[Buildbot-devel] Not-quite-automated builds - human interaction

[Ben Hearsum]

We have this exact issue with our release process.

The way we've worked around is one of your ideas, waiting for the  
existence of a file (on an FTP server in our case).

In our case, we have a Builder whose only job is to wait for the  
existence of the file. When it appears, the BUilder finishes and the  
Dependent scheduler takes care of kicking off the rest of the process.  
Could probably do this with just a BuildStep too, depending on your  
setup. (Either way, make sure you bump up the timeout to something  
appropriate).

This has worked well for us for a couple years now, FWIW.

- Ben

On 24-Sep-08, at 11:18 AM, Gregory Manning wrote:

> Hello,
>
> We now have a buildbot server happily running all our svn commits,  
> and now I'm trying to think how best to make use of buildbot in our  
> formal release process.
>
> Unfortunately, this involves some not (yet) automated tasks (create  
> upgrade notes document, do a sanity check of the release before its  
> copied directly up to public ftp servers, burning to disc, ...).
>
> Our current in house system has a "Pause for QA" step, wherein the  
> appropriate human creates the upgrade notes document and sticks it  
> in someplace on the network, or whatever, then clicks the 'carry on'  
> button.
>
> Also, each release gets uploaded to a different set of directories,  
> depending on whether it's a general release or a restricted release  
> for one or more customer.
>
> So, I think I want
> 1) Pausing for humans. I think I could write a step for this, but  
> it's unclear how to resume (some button/web page? Poke on some port?  
> Wait for the existance of some file?)
> 2) Inputted options (for output directories). Maybe I could encode  
> something in the 'reason' field, but that sounds hacky.  
> Alternatively, maybe I should just create a file in the svn branch  
> containing the appropriate directories...
>
> Has anyone done something like this before? Or have suggestions on  
> the 'correct' way to achieve this sort of thing?
>
> Thanks,
> Greg Manning
> Development Analyst
>
> Mitrefinch Ltd.
> Mitrefinch House,
> Green Lane, Clifton,
> York, YO30 5YY
> www.mitrefinch.co.uk
> Tel +44 (0)1904 693115
> Fax +44 (0)1904 693792
>
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