axon-ivy-liquibase

name: axon-ivy-liquibase description: Conventions and patterns for Liquibase changelogs in an Axon Ivy project. Use whenever you create, edit, or order schema migrations under <project>/liquibase/. Pairs with axon-ivy-liquibase-verify (post-edit checklist).

Axon Ivy + Liquibase

Production schema in Axon Ivy projects is owned by Liquibase, not by Hibernate's hbm2ddl. This skill documents the directory layout, master changelog wiring, and the formatted-SQL change conventions used in Ivy projects.

When to Use

• Adding a new column / table / index
• Reorganising data that goes with a schema change (a backfill)
• Bumping the schema for a new release version
• Resolving a "checksum mismatch" or out-of-order changeset error

When NOT to Use

• For application-level data inserts that are not part of a schema migration (e.g. user-driven data) → use the application code path, not Liquibase.
• For tweaking the test database schema only → the _TESTING persistence unit can use hibernate.hbm2ddl.auto=update; you do not need a Liquibase entry.

Directory Layout

<project>/
└── liquibase/
    ├── changelog-master.xml          ← entry point
    ├── liquibase.properties          ← url, driver, changeLogFile (local dev)
    └── script/
        ├── 10101/                    ← release version 1.01.01
        │   ├── 01_drop_table.sql
        │   ├── 02_create_table.sql
        │   └── 03_value_list_item.sql
        ├── 10102/
        │   └── 01_add_index.sql
        └── 20018/                    ← release version 2.00.18
            └── 01_alter_station.sql

Conventions:

• Folder names are release version numbers packed into a flat integer (10101 = 1.01.01, 20018 = 2.00.18). Liquibase orders folders alphabetically, so version-based names give a stable execution order. Pick the version that matches the release the change ships in.
• File names are two-digit ordinal + topic (02_create_table.sql). Two digits give you headroom for late additions without renumbering.
• One topic per file. Multiple changesets per file are allowed when they share a topic, but split unrelated changes.

Master changelog

Keep changelog-master.xml minimal — let <includeAll> pick up new folders automatically:

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<databaseChangeLog
    xmlns="http://www.liquibase.org/xml/ns/dbchangelog"
    xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
    xsi:schemaLocation="http://www.liquibase.org/xml/ns/dbchangelog
        http://www.liquibase.org/xml/ns/dbchangelog/dbchangelog-latest.xsd">
  <includeAll path="script" relativeToChangelogFile="true" />
</databaseChangeLog>

You almost never edit this file. Adding a new release folder or a new SQL file under script/ is enough.

Formatted-SQL changesets

Every .sql file starts with the liquibase formatted sql header and one --changeset block per logical change:

-- liquibase formatted sql

--changeset bolt:10101-0201
CREATE TABLE STATION (
  ID                VARCHAR2(32) NOT NULL,
  VERSION           NUMBER(10,0),
  CREATEDBYUSERNAME VARCHAR2(255),
  CREATEDDATE       DATE,
  …
  CONSTRAINT PK_STATION PRIMARY KEY (ID)
);

--changeset bolt:10101-0202
CREATE INDEX IX_STATION_TECHPLACE ON STATION (TECHNICALPLACE);

Conventions:

• Author tag — pick one team-wide tag (bolt: in KFWG) and stick to it. Mixing authors in the same project makes the DATABASECHANGELOG table noisy.
• Changeset id — <folder>-<NNNN>. The folder prefix anchors the change to a release; the four-digit suffix orders changes inside the release. Never reuse an id.
• Never edit a changeset after it has been deployed. Liquibase computes a checksum at first run; editing the SQL changes the checksum and breaks every existing environment. Add a new changeset that fixes the issue.

Skipping pre-existing statements

Use --ignoreLines:start / --ignoreLines:end to comment out statements that are only intended for fresh-install or local-dev contexts (e.g. drop-everything-and-recreate blocks at the start of the bootstrap script). These markers are Liquibase's own — they are still valid SQL comments in Oracle.

--ignoreLines:start
DROP TABLE "STATION" CASCADE CONSTRAINTS PURGE;
--ignoreLines:end

Rollback

Add a --rollback block under each destructive changeset (DROP, ALTER, RENAME). For pure additive DDL (CREATE TABLE, CREATE INDEX), Liquibase auto-generates rollback; you can omit it.

--changeset bolt:20018-0101
ALTER TABLE STATION ADD (DISTRICT_CODE VARCHAR2(20));

--rollback ALTER TABLE STATION DROP COLUMN DISTRICT_CODE;

For multi-statement rollbacks, use:

--rollback ALTER TABLE STATION DROP COLUMN DISTRICT_CODE;
--rollback DROP INDEX IX_STATION_DISTRICT;

Datasource alignment

liquibase.properties (used for local dev only — CI usually passes the URL via the Maven plugin) must target the same database the application connects to via persistence.xml:

url=jdbc:oracle:thin:@//localhost:1521/XEPDB1
driver=oracle.jdbc.OracleDriver
changeLogFile=liquibase/changelog-master.xml

In production / staging, the URL comes from the deployment pipeline, not from this file. Treat liquibase.properties as a developer convenience.

Critical Rules

1. Never modify a deployed changeset

Once a changeset has run anywhere (CI, staging, prod), it is immutable. Add a new changeset to fix mistakes. The exception is local dev databases that can be wiped — but the moment the change is in develop, treat it as deployed.

2. Big-table NOT NULL needs three changesets

Adding a NOT NULL column on a table with millions of rows must be split:

1. Add the column nullable.
2. Backfill existing rows in batches (separate changeset, or scripted outside Liquibase).
3. Set NOT NULL.

A single ADD COLUMN … NOT NULL blocks the whole table during the deploy.

3. One author tag per project

Mixing bolt:, alice:, bob: makes the DATABASECHANGELOG table hard to query. Pick one (often a service or team name) and use it for every change.

4. Schema is the source of truth, entities follow

If persistence.xml enables hibernate.hbm2ddl.auto=update for prod, that is a bug. Schema goes through Liquibase, entities reflect the schema.

5. Initial-data inserts go in dedicated files

Lookup data (value list items, role catalogues) belongs in *_value_list_item.sql or similar — not mixed into a CREATE TABLE script. Future migrations may need to update lookup data without retouching DDL files.

Pitfalls

• Renaming a column — Liquibase's RENAME COLUMN works, but Hibernate's metamodel cache breaks until the engine restarts. Plan a deployment window.
• Reordering folders by editing names — every changeset id is keyed by (filepath, id, author). Renaming the folder makes Liquibase think the change is new and re-runs it.
• includeAll ordering — alphabetical. 10200 runs before 2018 (string compare). The packed-version-number convention avoids this, but never introduce a non-numeric folder.
• Empty --changeset — Liquibase silently records it as run; the next person to add real SQL after it has to bump the id.

Use Together With

• axon-ivy-liquibase-verify — post-edit checklist
• axon-ivy-jpa — entity changes that motivate the migration
• axon-ivy-persistence-utils — DAO changes that follow the migration