One of GNU make's many features allows you to shorten build times by running more than one command at a time. If your dependencies are all correct, or nearly correct, this can give you a significant improvement, and since it's built into the tool you get it "for free". But GNU make's parallel build feature -- often called "dash j mode," after the command-line option that is used to enable it -- is not without drawbacks. The worst of these is that GNU make parallel bu...

Tips for designing a CMDB Have you ever purchased a generic, "one-size-fits-all" suit off the rack with the hope it fits you perfectly? You typically find the suit doesn't fit and then you end up not wearing it, or trying to fix it yourself and ultimately end up unhappy with your purchase. The alternative is to go to a store and design your suit to fit you perfectly with the help of the tailor and designer who takes your measurements, asks you what you need the suit for (wh...

The itSMF ITIL v3 framework is a set of best practices that describes what you need to do in order to implement excellent IT Service Management. The ITIL v3 framework is also very much focused on implementing excellent Configuration Management processes. I have personally been very impressed with ITIL - especially two of its key tools. The first is the Configuration Management Database (CMDB) and the second is the Configuration Management System (CMS). CM practitioners need to take the deep dive...

Build Configurations Let us consider a few scenarios which make necessity for build configurations obvious. Scenario I: Your build is a web application. You need a quick jetty-deploy available for convenient development. Conversely, you need a javadocs plugin in your release builds but, don't want them to interfere with your development environment.

Answer these 7 questions to quickly assess if you should upgrade to an enterprise-class CI environment Because of the fast evolution of Continuous Integration (CI), the first generation of enablement tools proliferated at lightning speed.  Open source CI tools became widely used due to the ease in which an engineer could install it and start tackling the initial CI challenges that he faced.  Once proven effective, these apps (particularly Cruise Control) spread like wildfire amo...

Does the title of this article sound silly?  I mean, doesn’t everyone know what a Configuration Management (CM) tool is?  Isn’t a Configuration Management CM tool something that provides version control functionality?  Well, the short answer is yes but only in its most simplistic form.  CM as a discipline goes well beyond simple version control.  It is important to look beyond what vendors define as classic CM tools and consider CM in terms of the fu...

With Father's Day only a couple of weeks away, I am dreaming of the hedge trimmer or power saw that my family is almost certain to get me as a father's day gift to me. Such choices are about as silly as getting mom a new washing machine or blender (no doubt to bake me a cake). Now if you really want to get me a great gift then you would land me some new software such as Microsoft's TFS (which might actually be the only Version Control tool that I have not played with yet). Taking the shrink wrap...

Tools selection should really be the most objective and straight forward task that any technology professional could be asked to work on. After all, selecting a hammer (saw or screwdriver) is always a basic task that depends upon objective criteria such as the size of the nail that you are pounding into a wall. In technology, tools selection involves a lot more group dynamics than you might expect and it is very possible that personality issues (within the team evaluating the tools) coul...

Part I: The People Premium Every project is dependent upon people, processes and tools. They are how the work gets done. But these three essential elements are not equal. Each has its own strengths and weaknesses, and provides a different value to our projects. This three-part series explores the relative value of people, of process, and of tools. We will look at the strengths of each, their weaknesses, and how they provide value to our projects. Is one of the three more important...

In past articles and forum threads I have discussed how "pain" drives tool changes and how to go about identifying and evaluating potential tool additions/replacements. This month, I want to cover how to assess your existing tools and processes to determine where you really need to focus.