Build Automation: BuildForge, AntHill, Rolling Your Own
citizenkahn
BuildForge or AntHill?
I have rolled my own using python and ant with turbogears for a web
front-end. Its served us well but I support one product in a company
with 4 different product lines each with its own tools, source control,
culture, etc. Having an organization wide framework which products
plug into would be a real win for us. I'd enjoy growing my python code
into a generic build framework that could support all, but that makes
little sense if the any of the automatic frameworks have the right
degree of reliability, features and extensibility at a reasonable
price.
I have looked all over the net for folks who have used BuildForge or
AntHill and this seems to be place where they hang out.
So, if any of you have an warnings or suggestions about these
frameworks, please let me know
Peter Kahn
Jorgen Grahn
> Does anyone have any experience with Build automation frameworks like
> BuildForge or AntHill?
>
> I have rolled my own using python and ant with turbogears for a web
> front-end. Its served us well but I support one product in a company
> with 4 different product lines each with its own tools, source control,
> culture, etc. Having an organization wide framework which products
Not an answer, I'm afraid, but a question: what does a build automation
framework do, if the projects already have build processes which you're not
inclined to change?
It seems to me that the interface to the projects would be something like
"make clean install", or at worst some script that sets up a proper
environent first, then invokes make. All those things must be part of the
project itself.
That leaves very little work to do for the build automation framework, and
the work that /does/ remain is standard batch operation work, not really
related specifically to building.
Or maybe I'm just an old fart and my analysis is faulty.
BR,
/Jorgen
--
// Jorgen Grahn <grahn@ Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu
\X/ snipabacken.dyndns.org> R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn!
CMYanko
I have used Anthill Pro with Ant with reasonable success despite it's
underwhelming support for ClearCase. I am currently evaluating AH3 and
Quickbuild and am only familiar with Buildforges marketing info and
price tag.
mthompson
AntHill Pro. They really do different things.
I think your best bet is going to be to ask a few of the people in the
CM Crossroads forums that are using both of the tools.
The Build Management Forum can be found at...
http://www.cmcrossroads.com/component/option,com_smf/Itemid,180/board,7.0
Dr. Who
> Or maybe I'm just an old fart and my analysis is faulty.
No comment :-)
However, a build management tool does a lot of things that are byond
the scope of "just doing the build." We use Build Forge and love it.
It's a full client server application with one web console that drives
builds across any number of machines and OSen. It retains all the logs
and statuses of the builds and provides notifications on various build
activities. It is also capabale of performing continuous integration
builds ala CruiseControl. It also has some kind of support for Test
Director which we haven't used. It can also provide BOMs for builds
and has an XML based adapter framework and API that would allow you to
integrate almost any tool for which they don't currently offer support.
The current version (which we haven't implimented yet) offers excellant
build system selection and pooling which could provide a redundant
dynamic build environment.
It is pricey but in the ballpark of what you would spend to develop
something yourself with the same feature set. The closet thing I've
seen in the OpenSource world is LuntBuild but it isn't a client server
architecture and would require running it individually on all your
bulid machines.
Jorgen Grahn
> Jorgen Grahn wrote:
>
>> Or maybe I'm just an old fart and my analysis is faulty.
>
> No comment :-)
Thanks ;-)
> However, a build management tool does a lot of things that are byond
> the scope of "just doing the build."
Which was my point -- don't these tools "simply" solve batch operation
problems? Nothing wrong with that I suppose -- if people have batching
problems only in the context of building, there's nothing wrong with
selling them batching tools under the title "build management tools".
> We use Build Forge and love it.
One thing about BuildForge specifically worries me. All things from Rational
that I have been in contact with -- except ClearCase and Purify! -- have
been unspeakably bad, and all -- /including/ ClearCase -- have become worse
with every new release. But I have ranted about my relationship with those
products before ...