CODEWITHSUNDEEP
groovyjenkinsjenkins-plugins
Alex Foxleigh
Alex Foxleigh

Reputation: 1964

Using jenkins to modify files

I've just started to get to grips with Jenkins. It currently performs the following tasks:

  1. Pulls the latest codebase from git
  2. Uploads the codebase via sftp to my environment
  3. Sends a notification email to the testers and the PM to inform them of a completed deployment.

However for it to be truly useful I need it to perform two more tasks:

  1. Delete the robots.txt and .htaccess file which exists in the git repo and replace it with a predefined version which is specific for the server
  2. Go through all the code and remove specific code-blocks (perhaps something in between comments: eg. /** Dev only **/ Code to be removed goes here /** Dev only **/ or something like that).

Are there any plugins which can accomplish these things or would I have to read up on writing groovy scripts for this sort of thing (I don't know anything about those yet).

On a related note: I'd also love it if it could combine kit and SASS files, however I can't see a plugin for these things, however I assume I can just install compass on my build server and then run it via command line in the build process. Is that correct?

Upvotes: 3

Views: 7835

Answers (1)

Dave Bacher
Dave Bacher

Reputation: 15972

Instead of putting your build tasks directly into the Jenkins job, I recommend writing a build script to accomplish your publishing/deployment tasks.

Jenkins is great for having a single point of automation that is easy to run, can publish build results, and can track successes and failures. In my experience though, you're better off not putting your individual tasks and configuration steps into the Jenkins job configuration. At some point, you'll want to be able to run this job without Jenkins, either because you want to test local changes, or you want to handle multiple jobs and trying to keep job configurations in sync is not fun, or because you're moving to another build/deployment system. Also, putting the build script into a file allows you to put it into your source control system and track changes.

My advice: choose a scripting language (Python, Ruby, Perl, whatever you're comfortable with) or build system (SCons and Rake are options) and write a build script. In Python Ruby, and Perl, it's easy to manipulate files (#1) and all have a wide choice of templating systems that will accomplish #2. Then the Jenkins job becomes running your build script on the command line (or executing through a language-specific builder). And the build script can include running any of the tasks that you decide to put in your build (compass, etc).

Upvotes: 3

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