Expert Python Programming - Third Edition

Problem 3 – External job definitions

Some continuous integration systems, especially Jenkins, allow you to set up most of the build configurations and testing processes completely through a web UI, without the need to touch the code repository. However, you should really avoid putting anything more than simple entry points to the build steps/commands into externals systems. This is the kind of CI anti-pattern that can cause nothing more than trouble.

Your building and testing process is usually tightly tied to your code base. If you store its whole definition in an external system, such as Jenkins or Buildbot, then it will be really hard to introduce changes to that process.

As an example of a problem introduced by a global external build ...