[users at bb.net] Trigger build via tag on old revision?

[Ulrich Teichert]

Hi John,

>I'm still figuring out my preffered workflow here, but what I currently
>have in mind goes like this:
>
>    1. I manually tag a revision as "rc1" (or somesuch)
>    2. BuildBot notices this tag, and kicks off the packaging process,
>       to build a release candidate for that revision.
>
>However, I'm not sure how to express that in BuildBot's config.

Yes, that's not the usual workflow.

>My initial idea was to use a ChangeFilter, but I think that won't work
>because of the following situation:
>
>        1. I commit revision X
>        2. BuildBot scheduler sees X, but skips it because it's not tagged
>        3. I commit revision Y, which adds the "rc1" tag to X
>           (I'm using Mercurial so this is just editing the .hgtags file)
>        4. scheduler sees Y, but Y is *also* not tagged as "rc1", so it is
>           skipped.
>
>Basically, my worry is that by the time the tag is applied to X,
>BuildBot has already decided not to build that change.

I don't have used the HgPoller, but for the GitPoller, this would be
the case, yes.

>Even if I make the scheduler smart enough to notice that Y is actually
>adding a tag for X, is there a way to have it trigger a build for that
>other revision (X, rather than Y)? The ChangeFilter stuff only seems to
>provide a yes/no response, not "build X instead."

I think the new tag does not qualify as a change.

>Is that a real concern, or do I misunderstand?

If tags in Mercurial a treated the same way as tags in git, this won't
work that way, IMHO.

>Is there a better way to accomplish what I'm describing?

Well, I think there are probably ways to get this working:

- write a tag-poller for Mercurial, which will only react on tags, not on commits
- use the Mercurial hook (2.5.17.2. in the docs - but I have no idea if that would work)
- configure a worker which will periodically check for a new tag and build it

Perhaps someone else has already used the Mercurial hook an can help here?

HTH,
Uli

Mit freundlichen Grüßen / Kind regards

Dipl.-Inform. Ulrich Teichert
Senior Software Developer

kumkeo GmbH
Heidenkampsweg 82a
20097 Hamburg
Germany

T: +49 40 2846761-0
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ulrich.teichert at kumkeo.de
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