Re: Continuous integration

[Phillip Lord]

Ted Zlatanov <address@hidden> writes:

> On Wed, 22 Mar 2017 09:46:40 +0100 (CET) Toon Claes <address@hidden> wrote: 
>
> TC> Some time ago Ted Zlatanov proposed to use GitLab to improve the
> TC> development process:
>
> TC> http://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/emacs-devel/2016-07/msg00937.html
>
> TC> GitLab could take care of running CI, because it runs CI when commits
> TC> gets pushed to it.
>
> Absolutely. I think the benefits reach beyond that--especially if a pull
> request workflow could be set up. Right now it's "push into branch; ask
> for comments" which is delightfully retro. Together with per-branch CI
> (so the changes on the branch can be tested before they are merged, as
> opposed to post-merge) this could result in a greatly improved developer
> experience.

I'd certainly agree with this. Inline code review would be nice also,
especially given that Emacs git is set up for non-squashing.


> TC> I know several people on this list are not familiar with
> TC> GitLab/GitHub/BitBucket, that's why Ted asked
> TC> address@hidden if it was possible to run a GitLab
> TC> installation on FSF/GNU hardware, but I've never heard anything else
> TC> from it.
>
> TC> http://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/emacs-devel/2016-07/msg01133.html
>
> Also note the recent discussion about why the Docker Hub web site's
> Javascript usage made the Docker Hub service unacceptable. I hope we
> don't waste time on discussing a GitLab installation if it doesn't fit
> that specific requirement (since it runs a web server).

If we are going to test builds across different platforms then, it is
worth noting, that we technically have to use non-free software. We
cannot test the windows/macos builds without it. I don't know whether
this is a problem or not; it is not dissimilar from building and
distributing Emacs windows binaries.

I mentioned earlier that I've also tried buildbot. It works, the
building is nice, and it's just CI. It would plugin to the existing
savannah infrastructure, so might be less distruptive. The web front end
does not, however, work with librejs.


Phil