EAP build 10626 - Almost RC

A new EAP build as the release approaches. We are focused on fixing the most critical emerging issues now, so this is almost a release candidate build.

Apart from a number of fixed issues, minor improvements slipped through: presentation of the snapshot dependency builds failures, ability to specify prefix for EC2 agent name, dedicated action to remote run all committed but not pushed Git changes in IDEA, etc.

This is the first build which uses new TeamCity 5.0 license keys. It has time limited (60 days) EAP key bundled, so you do not need to do anything, the bundled key will be used automatically. New license keys are introduced to handle upgrade policy that we are going to announce with the 5.0 release.

In brief, new TeamCity 5.0 license key (both server and agent) will work with any version released during a year since the date of purchase. Further upgrades will be available for a discounted price.

If you already have any TeamCity licenses, you can upgrade them with a discount. If you have bought TeamCity 4.5 license within the last several month, you get 5.0 for free.

Precise terms will be announced a bit later.

New TeamCity 5.0 features I use a lot

In TeamCity 5.0 we introduced a number of interesting features and some of them became very useful for us themselves. I would like to share my own list the TeamCity 5.0 features I use most often.

First of all in TeamCity team I play two roles: developer and manager. And as such my preferences are specific a bit. As manager I need to track the overall project health and minimize time while the builds are broken. This is especially important on the eve of the release. As a developer I need to see status of my changes.

So my five favorite features are:

1. Per-test responsibility

This feature significantly reduces time between test failure and responsible developer notification. Often when team uses CI server there is a person who tracks project status. This person has a context of latest changes committed to the project and can relatively easy find a developer responsible for a failure. I often use this feature because I am anxious about current project status and want tests to be fixed faster.

By the way, can you suggest a more neutral name for "responsibility"? It turns out that for some of developers being a "responsible" for a test failure is a bit offensive.

2. Build artifacts promotion

We have a special build configuration which upgrades our own TeamCity server. This build configuration (let's call it "Upgrade") depends by artifact dependencies on a configuration producing installation files ("Dist"). In this dependency we did not want to stick on a last finished build of "Dist" because sometimes it is broken. So we used "Run custom build" dialog to start "Upgrade" and typed a build number of "Dist" as a value of some parameter. Reference to this parameter was specified in the artifact dependency.

This configuration worked very well, although it was a bit complex and required some typing, so we decided to introduce a simpler way. With new artifacts promotion feature you still need an artifact dependency from "Upgrade" to "Dist" but now once the "Dist" finishes you can start "Upgrade" right from the "Dist" build. Usually when "Dist" finishes we need to check what changes it contains, are there any problems and so on. When build verification complete one can choose "Promote..." option from the build "Actions" menu and start "Upgrade". Artifacts of this build will be used in "Upgrade" without additional typing.

3. Change details / status page

As you probably know change detected by TeamCity now has its' own dedicated page. On this page you can see comment and files submitted in this change, as well as status of the started builds and failed tests.

Often I need to review changes submitted by other developers. Sometimes developers send me a link to their changes for code review (BTW if you want to practice pre-commit review you can ask your developers to send links to their "remote run" changes). Change details page shows me important information related to a change in one place.

Note that "My changes" page now shows similar information for all of my changes.

4. Issue tracker integration

I was a bit sceptical about this feature. But it turned out that it gives a fast way to obtain more details on a submitted change.

How often do you see comments like: TW-3431 fixed? If you need to know more details about fixed bug, you have to click on a link or switch to an issue tracker and search for this issue. Now, if issue tracker integration is configured in TeamCity you can move your mouse over the "TW-3431" in the TeamCity UI and see the bug title. Even such a simple feature can save some time.
Of course the whole feature of issue trackers integration is bigger than that, however showing of the bug title is what I use most often.

5. Incremental update of the build log

Previous versions of TeamCity did not update build log page and you had to press F5 in your browser to get more recent information. This is not the case anymore. Now "All messages" page of the build log updates automatically. It also keeps scrolling at the bottom of the page.

Now when I need to see a full build log of a build in TeamCity 4.5 I sometimes forget to refresh the page. People quickly get used to good things.

So these are top 5 features of the TeamCity 5.0 I use most often. What features do you use?

EAP build 10574

Here is a new EAP build with latest fixes. Nothing really special, just lots of fixes. One feature slipped through, though: now you have "Hide successful" checkbox on the Projects page that allows to hide all the green build configurations.

BTW, if you have a plugin for TeamCity, this is the best time to try it with the latest EAP and let us know if it breakes: we can either advice you of a fix or fix an issue in our code. Be sure to look through open API changes list beforehand.

One step closer to the release: EAP build (10522)

As we plan to release 5.0 in November, we are focusing on stabilizing and fixes now. Here is a new EAP build for you to try and let us know if something goes wrong in your environment.

With this build you will get several minor features:

• ability to download build log right from the build popup
• a note that there are changes from previous builds that also might have failed the newly failed tests.
• reworked cleanup page with filter by project
• build configuration templates improvements
• improved Remote Run in Visual Studio addin
  
• and others.
  

There are also many fixes throughout the system.

Plan to use new features of TeamCity 5.0? Try EAP now to let us fix important issues before the release!
Some of the larger features in 5.0 are: EC2 integration, build configuration templates, test responsibility, issue trackers integration, Maven triggers and configuration creation from pom, new Java coverage.

New EAP build (10455)

Here is a new EAP build for you to try and let us know if something is misbehaving. The build includes:

Per-test responsibility. In addition to responsibility for a build configuration failure, you can now take (and assign) responsibility for an individual test. If there are several failing tests and no one is eager to take responsibility for the configuration, now there is no excuse :) You can assign responsibility from the test name popup and review all the active responsibilities on "Responsibilities" project tab. There are still several things to add, like notifications on responsibility assignment and here>. 

Templates improvement. Do you use recently introduced template feature to share settings for a build configuration? We do and so we continue to improve it. With this build you can create a template from an existing build configuration and also create a new configuration based on a template in a single click..

Command-line Remote Run tool. We improved the command line remote run tool (available as a plugin), so its configuration become both more flexible and more understandable. Once you install the plugin, you can create a configuration file for the tool on your TeamCity profile page. We are awaiting for your feedback and the tool usage cases so we can better understand your needs.

Also, in this EAP: plugin for SourceGear Vault, compatibility with RubyMine beta, support for Git remote run in IntelliJ IDEA and more.

We are moving to 5.0 release now and will only add minor features focusing on bug fixes. Please let us know if you find any critical TeamCity issues in this build..

YouTrack: Another Issues Number Milestone Passed

With the recent IntelliJ IDEA project issue tracker migration to YouTrack, JetBrains installation just passed an interesting total issue count milestone:

Recent Updates: 4.5.5, New EAP build

Recently, we've released a bugfix update 4.5.5 (see the fixed issues). Update is recommended for all users. Most notable additions are support in Eclipse plugin for Perforce 2009.1 integration plugin and improved compatibility with the latest IntelliJ IDEA (Maia EAP) builds.

Also a new EAP build is published.
The most important feature added are templates for the build configurations. Now you can create a template configuration and reuse its settings in others. Current approach does not allow to change much in the configurations using templates: except for the basic settings, only the build configuration properties can be altered. This means that if a value is intended to be changed in the build configurations using the template, it should be defined with a property reference. As a note, VCS roots do not support properties references and probably will not in the nearest future. However, the references are supported in the checkout rules.
We wait for your feedback on the feature to know how good this covers your cases and what improvements you definitely need.

The work is also ongoing on:
- Maven integration: trigger builds on repository artifact change is a new addition to creating a configuration from pom.xml;
- Amazon EC2 integration: can now create profiles in the web UI. We are working on dynamic agents start/shutdown - see the next EAP build;
- UI improvements: see the revamped My Changes and improved change details pages;
- Backup/restore: improved stability.

This EAP build also is compatible with the latest Maia EAP (build 10762).

If you care about any of the features mentioned, please let us know what you think and what improvements you might need.

BTW, you can also voice your thoughts in person to Pavel and me if you participate in CITCON Europe 2009 this weekend :)