remove -always-out

Make writing a plan file the default. We already create plans which have
no changes so the plan result would need to be checked in automation, so
having plans with errors should not pose a problem.

If we find workflows which cannot handle a plan that can't be applied,
we can reevaluate the need for a specialized flag. In the meantime, it
feels more logical that the plan output would always describe the result
of the plan, even if that included errors.

internal/backend/backend.go

@@ -230,7 +230,6 @@ type Operation struct {
 	PlanRefresh    bool   // PlanRefresh will do a refresh before a plan
 	PlanOutPath    string // PlanOutPath is the path to save the plan
 	PlanOutBackend *plans.Backend
-	PlanOutAlways  bool // Produce PlanOutPath even if plan is incomplete
 
 	// ConfigDir is the path to the directory containing the configuration's
 	// root module.

internal/backend/local/backend_plan.go

@@ -103,13 +103,8 @@ func (b *Local) opPlan(
 	// Record whether this plan includes any side-effects that could be applied.
 	runningOp.PlanEmpty = !plan.CanApply()
 
-	planErrored := false
-	if plan != nil {
-		planErrored = plan.Errored
-	}
-
 	// Save the plan to disk
-	if path := op.PlanOutPath; path != "" && plan != nil && (op.PlanOutAlways || !planErrored) {
+	if path := op.PlanOutPath; path != "" && plan != nil {
 		if op.PlanOutBackend == nil {
 			// This is always a bug in the operation caller; it's not valid
 			// to set PlanOutPath without also setting PlanOutBackend.

internal/command/arguments/plan.go

@@ -19,12 +19,8 @@ type Plan struct {
 	// variable and backend config values. Default is true.
 	InputEnabled bool
 
-	// OutPath contains an optional path to store the plan file, while
-	// AlwaysOut means that we'll write to OutPath even if the plan is
-	// incomplete, so that it's still possible to inspect it with
-	// "terraform show". AlwaysOut is irrelevant if OutPath isn't set.
+	// OutPath contains an optional path to store the plan file
 	OutPath string
-	AlwaysOut bool
 
 	// ViewType specifies which output format to use
 	ViewType ViewType
@@ -41,13 +37,10 @@ func ParsePlan(args []string) (*Plan, tfdiags.Diagnostics) {
 		Vars:      &Vars{},
 	}
 
-	var outPath, alwaysOutPath string
-
 	cmdFlags := extendedFlagSet("plan", plan.State, plan.Operation, plan.Vars)
 	cmdFlags.BoolVar(&plan.DetailedExitCode, "detailed-exitcode", false, "detailed-exitcode")
 	cmdFlags.BoolVar(&plan.InputEnabled, "input", true, "input")
-	cmdFlags.StringVar(&outPath, "out", "", "out")
-	cmdFlags.StringVar(&alwaysOutPath, "always-out", "", "always-out")
+	cmdFlags.StringVar(&plan.OutPath, "out", "", "out")
 
 	var json bool
 	cmdFlags.BoolVar(&json, "json", false, "json")
@@ -60,22 +53,6 @@ func ParsePlan(args []string) (*Plan, tfdiags.Diagnostics) {
 		))
 	}
 
-	switch {
-	case outPath != "":
-		if alwaysOutPath != "" {
-			diags = diags.Append(tfdiags.Sourceless(
-				tfdiags.Error,
-				"Incompatible command line options",
-				"The -out=... and -always-out=... options are mutually-exclusive.",
-			))
-		}
-		plan.OutPath = outPath
-		plan.AlwaysOut = false
-	case alwaysOutPath != "":
-		plan.OutPath = alwaysOutPath
-		plan.AlwaysOut = true
-	}
-
 	args = cmdFlags.Args()
 
 	if len(args) > 0 {

internal/command/arguments/plan_test.go

@@ -31,30 +31,12 @@ func TestParsePlan_basicValid(t *testing.T) {
 				},
 			},
 		},
-		"setting all options with -out": {
+		"setting all options": {
 			[]string{"-destroy", "-detailed-exitcode", "-input=false", "-out=saved.tfplan"},
 			&Plan{
 				DetailedExitCode: true,
 				InputEnabled:     false,
 				OutPath:          "saved.tfplan",
-				AlwaysOut:        false,
-				ViewType:         ViewHuman,
-				State:            &State{Lock: true},
-				Vars:             &Vars{},
-				Operation: &Operation{
-					PlanMode:    plans.DestroyMode,
-					Parallelism: 10,
-					Refresh:     true,
-				},
-			},
-		},
-		"setting all options with -always-out": {
-			[]string{"-destroy", "-detailed-exitcode", "-input=false", "-always-out=saved.tfplan"},
-			&Plan{
-				DetailedExitCode: true,
-				InputEnabled:     false,
-				OutPath:          "saved.tfplan",
-				AlwaysOut:        true,
 				ViewType:         ViewHuman,
 				State:            &State{Lock: true},
 				Vars:             &Vars{},
@@ -111,20 +93,6 @@ func TestParsePlan_invalid(t *testing.T) {
 	}
 }
 
-func TestParsePlan_conflictingOutPath(t *testing.T) {
-	got, diags := ParsePlan([]string{"-out=foo", "-always-out=bar"})
-	if len(diags) == 0 {
-		t.Fatal("expected diags but got none")
-	}
-	const wantSubstr = "Incompatible command line options: The -out=... and -always-out=... options are mutually-exclusive."
-	if got, want := diags.Err().Error(), wantSubstr; !strings.Contains(got, want) {
-		t.Fatalf("wrong diags\ngot:  %s\nwant: %s", got, want)
-	}
-	if got.ViewType != ViewHuman {
-		t.Fatalf("wrong view type\ngot:  %#v\nwant: %#v", got.ViewType, ViewHuman)
-	}
-}
-
 func TestParsePlan_tooManyArguments(t *testing.T) {
 	got, diags := ParsePlan([]string{"saved.tfplan"})
 	if len(diags) == 0 {

internal/command/plan.go

@@ -72,7 +72,7 @@ func (c *PlanCommand) Run(rawArgs []string) int {
 	}
 
 	// Build the operation request
-	opReq, opDiags := c.OperationRequest(be, view, args.Operation, args.OutPath, args.AlwaysOut)
+	opReq, opDiags := c.OperationRequest(be, view, args.Operation, args.OutPath)
 	diags = diags.Append(opDiags)
 	if diags.HasErrors() {
 		view.Diagnostics(diags)
@@ -139,7 +139,6 @@ func (c *PlanCommand) OperationRequest(
 	view views.Plan,
 	args *arguments.Operation,
 	planOutPath string,
-	planOutAlways bool,
 ) (*backend.Operation, tfdiags.Diagnostics) {
 	var diags tfdiags.Diagnostics
 
@@ -150,7 +149,6 @@ func (c *PlanCommand) OperationRequest(
 	opReq.Hooks = view.Hooks()
 	opReq.PlanRefresh = args.Refresh
 	opReq.PlanOutPath = planOutPath
-	opReq.PlanOutAlways = planOutAlways
 	opReq.Targets = args.Targets
 	opReq.ForceReplace = args.ForceReplace
 	opReq.Type = backend.OperationTypePlan