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Build and Release Management

IBM Rational Build Forge Standard Edition

Written by Ruth Davidson

Overview:

The IBM® Rational® Build Forge^TM Standard Edition automates your software delivery processes through an adaptive build and release management framework that helps development teams standardize repetitive tasks, manage compliance mandates, and share information. The system supports distributed development teams through a centralized web interface - accessible virtually anytime, anywhere.

IBM Rational Build Forge integrates into your current environment and supports major development languages, scripts and tools, regardless of platform - all providing the capabilities you need to close the gap between writing code, building an application, and releasing it into production.

Helps you realize fast development cycles, high product quality, improved staff productivity and short time-to-market.

Helps increase productivity through integration with leading IDEs including IBM Rational Application Developer®, IBM WebSphere Studio®, Microsoft® Visual Studio .NET and the open source Eclipse framework.

Correlates data from disparate source control, testing, and defect tracking tools to give a "one-stop" view of product development.

Provides developers with controlled, self-service access to production build processes from within their IDE environment.

A complete bill-of-materials is provided that lists changes and the content of each build for more accurate testing, problem resolution and compliance management.

Threading allows discrete, non-dependent processes to run concurrently for fast processing. Thread blocks also allow a build to be restarted at a failed step rather than re-running an entire build when it breaks part way through.

Provides analysis and reporting of each project offering visibility into the average run times so you can measure how builds have been accelerated and identify areas for improvement.
Seamlessly integrated with IBM Rational ClearCase® and Rational ClearQuest® out-of-the-box. The Build Forge Adaptor Toolkit lets users of other third party source code managers, defect tracking and test managers create links between software configuration management and build environments.

Features and Benefits

IBM® Rational® Build Forge^TM Standard Edition provides build management and software delivery for medium to large development teams.

Feature	Benefit
Web-based console for user access and administration	Repetitive tasks are standardized and reused for multiple projects to ensure process consistency and reduce new project set-up time
Automates process for build and release management	Bill-of-materials list changes and content of builds for accurate testing, problem resolution and compliance management
Distributed multi-platform builds	Your current scripts and tools plug right in, regardless of platform
Correlates data from disparate source control, testing, and defect tracking tools to give a "one-stop" view of product development	Provides a documented audit trail of process changes for compliance management
Multiple scheduling options are offered that can align with your development approach	Users of source code managers, defect tracking and test managers can create seamless links between configuration management and build environments for increased efficiency and tracking of source code, defect and test changes
Open command line interface that's compatible with existing build scripts, batch files, development tools, and other processes	There are no new proprietary scripting languages to learn and no throw-away work
Threading allows you to break down builds into discrete, non-dependent processes that run concurrently	Accelerate build times, optimize your hardware environment avoiding unnecessary hardware expense
Captures, documents, and retains vital processes as they evolve over time	In-depth knowledge of the underlying processes is not required