Packer: isotime function works in an unusual/confusing/insane way and reflects poorly on the project

[paulcdejean]

https://www.packer.io/docs/templates/engine.html#isotime-function-format-reference

This sort of thing is so obviously nutty, that it makes people second guess relying on packer.

I understand that this can't be changed in a backwards incompatible way, but a more sensible replacement should be created, so that this can be depreciated.

This is more of a public relations issue than anything. The current function probably works maybe, but it's still r/softwaregore material.

[rickard-von-essen]

It can be good to back up your claims with some facts/example. It does work, and just passas the parameters to Go's std lib function for formatting time dates.

[SwampDragons]

Hi, @paulcdejean. Thanks for letting us know that you find this feature unintuitive. However, if you're making a feature request, it's a good idea to give as much detail as possible. You've made it very clear that you don't like the current method of handling ISO timestamps, but "it's nutty" is not an actionable piece of feedback. What do you think, specifically, is nutty? The default? The way that the template manages the formatting strings? Packer also supports the template variable {{ timestamp }} which will give you the Unix (Epoch) time if you would prefer something simple that doesn't need formatting.

I'd also like to recommend that you take a look at our community guidelines: https://www.hashicorp.com/community-guidelines

I have a suspicion that this ticket was opened in a bout of frustration, which happens to all of us. But since it isn't actionable I am going to close it for now. If you have concrete suggestions about how to improve the tool, I'd be thrilled to hear them. Thanks!

[hashibot[bot]]

I'm going to lock this issue because it has been closed for _30 days_ ⏳. This helps our maintainers find and focus on the active issues.

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