4.6.1 Choosing a Change Source

There are a variety of ChangeSources available, some of which are meant to be used in conjunction with other tools to deliver Change events from the VC repository to the buildmaster.

As a quick guide, here is a list of VC systems and the ChangeSources that might be useful with them. All of these ChangeSources are in the buildbot.changes module. The contrib/ scripts mentioned below are available on github - see Contrib Scripts.

CVS

• mail.CVSMaildirSource (watching mail sent by contrib/buildbot_cvs_mail.py script)
• pb.PBChangeSource (listening for connections from buildbot sendchange run in a loginfo script)
• pb.PBChangeSource (listening for connections from a long-running contrib/viewcvspoll.py polling process which examines the ViewCVS database directly
• change_hook in WebStatus ( status.web.change_hook)

SVN

• pb.PBChangeSource (listening for connections from contrib/svn_buildbot.py run in a postcommit script)
• pb.PBChangeSource (listening for connections from a long-running contrib/svn_watcher.py or contrib/svnpoller.py polling process
• mail.SVNCommitEmailMaildirSource (watching for email sent by commit-email.pl)
• svnpoller.SVNPoller (polling the SVN repository)
• change_hook in WebStatus ( status.web.change_hook)
• contrib/googlecode_atom.py's GoogleCodeAtomPoller (polling the commit feed for a GoogleCode SVN repository)

Darcs

• pb.PBChangeSource (listening for connections from contrib/darcs_buildbot.py in a commit script
• change_hook in WebStatus ( status.web.change_hook)

Mercurial

• pb.PBChangeSource (listening for connections from contrib/hg_buildbot.py run in an 'incoming' hook)
• pb.PBChangeSource (listening for connections from buildbot/changes/hgbuildbot.py run as an in-process 'changegroup' hook)
• change_hook in WebStatus ( status.web.change_hook)
• contrib/googlecode_atom.py's GoogleCodeAtomPoller (polling the commit feed for a GoogleCode Mercurial repository)

Bzr (the newer Bazaar)

• pb.PBChangeSource (listening for connections from contrib/bzr_buildbot.py run in a post-change-branch-tip or commit hook)
• contrib/bzr_buildbot.py's BzrPoller (polling the Bzr repository)
• change_hook in WebStatus ( status.web.change_hook)

Git

• pb.PBChangeSource (listening for connections from contrib/git_buildbot.py run in the post-receive hook)
• change_hook in WebStatus ( status.web.change_hook)
• gitpoller.GitPoller (polling a remote git repository)

Repo/Git

• gerritchangesource.GerritChangeSource connects to Gerrit via SSH to get a live stream of changes

All VC systems can be driven by a PBChangeSource, and the buildbot sendchange tool run from some form of commit script. If you write an email parsing function, they can also all be driven by a suitable MaildirSource. Additionally, handlers for web-based notification (i.e. from github) can be used with WebStatus' change_hook module. The interface is simple, so adding your own handlers (and sharing!) should be a breeze.