How to Setup a Project for Nightly Build

Nightly build is also known as continuous integration or automated build. The nightly build application that is employed for the BioInformatics Department is called Continuum. It is very easy to use and setup. It was created by the people who created Apache Maven. Continuum allows users to setup projects to be automatically built at specified times or intervals. It is mainly used for Java applications, but it is possible to setup projects for other languages provided that the user's build script is properly setup.

For now, the projects cannot be scheduled automatically for other times. All projects are set to build at midnight every day. You can, however, manually build your projects.

Web Site Access

The website is located at http://z-login.cti.depaul.edu:8380/continuum/servlet/continuum. You will need to get a username and password. However, you must also have access to the cluster machines, too. If you don't have access to the cluster machines, follow the steps here.

To request access to the nightly build application, please click here and do the following.

• Create a file called continuum.txt in your home directory on z-login.
• Put a password in it that you would like to use for the nightly build application.
• Save the file.

Once your email is received by the administrator and approved, a username will be sent to you via email. You will then use the password you've created on z-login to log into the application. If the link to create the email above doesn't work, follow the 3 bullet point steps above, provide your full name, and send email to vamancini [aatt] sbcglobal.net and carbon-copy (CC) dangulo [aatt] cti.depaul.edu (replace [aatt] with @) to request access to the nightly build application.

Setup a Project

These are step by step instructions on how to setup an Ant (Java) project.

• Enter your username and password to access Continuum.
• On the left-hand side of the page, select Ant Project.
• Enter the project's name. This can be anything you want.
• Enter the version of the your project. Again, this can be anything you want.
• Enter the SCM URL that will access the repository. For subversion the format is:
  • scm:svn:http://histone.cti.depaul.edu/svn/<PROJECT_NAME>
  • <PROJECT_NAME> is the name of the branch you created in subversion.
• Enter the username that will access your project.
• Enter the password that will access your project.
• Do not enter anything for the Scm Branch/Tag name.
• Click the Submit button.

Your project is now setup.

Building Your Project

You can manually build your projects by pressing the Build Now icon (looks like a gear with a green triangle on the lower-left of it).

To see a status/result of the build for your project, click on the name you created for your project.

You will see three tabs at the top called Info, Builds, and Working Copy.

The info page (default tab) allows you to add other build definitions to your project and you can also edit your project's setup. Please note that the Notifiers do not work at the moment.

The Builds tab shows you all of the successful, in progress, queued, or failed builds. You can click on the Result link for a particular Build # to see why the build failed or if successful, what was built (provided your build script has verbose output information).

The Working Copy tab shows the latest successful build of your project. This will contain your source code and binaries created.

More Information

For more in depth information on how to use Continuum, please go here http://maven.apache.org/continuum/guides/.

-- VinceMancini - 01 Sep 2007