Recently I’ve upgraded my home development machine to Windows 7. It is useful to do these cleanings from time to time, since it forces you to take a step back from your current configuration and think whether something new might be better.

So yesterday while I was preparing a new release of GroundTruth, I was missing my CruiseControl.NET server and started to reinstall it. After hitting a few snags I got bored with the whole idea: I constantly keep resolving the same issues with CC.NET installations (since I use it both at home and at work). Remembering I once played with Hudson and liked it, I decided to give it a serious try.

Setting Up Hudson

The installation was really easy – just download the .war file and run it using java. I did have to move the home directory from the default user’s profile directory to my data disk in order to make the whole installation more portable.

This is what I like about Hudson: no hassle with XML configuration files, you can configure it with a user-friendly Web GUI. Also, you don’t need IIS – the Hudson has its own integrated web server. And it even provides a button for installing Hudson as a Windows service!

The only real drawback with Hudson is that it’s a Java application and if you want to extend it with your own plug-ins, you need to write Java code. Which is fine, but not as accessible for .NET developers. But lately I’ve started using the build server just for building, labeling and packaging and I don’t really need any special plug-ins for that. Anyway, Hudson already has a lot of plug-ins, some of them even for .NET, so I don’t think I will need to write my own any time soon.

Good Bye Cruising

I’ve had quarrels with CC.NET before. Now I think of CC.NET as a nice introduction into CI world, but after a while you need something else. My view is that the .NET world needs a new open source CI project, which would build upon experience of CC.NET, both positive and negative. This is what I would like to see:

• No hassle: just copy a single executable and run it. No IIS setup, no nothing. Web server comes with the package. Windows service installation with a single mouse click.
• Portability: server configuration has to be separated from the server executables. If a new version of the build server arrives, the upgrade be as simple as overwriting a single executable file. No messing around with Web.configs, dashboard.configs etc.
• Web-based installation & upgrade: I like how WordPress is doing things: you can upgrade your WordPress installation using the Web dashboard. It would also be nice to be able to install plug-ins just by pointing to its home URL.
• Simple GUI: simple as in “Google search simple”. 95% of the time you only need a build radiator and nothing else. Everything else should be accessible, but not on the first page. And think simple permalinks. BTW: in my view, even Hudson’s GUI could be improved in this aspect.
• Interactive GUI: I want to see a live build log, without manual refreshing. More Ajax please.