Configuration Management Best Practices: Practical Methods that Work in the Real World

Chapter 2. Build Engineering

Chapter Overview

2.1 Why Is Build Engineering Important? 31

2.2 Where Do I Start? 32

2.3 Build Engineering Core Concepts 32

2.4 Core Considerations for Scaling the Build Function 34

2.5 Build Tools Evaluation and Selection 38

2.6 Cost of Quality and Training 42

2.7 Making a Good Build Better 42

2.8 The Role of the Build Engineer 44

2.9 Architecture Is Fundamental 46

2.10 Establishing a Build Process 47

2.11 Continuous Integration Versus the Nightly Build 47

2.12 The Future of Build Engineering 48

Build engineering is the discipline of efficiently turning source code into binary executables. Build engineering can be as simple as running a Makefile or Ant script and as complicated as writing a full-build framework ...