esug'11: channelstream: the challenge of continuously delivering, by julian fitzell

8/4/2019 ESUG'11: ChannelStream: The Challenge of Continuously Delivering, by Julian Fitzell

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Julian Fitzell, CincomESUG, EdinburghAugust 24, 2011

Image © Petr Vins: http://www.sxc.hu/photo/1054507

http://www.sxc.hu/photo/1054507




ChannelStream



Document OutputManagement



Enrichment

O M R

Marke ting

B a r c o d e D at amat r i x



Output



Why?

• Postal contract savings

• Saves licking envelopes

• Personalization and cross-marketing

• Avoid IT/supplier for customization

• Enhance legacy output


http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/esug11-channelstream-the-challenge-of-continuously-delivering-by-julian 8/39Image © Tim Regan: http://www.flickr.com/photos/dumbledad/3225255407/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/dumbledad/3225255407/





Slowdevelopment

Manual process

Testenvironment not

easily reproducible

Externaldependencies

fragile

Test dataunversioned

Configurationfiles unversioned

False positives

Unclearseparation between

unit/functionalTests notalways run

Tests notalways updated

Building

images slow +error-prone

Tests slow/hard to run

Infrequentintegration

Onedeveloperintegrating

Reducedconfidence fromautomated tests

STRESS!

+Frequentreleases

Integration isrisky/hard

Difficultytracking versions



So...

• Make building images easier

• Make running tests easier

• Make integration easier



Jez Humble, http://continuousdelivery.com/2010/08/continuous-delivery-vs-continuous-deployment/

con·tin·u·ous de·liv·er·y• putting the release schedule in the

hands of the business• ensuring your software is always

production ready throughout itsentire lifecycle

• making any build potentially

releasable to users at the touch of abutton

http://continuousdelivery.com/2010/08/continuous-delivery-vs-continuous-deployment/





Goals

• Reduce cycle time between an ideaand its availability to users

• Deliver high-quality software reliably

and efficiently



Frequent, automated releases:

• Decrease stress

• Eliminate errors and improveauditability

• Make feedback more immediate

• Protect against reliance on individual

expertise• Reduce wasted time on repetitive tasks



Make releases boring

• Automate (almost) everything

• Version everything

• Deploy everywhere the same way

• If it hurts, do it more often

• Everyone is responsible for delivery



Development

+Integration

I i



Problems

• Contention over “head”

• One person doing most of the integration

• Delayed integration => harder integration

• Poor visibility of changes

• Hard to predict/analyze failure

Integration

I t ti



Issue tracker + emailIntegration

I t ti



Task/merge toolsIntegration

I t ti



Integrate

often• Hide functionality

(feature toggles)

• Incremental, releasablechanges

• “Branch by abstraction”for large-scale changes

• Use components todecouple parts

Integration

Image © Lars Sundstrom: http://www.sxc.hu/photo/1082530

I t ti





Remaining Issues

• Restructurings can still be tricky whenbranches are outstanding

• “Integration token” still just informal

conversation

Integration



Building

Building



Problems

• Manual builds on developer machines

• Wasted developer time

• “Here, take my image”

• Taking shortcuts

• “Works on my machine”

Building

Building



Helper scripts + docsBuilding

Building



Fully automated scripts

Builder

-filein foo-wrapper.ws

foo.ws

foo-wrapper.ws

Target

Building

Building



Builds run (at least)daily

Building

Building



Archive built imagesBuilding

+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + +Building



Image © 2009 by Urbancode

Run automatically on ALL code changes

Avoid versioning split between SVN + Store

Rationalize build/version numbering

+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + ++ + + + + + + +

+

+

+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +

+ + + + + + + + +

+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +

+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + ++ + + + + + + + + + + + + + +

+

+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +

+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +

Building



http://www.urbancode.com/html/resources/white-papers/

http://www.urbancode.com/html/resources/white-papers/



Testing

Testing



Problems

• Tests took up to 16 hours to run

• Test environment hard to create

• Failing tests sometimes pass when re-run

• Not everyone could run tests or be sure of results

• High cost of test maintenance• Sometimes quicker to test manually than fix

the test environment

Testing

Testing



Done

• Optimize tests (now run in ~ 2 hours)

• Separate unit/regression fromfunctional/integration tests

• Store test data in a central location

Testing

Testing



Run tests automaticallyTesting

+

Testing




Run regression and smoke tests as part of build and notify of errors by email

Run functional tests after build

Version control test data

Automate creation of testing environment

+ + + + + + + + + + + + + ++ + + + + + + +

+

+

+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +

+ + + + + + + + + + + + + +

+ + + + + + + + + + + + +

+ + + + + + + + + + + ++

+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +

+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +


Testing



Releasing

Releasing



Problems

• One person is:

• best person for build

• best person for integration

(so, one can delay the other)

• Forced to branch when close to release

Releasing

Releasing



Done

• Helper scripts

Releasing

+ + + + + + + +

Releasing




Fully automate runtime image build

Automate installer creation

Automate installation into test environments

Changelog generation

+

+

+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +

+ + + + + + + + + + + + + +

+ + + + + + + + + + + + +

+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +

+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + ++ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +

+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +

+ + + + + + + + + + + + + +

+ + + ++ + + + + + + + + + + +

+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +

+

Releasing



CINCOM d th Q d t L i t d t d k f Ci S t I © 2011 Ci S t I

Julian Fitzell [email protected]

Twitter: @jfitzell

mailto:[email protected]

mailto:[email protected]

esug'11: channelstream: the challenge of continuously delivering, by julian fitzell

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