Adding build data to /application/info

One of the biggest issues in getting to the heart of problems is knowing what version is running! Have you ever gotten a 3:00 a.m. call from a customer reporting that the system is broken? In a half-awake state, it's easy to start trying to solve the problem only to discover two hours later, the customer is running an older version and that their issue was patched last week.

The solution is embedding precise versions in every release so that the customer can relay this over the phone. Then, we can quickly figure out if this issue is new, fixed, or a regression. Interested?

Just add this to the build.gradle file, right below the buildscripts section:

    id "com.gorylenko.gradle-git-properties" version "1.4.17" 

This will add a new task, generateGitProperties, to our system. Anytime we engage Gradle to build the app, whether it's to package up a runnable JAR or simply to bootRun it, a new build/resources/main/git.properties file will be generated and served...