How to achieve a nightly build with CruiseControl.NET

Question

I have set up cruisecontrol.net cs for my project that has a number of modules and components that get build and get stored in folder by date on the build machine.The thing is that I need to make setup for the application(wpf non web) and the thing is that since there are a number of module and different solutions that build and finally make the product (dlls) etc.Any suggestion on comming up with a setup strategy that will create a nightly setup and also what setup package to use (something simpler or according to you that would take less time) I was planning to install something on the build machine that would pick up the files from the folder (what folder?) and make the setup...

A link to illustrate the point is Firefox's nightly build.

Any advice guys

Thanks in advance.

Answer 1

I am finding that this system is working pretty well for me. I assume VS 2005/2008 and C#, but the same principle works for other compilers and languages just substitute your own flavoring.

Using CC.NET

• Check out all source with scheduleTrigger, if multiple locations use
• Use MSBuild to build each solution that is required (assuming VS 2005/2008), or nant, or whatever build tool works best for compiling your component projects
• Use MSBuild to create WIX installers, though I have also used MSBuild to create InnoSetup and Wise Installation Studio installations
• Use MSBuild to update the AssemblyInfo.cs files for any projects that you want the build script to control
• Use your source control command line to check-in updated AssemblyInfo.ca files
• Finally use MSBuild to copy your output installer to a new folder in your drop server. I use the time stamp from the primary product executable to make a timestamp along with the generated version number to name the folder (../Builds/Product/v.M.m.r.p - DATE TIME/)

I also like to generate a build notice email at the end.

As for installer recommendations, there is a trade-off.

For fast generation, use a script installer like NSIS or Inno Setup. The drawback is not being Windows Installer compatible.

For Windows Installer products, using Wise or InstallShield are faster to generate the first time, but expensive tools and I find the maintenance on my installation scripts is high. Using WIX tends to be much more expensive the first time (learning curve + angle bracket-tax), but then easier to maintain as it is all XML and the command line tools are easy to use.

I have had some success with installation bundling with Inno Setup as Windows Installer bundling and chaining (at least for Windows XP) is a real pain.

Answer 2

We used Visual Build and Wise for our installer creation and find that highly intuitive and easy to create the set ups with. The actual CC.NET project does a few things, first thing is it checks to make sure all of the needed parts have been built successfully since the last time we created an installer (we allow installers on demand as well as scheduled every night) if they haven't been build successfully we rebuild all the componenets, once they have been (or if they already were) built successfully we then call VisualBUildPro and let it create the installer. Visual Build Pro, handles all the copying and the calling of Wise for the actual installer. Once the installer is created we publish it out to the destination where everyone expects it to be. We also have modified the XSL for the email publisher on the builds server, so everyone gets a link to the newest installer once it is published.

A few things about the nightly builds if you can you should try setting up a symbol server and have every installer upload symbols with source code information up to them. This is also a good point to have any documentation (D'Oxygen; SandCastle) Create and the time to run your FULL suite of testing that you have available.

Answer 3

Take a look at WiX. This toolset allows the setup project to be defined in XML form, and then generates the msi from this XML. The fact that the project is defined in XML gives you alot of flexibility to modify this XML on the fly during the build (if needed).

It integrates with MSBuild - see this article, and also works well with NAnt - see this article.