Team Foundation Build under Mono

Question

Hello,

I'm currently looking at which build server we should run up for a multi-platform development (targeting .NET on Windows and Mono on Windows/SUSE).

We use TFS (2010 RC) for all other aspects of the ALM, and we need to get continuous integration in place.

I'm drawn to TFS because of its integration with the rest of the ALM, and the ability to assist in deployments etc, however I am yet to find any evidence that I can runup a build agent under mono on a non-Windows build machine.

Has anyone tried/successed at this?

If not, I will most likely opt for TeamCity on Mono.

Thanks,

Michael

Answer 1

I don't know of a way to get the current Team Build service to work on a non-Windows machine at this time. I know people kick off builds on non-windows boxes by getting the build controller (a Windows machine) to ssh over to the mac/linux/unix box using plink.exe and kick off a script on there.

However that is a lot of plumbing and a fair amount of duct tape that you probably don't want to do. In which case TeamCity, CruiseControl/CruiseControl.NET or Hudson are all good alternatives. I haven't had much experience with TeamCity but I know that CruiseControl and Hudon both talk to TFS by wrapping the command line (a beta of which is now available cross-platform from Microsoft).

Answer 2

We've decided to use Team Build as the 'primary' source of continuous integration running the gated checkings, assessing quality, providing links to tasks etc.

In addition we will have TeamCity running 'on the side' on a Mono box which will checkout source from the TFS source repository and build it.

A hybrid approach leveraging the benefits of both systems without having to 'couple' them together with scripts etc.