Discuss Build And Versioning Lab
Swe0607
Introduction
At this point you've seen some build systems (Ant and Make) at work and have been introduced to the versioning systems Darcs and Subversion. You probably have noticed the many similarities and differences and hopefully come to understand how incredibly useful the tools can be. There is an incredible number of different build systems available and a lot (but not quite as many) of different versioning systems too. Unfortunately we can only give a short introduction of what's really out there, so here's your chance to explore for yourself.The Exercise
You are expected to find and test a build and versioning system, compare it to the systems you already know and write a short report. Build systems are often mixed with other tools, it is for example not uncommon to mix build and deployment systems (like ant's ability to create jar-files). If this is the case, you may limit your exploration to the building part and/or the versioning subsystem. To really test the build system create a small example by picking some small project or part of it (make sure to check licenses) and set up the build system. The system you choose has to work on the lab computers (either linux or windows) so that we can verify your work (exceptions can be made, if you've some really interesting idea). Also search for a versioning system and if possible experiment with it. Find out how some typical operations would be performed, e.g. checking out a repository, commiting changes, conflict resolution and branching. Describe these in the report step by step (so that it could be repeated). Note that the versioning system does not have to be installed at the lab computers like the build system. Needless to say the build and versioning systems of your choice should not include make, ant, svn or darcs.What to hand in
For the build system you chose you have to hand in:- your example control file for the build system, that can be run on the lab machines
- a step-by-step description of how to perform a build with the above system
- and a comparison of the build system with ant and make (300-500 words)
- show how the versioning system works by giving at least 3 different use-cases, described step by step
- compare it to the versioning systems you know (300-500 words)