Automated Configuration Management Environment

Software that supports the IbmPollyannaPrinciple to AutomateProcesses See also ContinuousIntegrationApplied and tools like AntHill and CruiseControl.

Features:

ProjectManagement

• Reminders : AutomatedTodoList
• Changes : ReadmeFile?

BuildManagement? / BuildProcess

• Retrieval : Code checkout from RevisionControlSystem
• Build : BuildProcess using a SingleUnifiedBuildScript
• Analysis : Analysis of compilation
• Exporting : Push to output directory

ArtManagement?

• Any procedural artwork is generated by CustomMediaGenerators?

DocumentationManagement?

• Auto-document : DoxyGen - Can DoxyGen be made to output Wiki(*.WIK) files?

QualityAssurance / AutomaticTesting

• Startup : UnitTest / GreenBar
• Regression : RegressionTests
• Smoke : SmokeTest
• Speed : SimpleProfiler
• Code : SourceCodeTests
• Memory : TestForMemoryLeak
• Code Coverage : TestCoverage

Finalizer

• Create WindowsProgramInstaller?
• Push installer to SingleReleasePoint
• Generate final report

ErrorReporting?

• Log error
• EmailNotifications?
• ...

PredatorPreyRelations?

• Self-learning homicidal AI trying to snake your software development job
• Shooting yourself out of a cannon (ordered from the ACME catalog), wearing rollerskates, towards your fleet but scrawny potential dinner
• ...

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LayneThomas

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I'm not sure if what you're getting at here is either a concept or a criteria for a product that already exists or should exist? Some aspects are missing that to me seem critical, for example, having some form of BugDatabase, RequirementsCapture? or just general development support.

What I'm trying to get at here is perhaps what you want is more like an AutomatedDevelopmentEnvironment? where all aspects of the development process are managed and regulated automatically. The example tools you show (AntHill and CruiseControl) are certainly useful, but just like the VersionControl systems they rely upon, they are ultimately only a PointSolution?.

I've seen companies that build their own AutomatedConfigurationManagementEnvironment from scratch and put them to highly effective use, but due to the fact that no vendor seems to offer such a huge comprehensive all-encompassing solution (or that no company is willing to put all their eggs in one basket), it is labourious, bespoke, time-consuming activity to build such an environment. Ultimately worthwhile but nonetheless, a serious commitment that I think puts many people off.

This page is about an automated way for ConfigurationManagement software releases - it's not an attempt at some kind of developer automation. Basically it describes a process/script that does all the automatic builds of software releases. Things like a bug database are virtually irrelevant in this case - except to create README files that note which bugs have been fixed or updated. It's just a script that does things like check the code out of a RevisionControlSystem, compiles it, packages it, notifies the person responsible, etc. Don't think of it as a "development environment" - think of it as ACME.BAT, or ACME.PL - it's just a way to have automatic builds.

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[CategoryConfigurationManagement]