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Licensing

» I replaced an evaluation with a production license and now Parabuild shows a license error. Why?

General

» How do I know what user Parabuild service runs as?
» How integrated is your product with the GNU make/gcc, Microsoft C++?
» Is Parabuild able to post-process log files from 3rd-part tools?
» To what extent is it necessary to manually configure (edit configuration files or scripts) in order for your product to work?
» To what extent is it possible to revisit a build and perform additional work on it?
» To what extent is information obtained during the build retained in a database for future retrieval?
» What built-in reports are provided?
» Does Parabuild support parallel builds (two builds running concurrently)?
» Does your product support distributed builds (one build split across multiple build servers)?
» How old is your product and how large is your active customer base?

Scheduling

» How can I make my scheduled build never run unless I invoke it?
» What is difference between a manual build and a scheduled build that is run manually?
» Why does the status of stopped build return to "Paused" instead of "Idle" after starting it manually?

Notification

» How do I configure the notifications for a build such that the only emails that the developers get are for "Build Results"?
» For continuous builds I would like to configure Parabuild to send emails on failures only.
» For scheduled builds I would like to configure Parabuild to send emails containing the build results whether the build failed or succeeded.
» I would like to experiment with a new build and I don't want anyone to receive any build errors. Is it possible?
» Can I run builds on remote hosts but see all build statuses on a single dashboard?

Perforce

» Is it possible to monitor changes being submitted in Perforce and then trigger the execution of a script, which Parabuild provides an argument to?

Subversion

» I am getting an error similar to the one below when using https. How do I make Parabuild work with Subversion?
» How do I install Parabuild for Subversion on RedHat 8?

Logging

» How do I disable access logs? They are taking too much disk space.

Licensing

• Q: I replaced an evaluation with a production license and now Parabuild shows a license error. Why?

  My operating system is Linux. Parabuild's "About" page shows that the IP address of the build manager is 127.0.0.1.

  A: This happens because /etc/hosts on the build manager contains an invalid entry that maps host name of the build manager to local host.
  
  This needs to be fixed. Replace the following line:
  
  127.0.0.1 localhost localhost.localdomain my_host_name
  
  with the following line:
  
  127.0.0.1 localhost localhost.localdomain

• General

  • Q: How do I know what user Parabuild service runs as?
    
    A: You may get to know what user Parabuild server runs as by logging in to Parabuild as an admin and going to "About" page. Check content of field named "Operating system user's account name". You may also add "set" command ("export" command under Unix) to your build commands and check the value of "USER" variable that this command output to the main build log.
  • Q: How integrated is your product with the GNU make/gcc, Microsoft C++?
    
    A: Parabuild can run any build tool that runs from the command line. This includes make, gcc and Microsoft C++.
  • Q: We are particularly interested in the abilities to start a compile (do we have to write a wrapper script or can this be specified directly) and to post-process the compile. Does Parabuild support this?
    
    A: Yes, Parabuild supports this. Parabuild will run the build the same way it runs outside of Parabuild, no changes required.
  • Q: Is Parabuild able to post-process log files from 3rd-part tools (static analysis, unit test frameworks (CppUnit, NUnit) in order to determine errors and does it allow the user to navigate directly into the log to where the warning/error occurred?
    
    A: Yes, Parabuild provides built-in support for CppUnit and NUnit and allows to navigate to the log. It also supports other common log formats such as text and HTML.
  • Q: To what extent is it necessary to manually configure (edit configuration files or scripts) in order for your product to work?
    
    A: No manual configuration is required in Parabuild. All configuration is done through the Web user interface.
  • Q: To what extent is it possible to revisit a build and perform additional work on it? For example, may we return to a nightly build (previously successfully compiled and unit-tested) and be able to (through your product) deploy that build to another test server or cut a formal release (more configuration management steps)?
    
    A: Parabuild records build state and archive build results and logs. It is possible to re-run an arbitrary build with different parameters to perform a deployment or a formal release.
  • Q: To what extent is information obtained during the build retained in a database for future retrieval? We are particularly interested in the bill of materials (code checked out for the build), compile information (results, logs, build metrics, dependencies), static analysis/test information (results, logs, metrics)?
    
    A: Parabuild retains all build information in a database. This includes recorded state of the code base, changes, results, logs, metrics, security and parameters.
  • Q: What built-in reports are provided?
    
    A: Parabuild provides the following reports: Build time; Change rate; Build breakage distribution; Time-to-fix; Static code analysis: NUnit, CppUnit, JUnit, Checkstyle, Findbugs, PMD and CPD.
  • Q: Does Parabuild support parallel builds (two builds running concurrently)?
    
    A: Yes, Parabuild supports parallel builds.
  • Q: Does your product support distributed builds (one build split across multiple build servers)?
    
    A: Yes, Parabuild supports distributed builds.
  • Q: How old is your product and how large is your active customer base?
    
    A: Parabuild development started in 2000. Until 2004 it was distributed among our consulting clients. In 2004 we rolled out the first shrink-wrapped version. Our customers include a wide range of companies from 3-person startups (Torpex) to multibillion companies (Alcatel Canada, Motorola). Please check www.viewiter.com/customers.htm to see select customers.

  Scheduling

  • Q: How can I make my scheduled build never run unless I invoke it?
    
  • A: The best way to achieve this is to deactivate the build. Then it will start only when you invoke it.
    
  • Q: What is difference between a manual build and a scheduled build that is run manually?
    
  • A: For most practical applications an on-demand scheduled build is a right choice because they have higher changes of success thanks to Viewtier's patent-pending technology.
    
    Use for manual builds is limited to one-off patches and cases when you need to build against state of the code base prior to introducing Parabuild. That is why manual builds allow building against labels and change lists. Integration with some version control systems allows changing depot paths at the build start time.
  • Q: Why does the status of stopped build return to "Paused" instead of "Idle" after starting it manually?
    
  • A: This is intended behavior. Once stopped the build enters "Paused" state. It can be started manually but it returns to this state after build completion. To resume automatic watching for changes please click on the "Resume" command link.

  Notification

  • Q: How do I configure the notifications for a build such that the only emails that the developers get are for "Build Results"? None of the developers wants to know that a build has started.
  • 
    A: Check boxes "Send failures only once" and "Send result for last step only":
    
    
    
  • Q: For continuous builds I would like to configure Parabuild to send emails on failures only.
    
    A: Check boxes " Send failures only once" and" Send failures only":
    

    

  • Q: For scheduled builds I would like to configure Parabuild to send emails containing the build results whether the build failed or succeeded.
    
    A: Check box "Send result for last step only":
    

    

  • Q: I would like to experiment with a new build and I don't want anyone to receive any build errors. Is it possible?

    A: Yes, just mark the build configuration as "private":

    

  • Q: Can I run builds on remote hosts but see all build statuses on a single dashboard?

    A: Yes, Parabuild supports building on multiple servers while presenting all build statuses on a single dashboard. Just install Parabuild in a remote builder mode on the remote hosts and fill "Builder host" field in a build build configuration. Please check Parabuild's Installation Guide and Administrator's Manual for details.
    
    

  Perforce

  • Q: Is it possible to monitor changes being submitted in Perforce and then trigger the execution of a script, which Parabuild provides an argument to?
    
    A: Yes, it is possible. Just create a build configuration and add a call to your script to the "Shell commands" field under the "Build configuration" tab. Here is a demo that shows how to do this: http://www.viewtier.com/support/demo/parabuild_demo.htm
    

  Subversion

  • Q: I am getting an error similar to the one below when using https. How do I make Parabuild work with Subversion?

    Parabuild alert: Error while checking out: Errors while executing SVN command: svn: PROPFIND request failed on '/svn/MyProject/trunk' svn: PROPFIND of '/svn/MyProject/trunk': Server certificate verification failed: issuer is not trusted (https:/subversionhost), command: "C:\Program Files\Subversion1.4\bin\svn.exe" --non-interactive --username myusername 6789 --limit 10 --stop-on-copy --verbose log

    A: This happens because Subversion requires manual input to verify a certificate for https access method. It is easy to fix.:
    
    1. Change user name Parabuild service runs as. See section Changing Parabuild Service User in Installation Guide for instructions.
    
    2. Restart Parabuild service. See section Starting And Stopping Parabuild Service in Installation Guide for instructions.
    
    3. Log in to the machine running Parabuild with the user above and run this subversion command: svn co https://<path to subversion depot> test_checkout. Subversion will ask if it is OK to accept certificate. Reply "y". This will create a temp certificate for that URL in the user's home directory.
    
    4. Parabuild should immediately start picking up changes and building. .
    
    
  • Q: How do I install Parabuild for Subversion on RedHat 8?
    A: Installing Parabuild on RedHat 8 does not require a special effort. Yet, getting Subversion up and running may be a bit trickier. If you have problems when installing the subversion rpm on Redhat-8 while running RPM installation
    

    rpm -ivh ~/rpms/subversion-1.4.3-1.rpm

    and get pthread issues, you may also need to update glibc:

    cd ~/rpms
    rpm --upgrade glibc-common-2.3.2-4.80.8.rpm glibc-2.3.2-4.80.8.rpm glibc-devel-2.3.2-4.80.8.rpm

    If subversion complains about neon, or apr or apr-util:

    cd ~/rpms
    rpm -ivh neon-0.24.7-1.i386.rpm apr-0.9.12-2.rpm apr-util-0.9.12-2.rpm

    And finally, finish as you began:

    rpm -ivh ~/rpms/subversion-1.4.3-1.rpm
    

  Logging

  • Q: How do I disable access logs? They are taking too much disk space.
    A: To disable access logs, find file <Parabuild install dir>/etc/conf/server.xml and commend out the following line:
    
    <Valve className="org.apache.catalina.valves.AccessLogValve" directory="../logs" prefix="parabuild_access." suffix=".log" pattern="common"/>
    
    so that is looks like the following:
    
    <!-- <Valve className="org.apache.catalina.valves.AccessLogValve" directory="../logs" prefix="parabuild_access." suffix=".log" pattern="common"/> -->
    
    Restart Parabuild service after making this change.