Incremental continous integration

Question

I have set up continuous integration for multiple projects, which usually includes:

• compilation;
• testing;
• javadoc generation;
• dependency reporting;
• static analysis ( PMD, CPD, FindBugs).

These are usually up in a ci target which cleans the workspace and runs all the above targets. I've tried most of the possible tricks to get them to run faster, including the ant parallel task, but these are still too slow.

I known about the pipeline pattern ( e.g. compile on commit, static analysis nightly ) but I'd like to get all of the information on each commit. By looking at Eclipse I can see that:

• incremental compilation is definitely possible;
• the findbugs plugin seems to have incremental analysis.

Is it possible to execute incremental CI builds, in order to decrease the waiting time after committing?

Answer 1

You haven't specified what ci system you use, but (regardless of this) have you considered using maven instead of ant as your build tool?

You can then set up two builds against your project:

• the first build is triggered by a checkin and runs the compile + unit tests
• the second is triggered by the first succeeding, and runs everything else

I would use sonar for "everything else" to get maximum useful reporting with minimum effort.