AUTOBUILD

Autobuilding
------------

To provide a means of continuous integration we need to have some system
in place which will easily allow ourselves (and others) to automatically
checkout the current repository and execute a build of our packages.

This build-process should be 100% automatic, and should allow us to be
alerted of failures via Email notications.

Setup
=====

The autobuilding is done by sbuild using a series of basic pre-deployed
chroots.  These chroots are set up by mk-sbuild-lv which is stolen from the
ubuntu-dev-tools, but perfectly usable under Debian.

In order to build successfully, the following packages are required on the
autobuild host itself (not the chroots):
 * rake
 * dpkg-dev
 * gpg
 * sbuild

Then to build, the Rakefile in the repository can be used.  To see the
available tasks, run `rake -T'.

In summary:

 * rake all    : builds all packages
 * rake upload : copies packages to $HOME/htdocs/

Steps for Autobuilding and C-I
==============================

* Use old dedicated (AMD64) box as a autobuild host

* Post-commit hook to build packages on autobuild host
  --> email dev-list on error

* If the build succeeds,  create new dated repo with packages.
  --> Link /autobuild/current -> /autobuild/YYYYMMDD-HH:MM so that
  the most recent is available.
  --> Remove builds older than one month.

* Deploy a new VM on the machine, using the current Symbiosis image on the
  imager.

* Once installed, and upgraded to the current stable packages, run tests.
  --> email dev-list if these tests fail

* If tests pass, upgrade to newly built packages, run tests
  --> email dev-list if these tests fail

* If tests pass, remove machine.

Bits that are missing
=====================

 * No emails on failure
 * No auto-testing VM set up