Skip to main content

Questions tagged [builds]

The simplest type of build is a process that converts (source) code to a compiled binary file that can then be run. More complex builds can also run unit or integration tests and can use tools to generate reports about the quality of the code. Lastly, builds are often triggered automatically by Continuous Integration (CI) systems.

Filter by
Sorted by
Tagged with
422 votes
12 answers
20k views

Should I intentionally break the build when a bug is found in production?

It seems reasonable to me that if a serious bug is found in production by end-users, a failing unit test should be added to cover that bug, thus intentionally breaking the build until the bug is fixed....
MattDavey's user avatar
  • 7,126
183 votes
23 answers
33k views

How to apologize when you have broken the nightly build [closed]

My first commit in my project resulted in the nightly build being broken and people are all over me as we are nearing the release. I want to send an apology email that should sound sincere and at the ...
148 votes
6 answers
144k views

How do you achieve a numeric versioning scheme with Git?

My organization is considering moving from SVN to Git. One argument against moving is as follows: How do we do versioning? We have an SDK distribution based on the NetBeans Platform. As the SVN ...
Erlend's user avatar
  • 1,583
99 votes
9 answers
23k views

What are the advantages of build scripts?

For most of my programming career, I've used the "build/compile/run" command in whatever IDE I'm working with to produce a runnable program. This is one button, pretty easy. As I learn more about ...
WannabeCoder's user avatar
  • 2,794
96 votes
5 answers
33k views

Why are there no package management systems for C and C++? [closed]

There are some programming languages for which exist a package management system: CTAN for TeX CPAN for Perl Pip & Eggs for Python Maven for Java cabal for Haskell Gems for Ruby npm for NodeJS ...
m0nhawk's user avatar
  • 1,488
81 votes
12 answers
146k views

What exactly is the build number in MAJOR.MINOR.BUILDNUMBER.REVISION

What I think about Build Numbers is that whenever a new nightly build is created, a new BUILDNUMBER is generated and assigned to that build. So for my 7.0 version application the nightly builds will ...
A9S6's user avatar
  • 933
77 votes
7 answers
20k views

What is the purpose of a dedicated build machine?

Due to a number of circumstances leading to a poor deployment last build cycle, I campaigned in our office to perform all future deployments with a dedicated build machine, and my boss accepted this ...
Zibbobz's user avatar
  • 1,592
51 votes
2 answers
30k views

Why is build.number an "abuse" of semantic versioning?

I was explaining a proposed build system (Gradle/Artifactory/Jenkins/Chef) to one of our senior architects, and he made a comment to me that I sort of disagree with, but am not experienced enough to ...
herpylderp's user avatar
  • 2,057
46 votes
8 answers
24k views

Is directly using Make considered obsolete? [closed]

So I have been coming across many comments/posts/etc regarding creating makefiles directly, and how it is a silly thing to do in 2015. I am aware of tools such as CMake, and I actually use CMake quite ...
JParrilla's user avatar
  • 681
25 votes
6 answers
2k views

Why isn't java used as a build language?

If Java is a general purpose language, and building a program is something that can be described using the Java language, why isn't this the best way to write build files and instead we use tools like ...
vainolo's user avatar
  • 1,341
24 votes
7 answers
2k views

how to stay efficient when a build is almost always broken

I work in a middle sized team which shares the same source code and while have a continues integration in place, but as all of us has to work in the same branch, the build is almost always broken. ...
user avatar
24 votes
9 answers
4k views

Convince a lone developer to use a separate build tool instead of the IDE one-click build

In my years of programming Java and more recently Scala, I've never used Ant, Maven, Gradle or any of those build tools for Java. Everywhere I've worked there was a build manager who took care of all ...
Gigatron's user avatar
  • 361
23 votes
8 answers
5k views

Detect manual changes to an autogenerated C header [closed]

I have a C header that is generated from a CSV file and a Python script. The C header mainly contains a list of #define constants. I want to be able to detect manual changes to this header during ...
9a3eedi's user avatar
  • 2,109
22 votes
10 answers
14k views

What are the benefits of multi-file programming? [closed]

I have been told by another fellow C programmer to write large applications in several different .c and .h files, and then compile them together. They say it will run faster. Does a multifile ...
user avatar
22 votes
11 answers
3k views

Babysitting your Continuous Integration System

One of my roles in my team is the build person. I am responsible for maintaining/updating our build scripts and making sure we are building 'smoothly' on the continuous integration server. I usually ...
c_maker's user avatar
  • 8,280
22 votes
5 answers
11k views

How can we avoid showing the literal path in the exception's stack trace?

When our in-house developed application (C#, ASP.NET) is throwing an exception, it displays a stack trace that contains path information like C:\users\DEVELOPER_FULL_NAME\path\some-module.cs. So it ...
ChristianH's user avatar
22 votes
7 answers
1k views

How important are daily builds? [closed]

One of the criteria of the Joel Test is daily builds. The idea is that if the build is broken, whoever broke it is around to fix it up. If the build cannot be fixed, everyone will have to check out an ...
Casebash's user avatar
  • 7,672
21 votes
11 answers
16k views

Which Continuous Integration framework do you use and why? [closed]

There are quite a few different Continuous Integration (CI) frameworks out there and I'm wondering which is the most popular. Which frameworks have you used at firms where you work? Is there any ...
Richard Warburton's user avatar
20 votes
1 answer
10k views

In-Source Build vs. Out-Of-Source Build

In my (primarily C++) development, I have long adhered to using out-of-source builds. That is, my source usually sits in a /project/src directory and the builds live in a /project/build/bin/release, /...
DiB's user avatar
  • 507
17 votes
5 answers
3k views

What advantages do continuous integration tools offer on a solo project?

If you're doing a solo project - would you use CI tools to build from a repository? I've used Hudson and Cruise Control in a team environment, where it's essential to build as soon as anyone checks ...
iftheshoefritz's user avatar
17 votes
2 answers
9k views

How to properly manage dependencies for C/C++ project?

I have a project which uses 3-4 different open source C/C++ libraries. I built these libraries for several platforms and checked in include files and static libs for different platforms in my project....
Victor Ronin's user avatar
15 votes
6 answers
4k views

What does "automated build" mean?

I'm trying to add Continuous Integration to a project. According to Wikipedia, one major piece of CI is automated builds. However, I'm confused about what, exactly, that means, as the CI and build ...
user avatar
15 votes
4 answers
5k views

Does it make sense to write build scripts in C++?

I'm using CMake to generate my projects IDE/makefiles, but I still need to call custom "scripts" to manipulate my compiled files or even generate code. In previous projects I've been using Python and ...
Klaim's user avatar
  • 14.9k
15 votes
6 answers
6k views

Can you make a build in one step?

From the joel test: Can you make a build in one step? I've got to say I can't. I'm currently working on a web app that has a spreadsheet list of items that must be carried out in order to deploy. ...
billy.bob's user avatar
  • 6,549
14 votes
5 answers
3k views

Is Ant still in the "mainstream" for Java builds?

We have been slowly replacing batch command files (windows .bat) which were simply jarring up the classes compiled in the developers IDE, with more comprehensive Ant builds (i.e. get from CVS, clean ...
Sam Goldberg's user avatar
  • 1,004
14 votes
4 answers
40k views

Is there a general rule for when you should use 'make clean' instead of just 'make'?

I am writing a multiple-filed program right now, and apparently running only 'make' (as one would intuitively think needs to be done in most situations) for some reason causes my program to fail. I ...
Dark Templar's user avatar
  • 6,313
14 votes
4 answers
857 views

Patching open source software when upgrading is not an option?

I recently ran into a rather annoying (confirmed) bug in an open source software package that I have integrated into my application. According to the public issue tracker this bug has been resolved ...
maple_shaft's user avatar
  • 26.5k
14 votes
3 answers
4k views

Why incremental builds in "make" don't use hashing algorithms?

I am a beginner with make and I'm wondering about when to use make clean. One colleague told me that incremental builds with make are based on the files timestamps. So, if you checkout an old version ...
filaton's user avatar
  • 309
14 votes
1 answer
852 views

Redundant code sent down the pipe with Micro-frontends

My understanding of Micro-frontends is that the key problem they solve is in helping enterprises have multiple, possible disparate teams, work on individual components/small-apps that will be used to ...
Kiran's user avatar
  • 251
13 votes
8 answers
900 views

Moving from one man project to team project in the future. What should I be doing now in preparation and what can wait?

To elaborate I am interested in knowing what people think you need to put in place while still a one man project (team source control, documentation, builds etc) and what things don't need to be done ...
Dan MacBean's user avatar
13 votes
4 answers
25k views

Release build vs nightly build

A typical solution is to have a CI (Continuous Integration) build running on a build server: It will analyze the source code, make build (in debug) and run tests, measure test coverage, etc. Now, ...
Tuomas Hietanen's user avatar
13 votes
1 answer
3k views

Responsibilities of Build Script and Build Server

I need some clarifications on the responsibilities of the Build Script and the Build Server. I read several articles on the Net about continuous integration and builds. Including The F5 Key Is Not a ...
Angelo.Hannes's user avatar
13 votes
3 answers
2k views

What are good ways to organize input files (Makefiles, SConstruct, CMakeLists.txt, etc.) to build automation software?

One thing I like to do with my code is make sure that it's refactored into manageable pieces. However, when it comes to building the software, I find that whatever build automation software I end up ...
Geoff Oxberry's user avatar
13 votes
2 answers
2k views

Should the deploy script be an artifact of the build?

This is a web project written in Java. So, I'm writing the build and the deploy scripts. To create the build, I used ant. The continuous build is done with Jenkins. The build generates 3 different ...
Gustavo Muenz's user avatar
13 votes
2 answers
7k views

Automake - how to keep the source tree clean?

I have a project that uses GNU autotools to build itself. I am trying to modify so that autotools generates all the non-versioned control files in a separate directory so that I can keep the source ...
vorad's user avatar
  • 203
12 votes
6 answers
1k views

When does Continuous Integration add value? [duplicate]

Possible Duplicate: How many developers before continuous integration becomes effective? When does continuous integration (such as CruiseControl) add value to a project? Do factors such as ...
C. Ross's user avatar
  • 2,926
12 votes
9 answers
851 views

Should developers be expected to compile an internal library before the actual program?

Recently a senior developer that I work with made a case for requiring that developers get the latest version and compile as part of their project a major internal library. This stands in contrast the ...
rjzii's user avatar
  • 11.3k
12 votes
5 answers
15k views

To integrate git versions as build numbers or not?

A colleague and I have been taking turns debating/discussing the issues/merits of integrating a version derived from the current git repository into our code whenever it builds. We think the merits ...
Travis Griggs's user avatar
11 votes
2 answers
2k views

To depend on source code or on binary?

We have two in-house projects, A and B, developed by different teams with B dependent on A. Since source code for both projects is stored in git, I've included project A as a submodule into project B ...
mkalkov's user avatar
  • 311
10 votes
4 answers
4k views

Is there something between Debug and Release build?

Specifically with CMake builds, if you don't specify a build type explicitly, the build will use neither Debug nor Release compilation flags. I was writing my own Makefile for a simple program and ...
Reverent Lapwing's user avatar
10 votes
5 answers
42k views

Is it possible for two DLLs to conflict , preventing solution to build

Though I have a specific case, but I was wondering about the general situation. Can two DLLs, when added as Reference to a Visual C# project collide with each other to prevent the solution from ...
Shamim Hafiz - MSFT's user avatar
10 votes
4 answers
5k views

Best practices for versioning project after dependency upgrade

Say, my project have dependency N with version 1.0.0. Then something have changed, and I should depend on newer version - let it be 1.0.1. OK, I'm incrementing dependency version, nothing else ...
shabunc's user avatar
  • 2,454
10 votes
9 answers
5k views

Automated build platform for .NET portfolio - best choice? [closed]

I am involved with maintaining a fairly large portfolio of .NET applications. Also in the portfolio are legacy applications built on top of other platforms - native C++, ECLIPS Forms, etc. I have a ...
RationalGeek's user avatar
  • 10.1k
10 votes
1 answer
368 views

Why does Apache have two separate tools for build and dependency management?

Apache has two separate tools: Apache Maven Apache Ant + Apache Ivy They seem to both fill the same niche. I have two questions: What are the highlights of the main differences between the two ...
durron597's user avatar
  • 7,610
10 votes
1 answer
3k views

Using a TFS Build Process Template (Workflow) for Deployment

I'm thinking of using TFS Build workflows for complex deployments. We have some that may need to deploy: Web applications and services Database SSRS Reports SSIS Packages Who knows what else I like ...
John Saunders's user avatar
9 votes
4 answers
638 views

Arguments against checking-in binary files into SCMs

I work for a company that primarily builds Java applications and I'm trying to convince everybody to stop checking-in binary files (dependencies and final products) to SCM. They know it is a bad ...
Ither's user avatar
  • 391
9 votes
4 answers
10k views

What are linkers and loaders? How do they work?

I am trying to understand things like linkers and loaders better. What area of computer science do they belong to? Compiler, Operating System, Computer Architecture? Where do linkers and loaders ...
Nishant's user avatar
  • 585
8 votes
5 answers
415 views

Is there a better strategy than relying on the compiler to catch errors?

I've been programming in C and C++ for some time, although I would say I'm far from being an expert. For some time, I've been using various strategies to develop my code such as unit tests, test ...
koan's user avatar
  • 181
8 votes
4 answers
5k views

Continuous Build server (cc.net, hudson, bamboo, etc...) remote build experience?

We currently use once cc.net server for our build process, which builds both .net (using msbuild & nant) and java (using maven and ant). CC.net monitors source control, and triggers a remote ...
Chris Buckett's user avatar
8 votes
4 answers
14k views

Is a new build required everytime I make a change to the code?

I am working on a project that has around a hundred different files (.cpp & .h), and it requires around an hour to build the entire project on MSVC 2008, suppose that I now make a change to any ...
potato man's user avatar