Chapter 11. Continuous integration tools

Life is a continuous exercise in creative problem solving.

Michael J. Gelb

This chapter covers

In the two previous chapters we described ways to execute our tests automatically by using tools such as Ant and Maven. Our tests were then triggered by the build. Now it’s time to go to the next level: automatically executing the build and the tests at a regular interval by using some other popular tools. In this chapter we introduce the paradigm of continuous integration and show you how to schedule your project to be built automatically in a certain timeframe.

11.1. A taste of continuous integration

Integrating the execution of JUnit tests as part of your development cycle—code : run : test : code (or test : code : run : test if you’re test-first inclined)—is an important concept in the sense that JUnit tests are unit tests, that is, they test a single component of your project in isolation. A great many of the projects out there, however, have modular architecture, where different developers on the team work on different modules of the project. Each developer takes care of developing their own module and their own unit tests to make sure their module is well tested.

11.2. CruiseControl to the rescue

11.3. Another neat tool—Hudson

11.4. Benefits of continuous integration

11.5. Summary