Allow end-tasks, which will run when a workspace stops (timeout)

[shaal]

Similar to start-tasks I propose adding end-tasks.
End-tasks will get triggered and run when a workspace gets stopped (timeout)

Why it's necessary:

• In a "regular" (non-gitpod) setup on a local machine, working on projects that store content and changes in a database is fairly straight forward. I can pull the database once, switch between different branches, make changes in the database, and continue working on the project for many days.
• In a Gitpod setup, I can pull the database once, and any changes I make in the database will persist through timeout and a restart of a workspace. The next day (or minute) I want to work on a different branch so I start a NEW workspace, and poof! the database is gone.

How it works / Why it's a good idea:

• Once end-tasks are available, I can make sure that a machine that is about to be stopped, can run a command that will store the important information / database / docker-image in a safe place. And in the next time I open a new workspace, I can choose fetching that database I saved.
• I am sure there are many more scenarios possible that will be helpful for people once end-tasks feature is available.

[shaal]

Related issue: #4055
Technical details: #1961

[svenefftinge]

hey @shaal, the feature makes absolute sense, trying to understand your particular use case better.
It sounds like you try to do two things

1. persist in-memory state to disk before stop, so when I restart a workspace it has the same state again.
2. keep state across multiple workspaces.

I have no questions regarding 2). I wonder what the scope of that state is is that per user per project? Or is it per project? (in which case I wonder if it should not be part of the init tasks or checked into git).

I would like to understand how you intend to surface to users why they have the state they are in and how they can control it. What would a user do if they want a clean slate for some reason or have a different DB schema, because they are working on some branch that has migrations.

These issues are generally the reason why I'd recommend creating fresh workspaces per branch and don't share such data across different project states. Within a workspace, I want to keep the state, of course. So when I stop it and later start it again it definitely should have the same DB state without question.

[chlbri]

I think for commit, because if you delete accidentally a workspace, you cannot react your changes. So I want a default commit and push with timestamps or slug to save in a new branch.

[shaal]

I created an example of end-task that I want to use:
shaal/DrupalPod#18

When a workspace shuts down - .gitpod/aws-backup.sh is called (creates a binary mysql backup and stores it in AWS)
When I open a new workspace where I want to use the previous' workspace's database - I'll run .gitpod/aws-restore.sh which will restore the latest backup for this branch.
Alternatively, I can run .gitpod/aws-restore [name_of_backup] to restore a specific named backup I created on a separate workspace.

[orellabac]

This will great. It will allow me to do some simple telemetry or housekeeping tasks!

[stale]

This issue has been automatically marked as stale because it has not had recent activity. It will be closed if no further activity occurs. Thank you for your contributions.

[shaal]

Can we please add the label meta: never-stale to this issue?