CODEWITHSUNDEEP
continuous-integration
Jon
Jon

Reputation: 15200

how to develop code on multiple computers when using CI Server

I currently develop a lot of my work on my laptop while on train to and from work most days. But it is no way near as good or easy as my main machine at home. My issue is how to keep the files in sync. I use subversion but also have a CI Server that rebuilds on each check in. There is a question here that deals with multiple machines and says to use source control. But what if there is a CI server, this would lead to broken builds.

My first thought (which seems a bit daft) would be to use two sets of source control, or at least two repos for the same code. One for the CI server and one to transfer between machines. Not sure you can even do that with SVN. Was just looking at Mercurial after Jeol's blog. Not sure if this would be able to work as you still have the issue of pushing to central repo would be where the CI server pulls from.

I guess the crux is how do you share code that is still buggy or doesn't compile so you can switch machines, without braking the build?

Thanks

Upvotes: 4

Views: 561

Answers (2)

R-D
R-D

Reputation: 1154

What about branches? Develop on one branch and only reintegrate after you finished a piece of development?

Upvotes: 1

Greg Hewgill
Greg Hewgill

Reputation: 993055

You're actually on the right track with the multiple repository idea, but Subversion doesn't natively support this sort of thing. Look into using a so-called DVCS (Distributed Version Control System) such as Git or Mercurial, where you can have multiple repositories and easily share changes between them.

You can then push changes to the central server from either your desktop or your laptop machine, and your source control system will sort it all out for you. Changes that are not yet complete can be done on another branch, so if one morning on the train you write some good code and some bad code, you can push the good code up to the repository used by the CI server, and the bad code over to your desktop development machine, and carry on from the point you left off.

Upvotes: 3

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