[Buildbot-devel] RFC: more flexible web status display

[Brian Warner]

> If one (or more) have been commited in the last five minutes, the probe
> script tells Buildbot using the PBChangeNotify, I think it was -- but only
> about the most recent one.
> 
> My question is: if there are multiple changes commited in 5 minutes,
> then my probe script will tell Buildbot about only a few of those
> changes. Does this mean that the blame list will be incomplete,

It depends upon your SVN-polling script (I'm not at the computer where I'm
evaluating that patch right now), but the blame list probably *will* be
incomplete. If it only reports the 'who' username field for the most recent
change, then the buildbot will never hear about the earlier ones, and the
folks who committed them will be able to get off scot-free[1][2].

> or does Buildbot *again* query the subversion server to find what revisions
> have occurred and who is responsible for them?

Nope. Except for the ChangeSources, the buildmaster has zero interaction with
the VC system.

> If buildbot takes my 'pushed' blame data as complete, then I must modify
> my 'svn_watcher' script to ensure that all changesets are submitted to
> buildbot, even those that come inbetween the probe interval.

Yes. Either your script or Niklaus' version kept a record of the last
transaction number: I would suggest walking through all transaction numbers
between that one and the current one, and potentially submitting a Change for
each one.

Hmm. With a little bit of work, we could incorporate that script into the
buildmaster itself, so that you just add a SVNPollerChangeSource.. that would
let it keep the "last transaction seen" data internally instead of needing to
keep it in an external file, and would remove the need for the PBChangeSource
listener.. Gah, too many projects, I should finish the web stuff and the
build properties first. File an enhancement request if you'd like to see this
happen, at some point I'll get it done. I'd also be happy to walk somebody
else through writing it.. it shouldn't be all that hard.


cheers,
 -Brian


[1]: It's like a game! Who can commit the next-to-last buggy change before
the 5-minute polling script takes notice? Wait too long and the buildbot will
catch you instead of your coworker!

[2]: where does the phrase scot-free come from? How do you spell it? And who
is this Scott person anyway?