Buildbots

[Alain O'Dea]

Hi Simon:

I'm happy to help with Buildbot, Travis CI, or whatever build system is preferred.

I have administered and curated the continuous integration environment at Verafin for several years. I have reasonable experience with a variety of operating systems and test systems.

I can't reasonably take lead on this, due to inexperience with GHC's test suite and Haskell testing in general.  I am happy to act in a support role: troubleshooting, debugging, and programming to get this back up and keep it solid.  I just need a mentor to point me at the right problems to solve.

Best,
Alain

> On Apr 1, 2014, at 10:25, Simon Peyton Jones <simonpj at microsoft.com> wrote:
> 
> Friends
> 
> The nightly-build infrastructure for GHC is in disarray, and we could really do with help.  We really want
> * Continuous integration so that new test failures show up fast
> * Nightly builds on a variety of platforms, giving
>   snapshots that are easy to install
> 
> Originally we used Buildbot (http://buildbot.net/). Then in 2010 Ian Lynagh put a lot of work into a build-bot infrastructure, implemented in Haskell as an open-source project, GHC Builder (​https://ghc.haskell.org/trac/ghc/wiki/Builder).  See https://ghc.haskell.org/trac/ghc/wiki/Status/Apr10#Nightlybuilds for the reasoning at the time.
> 
> As I understand it, Builder never "caught fire", and now that Ian has moved on I don't know that anyone is maintaining it; nor are the various builders working so far as I know.  Perhaps competing technology has moved on, so that the original rationale no longer holds?  I'm not sure.
> 
> Regardless, we lack leadership in this area.  Joachim Breitner has set up Travis-CI.  (I don't know exactly what that is, but it sounds useful.)  Others have indicated interest/willingness.  But it would be fantastic to have a person, or (more plausibly) a small group who assumed leadership.
> 
> An early question would be: to continue to use a DIY system (Builder), or to move to some other better-supported (but perhaps less malleable) system.  I don't even know what the options are.
> 
> Others will be better informed than me about all this... we'd love to hear from you.
> 
> Thank you!
> 
> Simon
> 
> | -----Original Message-----
> | From: Glasgow-haskell-users [mailto:glasgow-haskell-users-
> | bounces at haskell.org] On Behalf Of harry
> | Sent: 01 April 2014 08:42
> | To: glasgow-haskell-users at haskell.org
> | Subject: Buildbots
> | 
> | It having been suggested that a buildbot for Windows may be needed, and
> | it
> | being possible that I may receive permission from management for setting
> | one
> | up in my department's server room, I set about attempting to discover
> | what
> | this actually entails.
> | 
> | A Google search led me to https://ghc.haskell.org/trac/ghc/wiki/BuildBot,
> | which tells me that "Buildbot is currently down, and we are working on a
> | replacement. See Builder for more details." If I follow the 'down' link ,
> | I
> | get to the GHC status April 2010 page, which says that buildbot has been
> | abandoned, suggesting that the page should be deleted. Could someone
> | confirm
> | before I go ahead and delete it?
> | 
> | The Builder page has clear instructions on how to set up a build slave,
> | and
> | a link to the build results. The build results contains an assortment of
> | dud
> | links and builds from August and earlier.
> | 
> | What is the current state of automated builds?
> | 
> | 
> | 
> | --
> | View this message in context:
> | http://haskell.1045720.n5.nabble.com/Buildbots-tp5746770.html
> | Sent from the Haskell - Glasgow-haskell-users mailing list archive at
> | Nabble.com.
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