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Vagrant creator here. What a pleasant surprise to see this pop up on HN this morning (it was unexpected, to be sure). I just want to shamelessly say that if you

Vagrant creator here. What a pleasant surprise to see this pop up on HN this morning (it was unexpected, to be sure). I just want to shamelessly say that if you're more of a book person, the Vagrant O'Reilly book I wrote was just released this week, and it is a great way to get started: http://shop.oreilly.com/product/0636920026358.do http://shop.oreilly.com/product/0636920026358.do Thanks! (And, hopefully as you know, as an author I make barely any royalties on any book sold, so I'm not posting this for financial reasons. I just know some people really prefer books to online docs.)

why-el 13y ago
That's interesting. Have you ever considered Leanpub before you went with Oreilly?
- mitchellh 13y ago
  I was approached by O'Reilly very early. I wasn't even considering writing a book prior to that. However, my experience with O'Reilly has been _fantastic_. I was never writing the book for money, I was writing it for publicity and to help push the project forward. For these reasons, O'Reilly was the clear winner. Additionally, everyone I've ever worked with at O'Reilly has been very professional, and they've been doing a great job helping push the book forward. They even rushed the production process (editing, indexing, proofreading, printing, etc.) from their typical timelines down to only a couple weeks so the book would be fully ready for VelocityConf in a couple weeks. And they did it! I'll be at VelocityConf signing books. :)
  - why-el 13y ago
    Great, congratulations then. Vagrant is a fantastic tool.
  - meritt 13y ago
    Okay, most important question time: Do you get to pick the animal? If so, why that particular pigeon?
    - dmourati 13y ago
      More details about the history of the animal covers: http://animals.oreilly.com/origin-of-species/ http://animals.oreilly.com/origin-of-species/
    - mitchellh 13y ago
      I had no say in the animal. :)
      - fredoliveira 13y ago
        I had no say in the animal they chose for my book either. Meh! :)
fideloper 13y ago
Will there be an update to cover version 2 of Vagrant? The comments seem to say that it only covers version 1 thoroughly.
- mitchellh 13y ago
  Absolutely. I will not cover version 2 of Vagrant until Vagrant 2.0 is actually released. The book uses version 1 configuration syntax running in the latest version of Vagrant. This allows you to get all the benefits of the latest stability improvements, while using a stable configuration syntax. The book will be fully updated to version 2.0 when that is stable, in the sense that configuration will no longer change. Thousands of companies are already on the latest version of Vagrant and using it without issue.
bradgessler 13y ago
I'm curious, why the focus on development environments? How does it tie into production and staging environments?
- mitchellh 13y ago
  I'm working on this now. I won't say much more than that until I have something to really show for it. Development environments are the primary focus on Vagrant because that was the pain point it was initially meant to solve, and it does this quite well. The workflow model Vagrant introduces doesn't translate as well into staging/production yet. I'm actively investigating the use cases here and how Vagrant may adapt to it (if at all).
  - bradgessler 13y ago
    Cheers for staying focused and honest about the scope of the problem that vagrant solves!
- khangtoh 13y ago
  You can already use vagrant with some cloud providers, like Rackspace. https://github.com/mitchellh/vagrant-rackspace https://github.com/mitchellh/vagrant-rackspace
toisanji 13y ago
When can we create multiple aws instances from the same vagrant folder?
ascendantlogic 13y ago
What is the best way to toss you a few dollars to show appreciation and help you keep the lights on?
- mitchellh 13y ago
  If you want to, there are a few options: * Buy a VMware provider ($79). 98% of the money comes to me. * GitTip: https://www.gittip.com/mitchellh/ https://www.gittip.com/mitchellh/ * Buy the Vagrant book: http://hashi.co/vagrant-book http://hashi.co/vagrant-book I only get a few dollars from this.
elithrar 13y ago
> http://shop.oreilly.com/product/0636920026358.do http://shop.oreilly.com/product/0636920026358.do If you have any input over the sample chapter, it'd be nice if it could represent a portion of a "real" chapter of the book. Right now it just provides the "how to install Vagrant" section, which isn't really representative of the book's content.

why-el 13y ago

That's interesting. Have you ever considered Leanpub before you went with Oreilly?

mitchellh 13y ago
I was approached by O'Reilly very early. I wasn't even considering writing a book prior to that. However, my experience with O'Reilly has been _fantastic_. I was never writing the book for money, I was writing it for publicity and to help push the project forward. For these reasons, O'Reilly was the clear winner. Additionally, everyone I've ever worked with at O'Reilly has been very professional, and they've been doing a great job helping push the book forward. They even rushed the production process (editing, indexing, proofreading, printing, etc.) from their typical timelines down to only a couple weeks so the book would be fully ready for VelocityConf in a couple weeks. And they did it! I'll be at VelocityConf signing books. :)
- why-el 13y ago
  Great, congratulations then. Vagrant is a fantastic tool.
- meritt 13y ago
  Okay, most important question time: Do you get to pick the animal? If so, why that particular pigeon?
  - dmourati 13y ago
    More details about the history of the animal covers: http://animals.oreilly.com/origin-of-species/ http://animals.oreilly.com/origin-of-species/
  - mitchellh 13y ago
    I had no say in the animal. :)
    - fredoliveira 13y ago
      I had no say in the animal they chose for my book either. Meh! :)

fideloper 13y ago

Will there be an update to cover version 2 of Vagrant? The comments seem to say that it only covers version 1 thoroughly.

mitchellh 13y ago
Absolutely. I will not cover version 2 of Vagrant until Vagrant 2.0 is actually released. The book uses version 1 configuration syntax running in the latest version of Vagrant. This allows you to get all the benefits of the latest stability improvements, while using a stable configuration syntax. The book will be fully updated to version 2.0 when that is stable, in the sense that configuration will no longer change. Thousands of companies are already on the latest version of Vagrant and using it without issue.

bradgessler 13y ago

I'm curious, why the focus on development environments? How does it tie into production and staging environments?

mitchellh 13y ago
I'm working on this now. I won't say much more than that until I have something to really show for it. Development environments are the primary focus on Vagrant because that was the pain point it was initially meant to solve, and it does this quite well. The workflow model Vagrant introduces doesn't translate as well into staging/production yet. I'm actively investigating the use cases here and how Vagrant may adapt to it (if at all).
- bradgessler 13y ago
  Cheers for staying focused and honest about the scope of the problem that vagrant solves!
khangtoh 13y ago
You can already use vagrant with some cloud providers, like Rackspace. https://github.com/mitchellh/vagrant-rackspace https://github.com/mitchellh/vagrant-rackspace

toisanji 13y ago

When can we create multiple aws instances from the same vagrant folder?

ascendantlogic 13y ago

What is the best way to toss you a few dollars to show appreciation and help you keep the lights on?

mitchellh 13y ago
If you want to, there are a few options: * Buy a VMware provider ($79). 98% of the money comes to me. * GitTip: https://www.gittip.com/mitchellh/ https://www.gittip.com/mitchellh/ * Buy the Vagrant book: http://hashi.co/vagrant-book http://hashi.co/vagrant-book I only get a few dollars from this.

elithrar 13y ago

> http://shop.oreilly.com/product/0636920026358.do http://shop.oreilly.com/product/0636920026358.do If you have any input over the sample chapter, it'd be nice if it could represent a portion of a "real" chapter of the book. Right now it just provides the "how to install Vagrant" section, which isn't really representative of the book's content.