[Incubator] autobuild/autotest for OSGeo projects

[Markus Neteler]

Frank, all,

it would be nice to have an automated build and smoke test within
the OSGeo structure.

Report from GRASS: we are doing automated builds from CVS every
Saturday, but currently only on x86/Linux inhouse and MacOSX externally.
Once our server grass.itc.it is updated, we can also add mingW builds
(most of GRASS has been ported to MS-Windows native recently).

The software documentation on the web is rendered in the same
moment when the binary is built.

A couple of tests have been implemented along with a new
GRASS Test Suite (still external project) which operates similar to
hobu's bot (but yet without IRC):
http://www-pool.math.tu-berlin.de/~soeren/grass/GRASS_TestSuite/html/GRASSTestSummary.html

So, things are more or less ready from our side.

Markus

On 3/27/06, Frank Warmerdam <warmerdam at pobox.com> wrote:
> Folks,
>
> I would like to suggest that an automated build and smoke test be part
> of the list of "highly desired features" of an OSGeo project.
>
> By automated build and smoke tests, I mean that project source code
> should be automatically built from CVS/SVN at least nightly and then
> some sort of minimal automatic test be run against that version to
> verify that the current version is at least minimally operational.  Ideally
> such build and smoke tests could be done more often, even on demand.  And
> ideally the automatic testing should be fairly extensive.  Furthermore,
> ideally automatic notifications to developers, the developer mailing list
> or somewhere similar should be done when the build or tests fail.
>
> Howard Butler has done a bunch of work with "Build Bot" to make this
> happen for GDAL and is now working on MapServer.  You can see an example at:
>
>    http://gdal.builds.hobu.net/
>
> I am sure that some of the projects already do this.  I think that GeoTools
> has something like this that is somewhat Java oriented.  Is that right
> Jody/Chris?  I also suspect that MapGuide already has this, though I don't
> know if it is aimed at the OS (open source) version of MG.  Projects like
> Mapbender, and MapBuilder that are client browser oriented might not make
> sense to approach in the same way.  Arnulf, Cameron, can you comment on
> whether there would be a meaningful way in which build and smoke test could
> be applied automatically?
>
> My intention isn't to mandate a particular approach to a build and smoke test,
> but rather to push this as a highly desirable aspect of an OSGeo project.  I
> do think that OSGeo ought to provide support to help setup this up for
> projects that don't have their own way they would like to do this.  To this
> end Howard has indicated a willingness to setup BuildBot support on an OSGeo
> server at telescience for this purpose.
>
> I would add, that I see this as an action in support of the OSGeo goal "To
> ensure a high degree of quality in foundation projects in order to build and
> preserve the foundation brand."
>
> I have added this as an agenda item for the meeting tomorrow.  If we are
> agreeable on this, my hope is that we can start setting up an OSGeo build
> and smoke test server soon at telescience.  I have cc:ed Howard and also
> Norman (who is responsible for OSGeo use of telescience systems) to this
> end.
>
> Best regards,
> --
> ---------------------------------------+--------------------------------------
> I set the clouds in motion - turn up   | Frank Warmerdam, warmerdam at pobox.com
> light and sound - activate the windows | http://pobox.com/~warmerdam
> and watch the world go round - Rush    | President OSGF, http://osgeo.org