musings on the craft of software development, data visualization and more
Recently I spent some time redesigning and optimizing the continuous integration (CI) process used to build and test a large software project which I ll call ZipGit here. The ZipGit CI process is implemented in CloudBees CD, a powerful general purpose process automation system most often used to implement continuous integration and continuous deployment workflows. I [ ]
Just in time for the new year, this month we released CloudBees Build Acceleration 12.0, the 40th feature release of the product previously known as CloudBees Accelerator and before that ElectricAccelerator. This is possibly the most significant update for most end users since the 8.0 release in 2015, thanks to a massive overhaul and expansion [ ]
We recently released ElectricAccelerator 9.1, the 33rd feature release in the product s 15-year-and-counting development history. This release includes several enhancements which I m pleased to share with you: a new look-and-feel, improved scalability, and a new flexible licensing system to accommodate small- and medium-sized teams! Read on for more details. Cluster Manager Dashboard The most…
Recently a customer asked me to help them create a list of factors that affect build performance. They found themselves often tasked with explaining to their developers why one build had worse performance than another, or with finding ways to further improve the performance of a build. This is a very big, very complex question [ ]
Just a couple months ago, in October 2016, we released ElectricAccelerator 9.0. This version includes some really exciting new functionality and unlocks even more amazing performance than ever before. For the first time since 2008 we added support for a new build tool: ninja, an ultra-fast new make-like build tool and the workhorse at the [ ]
In May 2016 the GNU make team released GNU make 4.2. I m pleased to see another release, though I find myself underwhelmed by both the timeline and the content of this release. When 4.1 came out just one year after 4.0 I hoped it was a sign that the GNU make project was switching to [ ]
October 2014 saw the release of GNU make 4.1. Although this release doesn t have any really remarkable new features, the release is notable because it comes just one year after the 4.0 release that s the least time between releases in more than a decade. Hopefully, this is the start of a new era of [ ]
One thing that many GNU make users struggle with is predicting the value of a variable. And it s no wonder, with the way make syntax freely mingles text intended for two very distinct phases of execution, and with two flavors of variables with very different semantics except, that is, when the one seems to [ ]
Naturally with the release of ElectricAccelerator 7.2 a few weeks ago it s time for another Accelerator Ship It! award. In keeping with our tradition, I gave each team member a LEGO figure that symbolized the release to me in some way, along with a a custom trading card giving the vital details: version, release date, [ ]
Wow, time flies! Another six months has come and gone, which means it s time for another ElectricAccelerator feature release. Right on cue, ElectricAccelerator 7.2 dropped a couple weeks back on April 17, 2014. There s no unifying theme to this release actually we re in the middle of a much more ambitious project that I can t [ ]