[Buildbot-devel] Buildbot Nine Merged to Master!

[Dustin J. Mitchell]

On Wed, Jun 18, 2014 at 9:51 AM, Kay Hayen <kay.hayen at gmail.com> wrote:
> Likely very standard usage of Buildbot, and probably what's working with
> nine already?

I wouldn't recommend running anything production on the current master
branch.  When we reach a 0.9.0 release, then that will be a good idea.

> I have seen 0.8.9 announced, and 0.9 git master, and I wonder which route
> you
> think makes sense for me. I understand that 0.8.9 and 0.9 may share
> identical
> configuration, right.

They do not.  You can use new-style steps in 0.8.9, but 0.8.9 is still
very much an "eight" release -- it still uses WebStatus, for example.

> So, my thought was to migrate to 0.8.9, then new style steps, and then maybe
> be
> able to switch back and forth, should nine fail on me. Is that going to
> work, or is
> that wasteful?

I would recommend the first two steps.  You are probably in a good
position to be a nine early adopter -- we will likely have some betas
and release candidates as things proceed.  And that's awesome -- it's
going to be a key bit of getting 0.9.0 shipped.  However, for the
moment, I'd recommend sticking with 0.8.9 for production and testing
master in a sandbox or staging area.  For what it's worth, that's what
we're doing with the metabuildbot -- nine.buildbot.buildbot.net is
running nine, but the "main" metabuildbot at buildbot.buildbot.et is
running 0.8.9.  And I found a number of bugs in setting up the nine
metabuildbot!

> It read as if 0.8.9 was a "last release", does that mean it won't get fixes,
> and what
> about improved compatibility. As nine evolves, "new style steps" might be
> added
> and will only be available with 0.9.

This remains to be determined.  I can only control my own time, and
*I* will not be spending time doing anything with the 0.8.x series
(with the exception of rare security patches).  However, as an
organization Buildbot would be happy to see this series continued,
either as bug-fixes or for feature development, as long as someone
steps up to do the work.  You are correct that, if the series is
maintained, it will necessarily diverge from nine.

At the moment, I haven't heard any interest in 0.8.x continuing, nor
any offers to handle the maintenance.  But it's early days.

> On the other hand, if 0.8.9 is a dead end, and not going to be supported
> anyway,
> with my relative relaxed needs (it's only for my free software project),
> maybe even
> if I don't code for Builldbot, I could be missing out on cool new stuff,
> esp. as for
> my configuration (generated from Python code), it's probably very easy to
> migrate
> to new stuff.
>
> What I mean to ask, is what do you recommend. Is nine good enough for small
> scale uses already, or should I hedge my bets with getting 0.8.9 to run
> smoothly
> first.

It's probably a question on many minds, so I'm glad you've asked.  To
summarize, as of today I'd recommend running anything you want
reliable results from on 0.8.9, but any testing you can do with master
and your configuration will help to identify bugs that we can work on.

Dustin