[Buildbot-devel] variant builds?

[Ian Zimmerman]

I see this in status/builder.py:

def getSteps(self):
     """Return a list of IBuildStepStatus objects. For invariant builds 

     (those which always use the same set of Steps), this should be the 

     complete list, however some of the steps may not have started yet 

     (step.getTimes()[0] will be None). For variant builds, this may not 

     be complete (asking again later may give you more of them)."""
     return self.steps

Is there *really* a way to create a "variant build"?  As far as I know,
builds can only be configured by constructing a BuildFactory and adding
steps to it at configuration time, which (almost by definition) gives 
you an "invariant build".  In fact the inability to vary the definition 
and number of build steps at runtime according to circumstances is my 
biggest complaint about buildbot.  I always have to work around it by 
writing stupid little shell scripts and using ShellCommand steps where 
something else, like a Source step, would be more natural.  Hence my 
question ...

TIA,

i