Build Status Lava Lamp

People have been using AmbientOrb, traffic signals, and even Lava Lamps to make the current build status publicly visible.

"Lava Lamps" as a build status indicator were mentioned in...

• The "Pragmatic Project Automation: How to Build, Deploy, and Monitor Java Apps" book by Mike Clark ISBN 0974514039
• How to build and automate a pair of lamps -- red and green: http://www.pragmaticautomation.com/cgi-bin/pragauto.cgi/Monitor/Devices/BubbleBubbleBuildsInTrouble.rdoc
• http://www.sharpesrus.com/2004/08/monitoring-build-status-in-unique-ways.html
• Maybe this could be used for an on-screen backup display (or maybe not): http://www.rocketdownload.com/program.php?id=1294

• http://www.developertesting.com/archives/month200404/20040401-eXtremeFeedbackForSoftwareDevelopment.html [Search for the "Java Lava Lamp" title.]
• http://flea.sourceforge.net/gameTestServer.pdf - see AgileTesting

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Has anyone found a way to deal with LavaLamp? latency?

As I understand it, ThatsNotaBugItsaFeature: Really! ;-> Seriously -- When the build breaks, the red lamp clicks on. And the game is, fix it before it gets fully warmed up! IE: Fix it, before the red lamp gets really mad!

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Good:

Getting bad:

Bad:

(The images above are from http://www.pragmaticautomation.com/cgi-bin/pragauto.cgi/Monitor)

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Damn! We lovers of dynamic languages don't seem to have anything equivalent. I suppose the statikes would suggest an indicator for the number of bugs that would have been caught if it was compiled instead.

You could write UnitTests. ;->

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Just sneeze while drinking hot tea. It's a "recession lava lamp".

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See other BuildStatusIndicators.