RTC Build Questions

Hi,

I have some build-related questions to clarify.

1. Jazz Build Engine supports Ant/Maven build tool. How then do I create a definition for building non java projects? Can I use Jazz Build Engine to do so?

2. What are the additional features of BuildForge that is not available in RTC? Under what circumstances do we see a benefit in integrating BuildForge with RTC, and using Rational Build Forge engine to execute the builds?

3. There are 3 supported build engine types. Jazz Build Engine, Rational Build Forge and Rational Build Agent. Is Rational Build Agent mainly used for i/z OS builds, Rational Build Forge for BuildForge builds, and for any other type of builds we can use Jazz Build Engine?

4. Does a generated build script through export from Package Explorer project include tasks such as generating output jar, perform artifact publishing and link publishing? I'm trying to understand typically how a build script is created for a project.

5. On top of the standard ant build tasks, are all the additional ant build toolkit tasks in http://publib.boulder.ibm.com/infocenter/rtc/v2r0m0/index.jsp?topic=/com.ibm.team.build.doc/topics/r_ant-tasks.html ? Is there any other source of reference?

Thanks for taking time to read and respond to the questions.

Hi,

I can provide some answers - I'm sure others will contribute as well.

1. Yes, I would start here: https://jazz.net/wiki/bin/view/Main/BuildExamples Particularly, the Setup sections of each example.

2. It's important to understand that Build Forge is a process execution framework. That is, it can control the entire software delivery lifecycle process in small steps (fetching code, building, distributing build results, testing, packaging...).
With the integration in place, one of these steps could be to call the Jazz Build Engine to fetch source code from RTC scm while keep traceability in both Build Forge and RTC. An integration scenario with Build Forge and RTC would be to allow developers to kick off such a Build Forge project from RTC.
This scenario is particularly useful when developers are building one part of a larger system. For instance, when looking at system integration activities, the system integrators can easily configure how they want to build the entire system. With this integration in place, you will be able to make use of the enterprise automation capabilities of Build Forge and the collaboration and traceability aspects of Rational Team Concert.
I believe some articles detailing this integration are under review, and should be posted soon.

3. Yes, this is from the help documentation for RTC 3.0:
Rational Build Forge: Use this build engine and definition with its corresponding projects.
Rational Build Agent: Use this build engine and related definitions for various types of builds; for example, command-line or enterprise build projects, such as iSeries or z/OS projects.
Jazz Build Engine: Use this build engine and related definitions for various types of builds, such as Ant, command-line, or Maven.

4. Highly recommend to read: http://publib.boulder.ibm.com/infocenter/clmhelp/v3r0/topic/com.ibm.team.build.doc/topics/t_build_overview.html (Particularly, 'A typical Jazz Team Build setup') and perhaps play with the JUnit example project http://publib.boulder.ibm.com/infocenter/clmhelp/v3r0/index.jsp?topic=/com.ibm.team.concert.doc/topics/tut_junit_intro.html.

5. You mentioned Rational Build Agent earlier, so I'm assuming you are using RTC 3.0. I would take a look at http://publib.boulder.ibm.com/infocenter/clmhelp/v3r0/topic/com.ibm.team.build.doc/topics/r_ant-tasks.html

Hope this helped clarify some of your questions.

I asked many times here, but nobody had clearly explained to me what's the real advantages of BuildForge over RTC, why JBE can't be used as the enterprise build management tool.

1. Things like automatically find build machine is way to advanced and I personal never seen anyone using it so I really don't need it.
2. Steps can loop,etc. isn't the killer.

What else is RTC can't do but BF can. What's the purpose of JBE and who should use it?

Thanks
Jirong

RTC Build is good if you already have your build process scripted and you aren't interested in the extras of Build Forge. Off the top of my head the benefits of BF are dynamic server pools, build resume/restart, dynamic build flow, etc. JBE is there for users who want basic build functionality that works well with Jazz SCM, that is pretty much it. Anything further you are looking at BF, Hudson, or something else.

~Spencer

I asked many times here, but nobody had clearly explained to me what's the real advantages of BuildForge over RTC, why JBE can't be used as the enterprise build management tool.

1. Things like automatically find build machine is way to advanced and I personal never seen anyone using it so I really don't need it.
2. Steps can loop,etc. isn't the killer.

What else is RTC can't do but BF can. What's the purpose of JBE and who should use it?

Thanks
Jirong