Engineering Workflow Management Build setup variations

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You can use any build engine to run Engineering Workflow Management Builds, but you can simplify your build setup by using the Jazz® Build Engine. If you plan to use a different build engine, first set up a simple build with the Jazz Build Engine, so that you can learn basic Engineering Workflow Management Build concepts. After you have a basic build working, you can optionally migrate to a different build engine, such as the Build Forge® build engine.

If you do not have existing build tools or scripts, learn about builds and write at least one simple build script before you attempt to set up a Jazz-based build.

Build System Toolkit

The Build System Toolkit contains the Jazz Build Engine and a toolkit of Ant tasks called buildtoolkit. Jazz Build Engine is a continuous build loop that runs builds on a build machine. The Jazz Build Engine performs three primary functions:

  • Processes both scheduled and manual build requests
  • Starts and completes builds
  • Publishes build logs

You do not have to use the Jazz Build Engine to perform these functions if you have another build system or engine that you prefer to run your builds. Tasks in the buildtoolkit can perform each of these functions. Typically, you can invoke the buildtoolkit tasks from your selected build engine or within your build scripts. You can use buildtoolkit tasks to perform various tasks, including getting the next build request, starting a build, completing a build, and publishing logs.

You can find an example build script that does not use the Jazz Build Engine at installdir/buildsystem/buildtoolkit/examples/standalone, where installdir is the Build System Toolkit installation directory.

Request processing

The Engineering Workflow Management Build uses a build request queue for request processing. A request gets in the queue in one of the following ways:

  • A user manually requests a build from within the Jazz client.
  • The build scheduler that runs from the Jazz repository server creates a request.

In most scenarios, the Jazz Build Engine and the getNextRequest task handle these two requests the same way.

Note: The request processing function is not required. You do not have to use the Engineering Workflow Management Build scheduler or its request mechanism. Your build system can have its own scheduling, or you can use a scheduling service like cron. If so, there is no request in the queue. You start the build directly by using the startTeamBuild task.

Build definitions and engines

When you set up a build that does not use the Jazz Build Engine, you need to create build definition and build engine objects in Engineering Workflow Management. When you create the build definition, you typically select the Generic template. If you do not plan to use the Jazz scheduler, you should not include the Schedule configuration when you create the build definition. If you do not plan to process Engineering Workflow Management Build requests, when you create the build engine, in the Build Request Processing section, clear the Build engine process polls for requests check box.