Jan 12 2012
A recent post on the WordPress blog led me to Fight for the Future where I read the following:
Will every kid growing up in every developing country have access to every book ever made, as soon as they get a smartphone? Or will the books cost $12, an impossible expense for a poor kid?
When an argument is poorly presented how many people not only stop supporting but in fact go the other way? This particular one annoyed me enough to end up posting here!
Dec 15 2011
A short post continuing the subject of builds with this one covering the use of virtualised infrastructure.
I would advise any software development department to make use of virtualisation – especially for appliances such as Build Agents. The choice of virtualisation product in a commercial environment typically comes down to one of two choices. Microsoft offer Hyper-V for free as a role on Windows 2008 and newer and VMWare provide ESX (both free and paid versions). Both are excellent solutions though at this time my preference is with VMWare – it’s simply a more mature product with a greater feature set. I have no experience of ESX setup/configuration however and whilst this is an area where Hyper-V scores well I would still put ESX ahead.
Dec 14 2011
Although I’ve had quite a bit of spare time lately I’ve not felt like using the bike much. This time last year we had snow, lots of snow, and whilst this year is nothing like as bad, I’ve concluded that a lack of Winter kit is the primary reason for my lack of mileage.
Anyone who’s interested in cycling will quickly agree that kitting oneself for all seasons whilst not cheap, is necessary.
Nov 24 2011
Nearing the end of my posts regarding builds, this one describes a TFS build definition.
If you’ve read the previous articles you will know that I consider TFS to have an excellent build eco-system. Other application suites offer similar services but somehow TFS manages to do exactly what’s expected with the minimum of hassle. Whilst many of the concepts are technology agnostic please be warned I’ll be using TFS as my reference point.
I’d first like to touch on how Visual Studio solution (.sln) files are typically used as it has an impact on how each build definition may be configured. Read More…
Tags: TFS, Visual Studio
Nov 09 2011
Continuing on from where I left off, I now move on to discuss the builds themselves.
A build is the term given to the process by which content stored in a code repository is transformed into deliverable artifacts. Most source code is compiled/processed into binary artifacts such as DLLs or EXEs using a known toolset initiated and controlled by a pre-defined build process. Each process usually follows the ‘get latest, build components, run tests and drop build output to deployment folder’ sequence. TFS provides an adequate starter in the shape of the ‘default process’.
Build output can be anything from loose files right up to an installation package. Whilst there is no ‘one size fits all’ answer I would always advocate the provision of an installation package to deploy an application. Using the right technology this can also created as part of the default build process.
Tags: TFS
