- A Day in the Life of CI
- What Is the Value of CI?
- What Prevents Teams from Using CI?
- How Do I Get to "Continuous" Integration?
- When and How Should a Project Implement CI?
- The Evolution of Integration
- How Does CI Complement Other Development Practices?
- How Long Does CI Take to Set Up?
- CI and You
- Commit Code Frequently
- Don't Commit Broken Code
- Fix Broken Builds Immediately
- Write Automated Developer Tests
- All Tests and Inspections Must Pass
- Run Private Builds
- Avoid Getting Broken Code
- Summary
- Questions
All Tests and Inspections Must Pass
In a CI environment, 100% of a project's automated tests must pass for your build to pass (this is a technical criterion, not an expectation that all workers or all work should be perfect). Automated tests are as important as the compilation. Everyone accepts that code that does not compile will not work; therefore, code that has test errors will not work either. Accepting code that does not pass the tests can lead to lower-quality software.
An unscrupulous developer may simply comment out the failing test. Of course, this defeats the purpose. Coverage tools assist in pinpointing source code that does not have a corresponding test. You can run a code coverage tool as part of an integration build.
The same goes for running automated software inspectors. Use a general rule set of coding and design standards that all code must pass. More advanced inspections may be added that don't fail the build, but identify areas of the code that should be investigated.