Bamboo 3.3 was released several weeks ago with brand new features – support for multiple repositories for a single Plan. Despite it being one of the most popular feature requests ever, we got a few questions on how to really take advantage of multiple repository support. Let’s take a look at three ways to utilize this feature if you need to build your project from source…
1. Easily build large projects
Large projects are often composed of smaller, self-contained modules. Depending on your choice of version control, you can use submodules or externals to link your components together and check-out related source code, but the configuration of externals can be really painful.
Below is a sample SVN repository layout of how one might have structured a project and a related plugin:
[cc lang=’bash’ line_numbers=’false’]repo/project/trunk/…
repo/project/tags/…
repo/project/branches/…
repo/plugin/trunk/…
repo/plugin/tags/…
repo/plugin/branches/…[/cc]
To build and test the project including the plugin, you will need to check out both paths in the same build. The ability to specify multiple repositories makes this a piece of cake.
2. Build binaries for open source components
The thing I love the most about Atlassian tools is how easy it is to extend them via plugins. More and more functionality is being written as plugins and often they are available open-source. Bamboo Tasks are a great example of that. But of course we also need to ensure that the plugins are tested.
Therefore, if you need to build and test an open source library or plugin from source to include it in your project, you can use multiple repositories to checkout the code straight from the public repository and include it in your build. Bamboo’s out of the box support for Bitbucket and Github makes this even easier.
3. Be VCS agnostic
The transition from SVN to DVCS in Atlassian didn’t happen over-night. I believe for most companies the move will span multiple month or even years before every single projects is migrated. The good news is that it’s ok!
You can use Multiple Repositories to checkout the source(s), build and test just as if all the projects existed in the same repository.
Try Bamboo today
Try out multiple repository support today! Download Bamboo 3.3 now to get started with a 30-day FREE trial or upgrade your current instance.