Creating or copying a release#

About this task

The build manager creates a release when his team is ready to work on a new product.

If a team was working on a new version of a product, the build manager would likely copy a release, described in the next example.

The build manager for a component development shop releases several component baselines many times a week. After he releases a version of the component, he needs to create the next release so work can begin on it immediately. On Monday morning, he releases the siriusCore/4.3.25-006 component and needs his team to begin work on siriusCore/4.3.25-007 Monday afternoon.

The build manager copies the siriusCore/4.3.25-006 release. (The Copy Release dialog box pre-populates the release field with siriusCore/4.3.25-007.) The build manager notifies his team that the new siriusCore/4.3.25-007 release is ready; the team can perform a Refresh Choices operation to get the new release value and begin working.

If your team needs to develop more than one release of an application concurrently, you will support parallel releases.

For example, one team might be working on new features for release toolkit/3.0 of the toolkit application while another team works on bug fixes for release toolkit/2.1.

To support parallel releases, you will create one integration build management project hierarchy and one system test build management project hierarchy for each unique release combination you will build.

Procedure

  1. Click the Task menu, point to New, and choose Release.

    The Create Release dialog box appears.

  2. Modify the following fields, as necessary:
    • Baseline Release

      This option enables you to set the baseline release for the release, if you are creating a release. If you are copying a release, you can change the baseline release that displays automatically based on the release you are copying from.

      The baseline release provides a safety net for baseline selection. You can use this when defining the baseline search order in a process rule.

      For example, the baseline for the Insulated Development purpose is the latest Integration Testing baseline that has the same release as the project; however, if that does not exist, then the latest baseline from the baseline release is used.

      To be more specific, the baseline release for CM 6.5 is CM 6.4 SP1. If integration testing baselines are not yet available for CM 6.5, then a 6.5 insulated development project would pick up the latest CM 6.4 SP1 baseline.

    • Name

      Choose the component name from the list box or type one in (for example, editor). If you are creating a release, type the component release (for example, 3.2_patch). If you are copying a release, you can use the component release based on the release you are copying or you can type a new one.

      The component release must contain 32 characters or fewer.

    • Description

      A description gives a short explanation about the release.

    • Parallel Restrictions

      Parallel restrictions dictate how a team working on this release will use parallel versions. If you are copying a release, the values from the release you are copying will display in this box.

      You can set the following parallel restrictions:

      * Allow both parallel check out and check in

      * Allow parallel check out, but disallow parallel check in

      * Disallow both parallel check out and check in

      If you do not choose a setting, then the default, Allow parallel check out, but disallow parallel check in, is used.

  3. Add the process for this release, as required.

    A process groups process rules into a named set that are designed to work together.

    Be default, each process contains the process rules that you can use for a release. The following are the built-in processes, process rules, and purposes:

Results

Process Process Rule Purpose
standard Collaborative Development

Custom Development

Insulated Development

Integration Testing

Shared Development

System Testing

Visible Development

Collaborative Development

Custom Development

Insulated Development

Integration Testing

Shared Development

System Testing

Visible Development

distributed Custom Development

Insulated Development

Local Collaborative Development

Local Integration Testing

Master Integration Testing

Shared Development

System Testing

Visible Development

Custom Development

Insulated Development

Collaborative Development

Integration Testing

Master Integration Testing

Shared Development

System Testing

Visible Development

Add to the process rules choices by clicking the Select Process button. The Select Process dialog box displays the available processes. Choose the appropriate process and click OK.

If you are copying a release, then you can use the process rule that was part of the previous release. (The set of process rules defines the purposes that will be available when a user copies a project for that release.)

Alternatively, if you copy a process with several process rules, you might want to remove process rules that you will not need.


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