nightly build done right

Nightly Build Done RightLiora Milbaum

L.M.B.-Consulting/DevopsILliora@lmb.co.il

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A program was made out of a single source file

Command Line was used to create a deployable object from a single source file

$ gcc –c main.c –o a.out

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A program was made out of multiple source files

Command Line was not an option to create a deployable object

Make scripting language executed a serious of compile/link steps in a specific order (outcome - incremental build)

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Build Process grew more complex› Components/Layers/Multiple Products› Pre/Post steps

“build automation” (BA) – build infrastructure & management (make, ant, MSBuild, Maven, Jenkins, Bamboo, TeamCity, RTC…)

Nightly Build is a Practice which became popular in the late 90s after Microsoft published its development practices

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Neutral Build

A software build which reflects the current state of the checked in (baselined) code

In a neutral environment – integration (not the development environment)

The build created for the software QA department for testing purposes

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A nightly build is a neutral build which takes place automatically

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High Level Steps

Source Control Compilation/Link Packaging Tests Delivery/Deployment Documentation/Release Notes

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Environments

Dev Integration Testing Staging Production

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Ingredients #1

Clean environment

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Ingredients #2

Build Infrastructure – makefiles/ant files/Visual Studio solution and project files….

› Source Code Directory Structure› Compiler/Linker options› Environment Variables

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Ingredients #3

Build Management› Build Artifacts› Which Defects/Features are included in the

Build Result?› Log file(s)› Build Results

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Ingredients #4

Build Servers farm – same OS and tools setup for consistency

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Ingredients #5

Integrating with Version Control System

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Ingredients #6

Build Dependencies/Order

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Ingredients #7

Version Numbering

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Benefits

Reliability – source code do not change during the build

Minimizes integration risk Improves quality Time saver

<# developers> x < build time> x <# working days>

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More Info

Nightly Build (NB) is periodic, run overnight when more time (6-8 hours)

Resource-Intensive Performed by virtual user (builder) Decoupling the build process from

specific IDEs Successful Build Results are used for

next day development

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Best Practicies

Object Oriented Design Multiple Build Options(Debug/Release,

32bit/64bit….) Software Components No checkout during build

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