CruiseControl.NET : Telelogic Synergy

This page last changed on Jun 19, 2005 by orogers.

Abstract

This page describes integration of CruiseControl.NET with Telelogic's Synergy SCM product suite, specifically CM Synergy as well as ChangeSynergy. Detection of modifications is entirely task based rather than object based, which may present problems for pre-6.3 lifecycles. Successful integration may be published through shared manual task folders and/or baselining.

Warning

This integration has been thoroughly tested against CM Synergy 6.3 SP4 and ChangeSynergy 4.3 SP3 Windows/Informix with the DCM option enabled. While untested, CM Synergy installations on Unix/Informix or Unix/Oracle should function properly.

Background

CM Synergy Concepts is arguably one of the best conceptual explanations of CM Synergy. Consider it a prerequisite for implementing continuous integration with CM Synergy. Robert Smith, from the CruiseControl for Java site, deserves a great deal of credit for explaining the product better than Telelogic ever has.

Methodology of integration with CCNET

Certain assumptions have been made about the integration of CruiseControl.NET and CM Synergy. First, it is assumed that all projects use a task based reconfigure template, rather than an object based.

The reconfigure template for all projects is task based, not object status based.
Developers have there own projects with purpose "Insulated Development"
There's no real point to continuous integration for "Collaborative Development" purpose projects, since Synergy is not a label based system.
Build Managers test completed tasks in a project with purpose "Integration Testing" (or similar).
We could create a baseline in the integration project to push completed tasks to the developers; however, this is less than ideal. Baselines in Synergy are expensive and were intended for milestone events like completion of a feature, or a configuration used for a QA testing round.
The more efficient approach is to have a shared task folder that is included in each developer's reconfigure template/properties.
- Successfully integrated tasks can be manually added to this folder.
- This will push newly completed and integrated tasks to developers when they reconfigure (i.e., "update members").

CM Synergy Example Configurations

Example using Defaults

<sourcecontrol type="synergy">
    <connection>
        <host>myserver</host>
        <database>\\myserver\share\mydatabase</database>
    </connection>
    <project>
        <release>Product/1.0</release>
        <projectSpecification>Product-1</projectSpecification>
        <taskFolder>1234</taskFolder>
    </project>
    <changeSynergy>
        <url>http://myserver:8060</url>
    </changeSynergy>
</sourcecontrol>

Full Example

<sourcecontrol type="synergy">
    <connection>
        <host>myserver</host>
        <database>\\myserver\share\mydatabase</database>
        <delimiter>-</delimiter>
        <!-- store values in an environmental variable-->
        <username>%CCM_USER%</username>
        <password>%CCM_PWD%</password>
        <role>build_mgr</role>
        <homeDirectory>D:\cmsynergy%CCM_USER%</homeDirectory>
        <clientDatabaseDirectory>D:\cmsynergy\uidb</clientDatabaseDirectory>
        <polling>true</polling>
        <timeout>3600</timeout>
    </connection>
    <project>
        <release>Product/1.0</release>
        <projectSpecification>Product-1</projectSpecification>
        <taskFolder>1234</taskFolder>
        <baseline>false</baseline>
        <purpose>Integration Testing</purpose>
        <template>true</template>
    </project>
    <changeSynergy>
        <role>User</role>
        <url>http://myserver:8060</url>
        <username>%CS_USER%</username>
        <password>%CS_PWD%</password>
    </changeSynergy>
</sourcecontrol>

CM Synergy Configuration Elements

Configuration Reuse

By creating separate child nodes for the <connection>, <project>, and <changeSynergy> configuration elements, it is very easy to create reusable blocks of XML. For more information on XML DTD entities and reusable configuration blocks, see JIRA issue CCNET-239 and Nithy Palanivelu's Weblog

<connection> node (required)

Connection Item	Description	Type	Environmental Variable Expansion	Default
workingDirectory	The directory to execute all CM Synergy commands from.	string	Yes	"%PROGRAMFILES%\Telelogic\CM Synergy 6.3\bin"
executable	The executable filename/path for the CM Synergy command line interface.	string	Yes	"ccm.exe"
host	The hostname of the Synergy server.	string	No	"localhost"
database	The physical path to the Informix database for the Synergy database.	string	No	Required.
username	The username for the Synergy session.	string	Yes	"%USERNAME%"
password	The Synergy password for the associated username.	string	Yes	""
role	The role to use for the Synergy session.	string	No	"build_mgr"
homeDirectory	The full physical path of the home directory for the associated username on the client machine.	string	Yes	"%SystemDrive%\cmsynergy \%USERNAME%"
clientDatabaseDirectory	Path for the remote client session to copy database information to.	string	Yes	"%SystemDrive%\cmsynergy\uidb"
delimiter	The configured database delimiter for object and project specifications.	char	No	'-'
polling	If enabled, queues commands while the server is offline.	boolean	No	false
timeout	Timeout in seconds for all Synergy commands.	int	No	3600

The Polling Feature

The polling feature is useful if your Synergy installation routinely goes offline (i.e., "protected mode"). Long runing builds may inadventently conflict with the routine downtime schedules. For example, polling allows your build to queue CM Synergy commands until the nightly backup completes.

Environmental Variables

Environmental variable support enables you to keep your sensitive build manager credentials out of the CCNET configuration file. This is especially important if the configuration file is under source control, whereby it would be readable by all CM Synergy users.

<project> node (required)

Project Item	Description	Type	Environmental Variable Expansion	Default
release	The component + version specification.	string	No	Required.
projectSpecification	The Synergy project specification for the integration project.	string	No	Required.
taskFolder	The folder specification for the shared folder which will be used to "manually" add successfully integrated tasks added to.	int	No	0
baseline	Flag to creates a new baseline of the project configuration after a successful integration.	boolean	No	false
purpose	The Synergy purpose specification for baselines created by CruiseControl.NET.	string	No	"Integration Testing"

<changeSynergy> node (optional)

Change Synergy Item	Description	Type	Environmental Variable Expansion	Default
url	The base HTTP URL for your ChangeSynergy installation	string	No	Required.
username	The optional username for ChangeSynergy anonymous access.	string	Yes	Optional.
password	The optional password for ChangeSynergy anonymous access.	string	Yes	Optional.
role	The role to use for the Synergy session.	string	No	"User"

Security Warning

Be careful about specifying a ChangeSynergy username and password. If you do not specify these optional values, the end-user will be prompted by ChangeSynergy to enter valid credentials. If an anonymous access account is used, specify a user that has only read-only permissions within ChangeSynergy. This will prevent someone from modifying objects, such as tasks, through ChangeSynergy. If you specify an impersonation account with write permissions, a malicious user could bypass auditing in ChangeSynergy.

Contributed by Steve Jansen

Document generated by Confluence on Jun 26, 2005 17:23