Mastering the RDOe Command Line (ald)

A hands-on, six-part video series that takes you from first sign-on to full promotion and deployment — all from your terminal.

The RDOe GUI client is great for exploring your repository visually — but when you want to script your workflow, plug into CI/CD, or just work fast without leaving the terminal, the RDOe Command Line (the ald command) is your best friend.

In this series we build up your command-line skills one layer at a time. We start from a clean machine, set up a workspace, and walk all the way through daily development, release administration, assemblies, promotion, deployment, and configuration. Every command shown here maps directly to something you already know from the GUI — only now it’s scriptable.

Prerequisites: The ald client installed on your machine, a registered Security Server user profile, and network access to your RDOe server. Throughout the demos we use a symbolic link so that ald can be called directly from any directory.

Getting Started

Every journey starts with a connection. In this opening episode we verify the client version, initialize a local working directory against a Release, sign on to the RDOe server, register the machine, and wire up a development environment. By the end you’ll have a workspace that’s ready for real work.

Commands covered

Quick start

ald -v
ald initialize 'RDOeServer:RDOeDemo/RDOeDemoApp/SourceComp(100)::$1'
ald signon
ald getversion -A

Tip: Not sure what’s available? Run ald with no arguments for usage, ald -h commands for the full command list, or ald -h <command> for details on any single command.

Daily Development Workflow

This is the episode most developers will live in. We cover the everyday loop: pull the latest code into your workspace, check out the files you want to change, inspect status, compare your edits against a controlled environment, and check your work back in — or discard it.

Commands covered

Quick start

ald list -p -R
ald get -A -a
ald checkout -R src/main/java/com/rs/rdoe/demo/ui
ald status src/main/java/com/rs/rdoe/demo/ui/DemoButton.java
ald checkin

get vs. copy: Use ald get for your daily sync — it’s conditional and won’t clobber checked-out files. Use ald copy -e <env> when you specifically need a file from one environment, regardless of checkout status.

File & Release Management

Aimed at Release Managers and project administrators, this episode shows how the repository hierarchy is built and maintained: inspect the Group / Application / Release / Environment tree, create new releases and environments, add path designators, bring files under control, and handle deletions and imports.

Commands covered

Quick start

ald listrelcfg -t -R
ald addrel newboy/newboyapp
ald addrel "newboy/newboyapp" "release(0.01)"
ald addpd 'newboy/newboyapp/release(0.01)::$1'
ald addenvtyp -t 60 SEC S Security
ald addenv 'newboy/newboyapp/release(0.01)' SEC SEC

Heads-up: These operations require the matching permissions on your Security Server user profile. And you can’t delete a Group or Release that still has active content under it.

Assembly Operations

Assemblies let you package related file changes together and move them as a single unit. In this episode we create Task and User-Defined Assemblies, associate files, inspect them, and then check in and promote the whole collection at once — before cleaning it up.

Commands covered

Quick start

ald newtaskasm -i -d 'the 1st task asm' newgrp-01
ald associate newgrp-01 demofile02.txt
ald checkinasm newgrp-01
ald promotecolasm -e UNT newgrp-01
ald closecolasm newgrp-01

Task vs. User assembly: A Task Assembly can be linked to an RDOi task and surfaced in Community Manager. A User-Defined Assembly is a free-form grouping — handy for promoting a set of unchanged parts together.

Promotion & Deployment

Here we drive code all the way to production. We promote files along the defined path, then use the ald deploy family to run the deployment lifecycle — prepare, deploy, install, monitor, and, when needed, back out or recover. We finish with archive operations for pulling back historical versions.

Commands covered

Quick start

ald deploy prepare  d00010561
ald deploy deploy   d00010561
ald deploy install  d00010561
ald deploy info -d  d00010561

Where the CLI shines: Build your deployment setup (profiles, targets, destinations) in the GUI, then let the command line drive the lifecycle — prepare, deploy, install, and info to watch it. The rest of the subcommands are there for when something needs correcting (backout, restore, recover).

Configuration

The finale is for administrators. The ...cfg command family lets you inspect and adjust settings at every level of the hierarchy — Group, Application, Release, Environment, and Environment Type — plus a command for external repository profiles. Every option maps one-to-one to a setting in the GUI, now in scriptable form.

Commands covered

Quick start

The shared pattern: Run the four hierarchy commands with no options to view current settings first. Then -n/-d/-x edit name/description/delete, -b<c><v> sets a true/false option, and -o<c> <v> sets a valued option. See ald -h <command> for the option codes. (groupcfg and confextprof are the exceptions.)

ald appcfg newboy/newboyapp
ald appcfg -bjt newboy/newboyapp
ald envcfg -oa DeployPrf "newboy/newboyapp/release(0.01)" INV

That’s the full series — from your first ald signon all the way to a production deployment and administrative configuration. Everything the ald command line does mirrors the RDOe GUI, so anything you learn here you can automate.

Questions or feedback? Reach out to the RDOe team. Happy scripting!