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Customizing snapshot name


Daniel martin (10122926) | asked Aug 04 '11, 12:04 p.m.
We are using RTC 3.0 with BF 712. Our build integration is using the JBE to accept change, fetch the workspace, and create the snapshots. Previously we could customize the snapshot name to something that seemed logical. After migrating to the JBE our snapshots look like: "BRI-BUILD_BRI (BUILD_0.0.0.138 as RT30CBuilds9092) for 43526236"

BRI=BF project
Build_BRI= RTC Build definition
BUILD_0.0.0.138= BF tag
RTC30Builds9092= BF ID executing the build
43526236= the requester

How do I customize: "jbe -userId $User_Name -pass $Password -repository $Repository_Address -buildResultUUID $buildResultUuid -engineUUID $engineUUID -participants com.ibm.team.build.jazzscm -noComplete -verbose -vm ${RTC_CLIENT}${SWITCH}jdk${SWITCH}bin</execute> "

to create a snapshot like: BRI_BUILD_0.0.0.138 ?

8 answers



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Daniel martin (10122926) | answered Aug 08 '11, 10:38 a.m.
Looks like there is one other issue with the snapshot creation when leveraging the JBE with BF. If you request a build a snapthot appears in the build overview, but infact one is not generated on the WS. While I agree that snapshots should only be created if there are changes since the previous build it is misleading to falsely create one. How do we ensure that a snapshot is created when required, but avoid false snapshots?

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Tim Mok (6.6k38) | answered Aug 08 '11, 11:19 a.m.
JAZZ DEVELOPER
Looks like there is one other issue with the snapshot creation when leveraging the JBE with BF. If you request a build a snapthot appears in the build overview, but infact one is not generated on the WS. While I agree that snapshots should only be created if there are changes since the previous build it is misleading to falsely create one. How do we ensure that a snapshot is created when required, but avoid false snapshots?
To clarify, a snapshot is a set of baselines and does not mean all workspaces will get those baselines. The baselines will have to be delivered to other workspaces if you want to see them. Which workspace are you referring to when you say a false snapshot was generated?

A snapshot would always get created with a build so you have a record of what was in that build. I don't understand what you mean by a false snapshot. Is the snapshot saving a configuration that is different than what was used in that build?

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Daniel martin (10122926) | answered Aug 08 '11, 3:28 p.m.
I requested a build, where I knew there were no changes. I have the WS associated with the build loaded in my pending changes view. After the snapshot was created there was no outgoing change from the WS to the stream, which there should be if in fact a snapshot was created.

To make sure my assumption was correct I changed a file in my personal WS, delivered the change to the stream, and requested a build. After the build created the snapshot it showed as an outgoing change from the build WS to the stream.

Looks like there is one other issue with the snapshot creation when leveraging the JBE with BF. If you request a build a snapthot appears in the build overview, but infact one is not generated on the WS. While I agree that snapshots should only be created if there are changes since the previous build it is misleading to falsely create one. How do we ensure that a snapshot is created when required, but avoid false snapshots?
To clarify, a snapshot is a set of baselines and does not mean all workspaces will get those baselines. The baselines will have to be delivered to other workspaces if you want to see them. Which workspace are you referring to when you say a false snapshot was generated?

A snapshot would always get created with a build so you have a record of what was in that build. I don't understand what you mean by a false snapshot. Is the snapshot saving a configuration that is different than what was used in that build?

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Tim Mok (6.6k38) | answered Aug 08 '11, 4:18 p.m.
JAZZ DEVELOPER
I'm not sure why you would care if there are any changes between the build's workspace and the stream. Users shouldn't be touching the build workspace because it's only used for builds and can cause interference if that workspace is used for other things.

To understand what's going on, I suspect that there were no changes since the last baseline in the stream. When a snapshot is created, it creates new baselines only if there are changes since the last baseline. Also, there are no new changes since the last build so the build workspace would be the same as the stream. This would explain why there are no outgoing changes when you've loaded the workspace.

I'm not sure why there would be an outgoing change when comparing the build workspace to the stream. The workspace should have accepted the change you've delivered and be in sync with the stream. So there would be no outgoing changes. Unless you mean there was an outgoing baseline then that was created for the snapshot.

I'm not quite sure what you want as the end result. The snapshot associated with the build is good and reflects what was used in the build. I hope this explains what's going on behind the scenes.

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Daniel martin (10122926) | answered Aug 08 '11, 5:14 p.m.
I am a build engineer, responsible for rolling out an integration between rtc/BF to around 22K developers. I am investigating a way to customize the snapshot, as menioned in my original post.

During my attempts to customize the snapshot, to something that could used, I learned that when builds are requested snapthots are created every time, even if they are referencing very old baselines. Baselines that were created when there were last changes accepted into the WS. I completely understand the machanics behind snapshots/baselines. However, creating a snapshot that refrences an old baseline is truely useless.

The reason for my original post was to customize the snapshot, and the reason for that was because we need to promote the snapshot to the stream so that it visiable to the development community. We need to do this, because as you stated developers shouldn't touch the build WS. We don't want to be forced to promote a snapshot that looks like:
"BRI-BUILD Dep checker_BRI_dep_checker (BUILD_0.0.0.5 as RT30CBuilds9092) for 43526236"

Furthermore, snapshots and baselines should have some link, otherwise you end up with a snapshot for build_0.0.0.145 that is looking at the snapshot for build_0.0.0.114. This will results in some confusion from the development community. If this is working as designed we can open an RFE to correct the behaviour.

If I can get help with the original question i can complete my requirement to promote snapshots to streams

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Tim Mok (6.6k38) | answered Aug 08 '11, 5:30 p.m.
JAZZ DEVELOPER
I'm not quite sure what you mean by build_0.0.0.145 referencing build_0.0.0.114. Is the snapshot name the same or just the contents or the baselines? It sounds like if nothing has changed between the builds that your snapshot has baselines that look no different than the previous build. In that case, you could have developers not care about the baseline names and treat the version number as the last version something changed in that component. They should be looking at the snapshot name to get the content that was used in that build.

If you want to force a new baseline name that matches the build, you can always create another baseline. If you can automate that then I think you'll be ok. There is no restriction from creating baselines that have no changes between them. You only have to create the baselines before the snapshot is taken.

I hope you've been able to customize the snapshot name to your liking. Unfortunately, I don't know much about the build process so I won't be able to provide any suggestions in that area.

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Daniel martin (10122926) | answered Aug 09 '11, 9:45 a.m.
Unfortunately I have been unable to customize the snapshot when using the IBM JBE/BF integration method. If there is someone who can help with the original thread of this topic I would appreciate some help

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Brent Ulbricht (2.5k11) | answered Aug 09 '11, 10:08 a.m.
JAZZ DEVELOPER
Unfortunately I have been unable to customize the snapshot when using the IBM JBE/BF integration method. If there is someone who can help with the original thread of this topic I would appreciate some help


Hi,

There is an enhancement request open to address customizing the snapshot name when using the JBE.

Brent Ulbricht
RTC Build Lead

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