6f35c2847b
We have these funny extra options that date back to before Terraform even had remote state, which we've preserved along the way by most recently incorporating them as special-case overrides for the local backend. The documentation we had for these has grown less accurate over time as the details have shifted, and was in many cases missing the requisite caveats that they are only for the local backend and that backend configuration is the modern, preferred way to deal with the use-cases they were intended for. We always have a bit of a tension with this sort of legacy option because we want to keep them documented just enough to be useful to someone who finds an existing script/etc using them and wants to know what they do, but not to take up so much space that they might distract users from finding the modern alternative they should consider instead. As a compromise in that vein here I've created a new section about these options under the local backend documentation, which then gives us the space to go into some detail about the various behaviors and interactions and also to discuss their history and our recommended alternatives. I then simplified all of the other mentions of these in command documentation to just link to or refer to the local backend documentation. My hope then is that folks who need to know what these do can still find the docs, but that information can be kept out of the direct path of new users so they can focus on learning about remote backends instead. This is certainly not the most ideal thing ever, but it seemed like the best compromise between the competing priorities I described above.
Terraform
- Website: https://www.terraform.io
- Forums: HashiCorp Discuss
- Documentation: https://www.terraform.io/docs/
- Tutorials: HashiCorp's Learn Platform
- Certification Exam: HashiCorp Certified: Terraform Associate
Terraform is a tool for building, changing, and versioning infrastructure safely and efficiently. Terraform can manage existing and popular service providers as well as custom in-house solutions.
The key features of Terraform are:
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Infrastructure as Code: Infrastructure is described using a high-level configuration syntax. This allows a blueprint of your datacenter to be versioned and treated as you would any other code. Additionally, infrastructure can be shared and re-used.
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Execution Plans: Terraform has a "planning" step where it generates an execution plan. The execution plan shows what Terraform will do when you call apply. This lets you avoid any surprises when Terraform manipulates infrastructure.
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Resource Graph: Terraform builds a graph of all your resources, and parallelizes the creation and modification of any non-dependent resources. Because of this, Terraform builds infrastructure as efficiently as possible, and operators get insight into dependencies in their infrastructure.
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Change Automation: Complex changesets can be applied to your infrastructure with minimal human interaction. With the previously mentioned execution plan and resource graph, you know exactly what Terraform will change and in what order, avoiding many possible human errors.
For more information, see the introduction section of the Terraform website.
Getting Started & Documentation
Documentation is available on the Terraform website:
If you're new to Terraform and want to get started creating infrastructure, please check out our Getting Started guides on HashiCorp's learning platform. There are also additional guides to continue your learning.
Show off your Terraform knowledge by passing a certification exam. Visit the certification page for information about exams and find study materials on HashiCorp's learning platform.
Developing Terraform
This repository contains only Terraform core, which includes the command line interface and the main graph engine. Providers are implemented as plugins, and Terraform can automatically download providers that are published on the Terraform Registry. HashiCorp develops some providers, and others are developed by other organizations. For more information, see Extending Terraform.
To learn more about compiling Terraform and contributing suggested changes, please refer to the contributing guide.
To learn more about how we handle bug reports, please read the bug triage guide.