform apply

terraform version

Step 4.1.3: Terraform code formatting

Terraform offers a command to format all files according to HashiCorp guidelines by running the following command:

terraform fmt -recursive -diff

terraform fmt -recursive -check