UrbanCode Adds Pre-Flight Builds

Lets you run a "test build" of changes without committing those changes to source


October 28, 2008
URL:http://www.drdobbs.com/parallel/urbancode-adds-pre-flight-builds/211601006


Urbancode has announced that version 3.6 of its AnthillPro introduces Developer Pre-flight Builds. Pre-flight Builds let developers run a "test build" of their changes without committing the changes to source. At the push of a button, Pre-flight Builds integrate the developer's changes with a snapshot of the latest source code, and then run a build in the build environment -- not on the developer's machine. If a Pre-flight Build fails, the developer is immediately notified and the changes are not committed to source.

Because Pre-flight Builds run in the actual build environment, the individual developer gains access to software and hardware that would otherwise be inaccessible when running builds on their individual machines. Pre-flighted builds enable developers to parallelize test runs to reduce the time it takes to run the tests. This allows for greater assurance that the build will pass once the developer's changes are integrated.

While Pre-flight Builds do reduce the risk associated with broken builds, they are by no means a panacea. "The reality is that Pre-flight Builds can actually mask problems," said Urbancode President Maciej Zawadzki. "Heavy reliance on the Pre-flight Build to reduce broken builds can mask inappropriate workflows; hide integration problems; create longer and monolithic builds; and introduce bad development practices. Because of these factors, the Pre-flight Build is not a replacement for Continuous Integration as has been suggested among the vendor community."

AnthillPro 3.6 includes a wide range of new features, incliuding:

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