Upgrading daml applications without redeployment

My company wants to see if it is possible to update daml applications without re-deploying. Based on the documentation here: Upgrading Daml Applications — Daml SDK 2.7.1 documentation in the build and deploy section, it doesn’t seem like it is possible. Is this the case or is there a workaround?

Hi @austin.hodges , if you want to change the Daml templates (data types or choice logic), you do have to deploy the new smart contract logic in the form of a DAR file. DAR files, or more precisely the DALF packages therein, are immutable, just like the smart contracts themselves, so they cannot be changed, just overloaded.

Currently, you then have to explicitly remap all your active contracts from one version to another by archiving the old and creating the new in a transaction. There’s a feature in the pipeline to allow limited changes (addition of optional fields, changes to choice logic) without that step.

Ok, thank you for the clarification!