Re: Windows buildfarm support, or lack of it

What's wrong with this picture?

http://www.pgbuildfarm.org/cgi-bin/show_status.pl

Notice how all the red is at the bottom of the report? That's because
all the Windows machines are at the bottom, indicating that they haven't
reported recently. AFAICT, snake is the only Windows machine that
actually runs the buildfarm on a regular schedule, and even it is just
running once a day. So, while the timescale for finding out if a commit
breaks or fixes other platforms is just a couple hours, we generally
need a full day to find out about Windows. For a platform that requires
as much special-case care and feeding as the Windows code does, that's
not very acceptable. For a platform that's as ubiquitous as Windows
allegedly is, that's pretty surprising. You'd think we could find a
couple of people willing to run buildfarm tests every four hours or
so, as many of the Unix buildfarm members do.

(Yeah, I'm a bit ticked off after waiting overnight to find out if
yesterday's commits fixed Windows, and getting up to find no new
data.)

regards, tom lane

On Sun, 16 Jul 2006, Tom Lane wrote:

> [windows buildfarm machines run irregularly]

For my part the difficulty is scheduling. As a primarily unix user I
understand cron, but have no idea what the windows equivalent is. For my
cygwin buildfarm member I setup cron, but the make step failed for every
build for unknown reasons while succeeding if not run from cron. That
further demotivated me from scheduling mingw builds. Perhaps snake's
maintainer could share his configuration?

Kris Jurka

-----Original Message-----
From: pgsql-hackers-owner(at)postgresql(dot)org on behalf of Tom Lane
Sent: Sun 7/16/2006 3:29 PM
To: pgsql-hackers(at)postgresql(dot)org
Subject: [HACKERS] Windows buildfarm support, or lack of it

> AFAICT, snake is the only Windows machine that
> actually runs the buildfarm on a regular schedule, and even it is just
> running once a day.

I can bump that up as high as you'd like within reason. 4? 6 times a day?

I have spare licences for most versions of Windows as well, so if Microsoft's virtual server product is not too expensive for us I can probably add a few platform variations to that box. I'll look into it.

Regards, Dave.

-----Original Message-----
From: Kris Jurka [mailto:books(at)ejurka(dot)com]
Sent: Sun 7/16/2006 3:44 PM
To: Tom Lane
Cc: pgsql-hackers(at)postgreSQL(dot)org; Dave Page
Subject: Re: [HACKERS] Windows buildfarm support, or lack of it

> For my part the difficulty is scheduling. As a primarily unix user I
> understand cron, but have no idea what the windows equivalent is. For my
> cygwin buildfarm member I setup cron, but the make step failed for every
> build for unknown reasons while succeeding if not run from cron. That
> further demotivated me from scheduling mingw builds. Perhaps snake's
> maintainer could share his configuration?

I run a simple batch script that fires the run off under msys from the Windows Task Scheduler. I'll happily help out anyone who wants to get a build running.

Regards, Dave.

Kris Jurka wrote:
>
>
> On Sun, 16 Jul 2006, Tom Lane wrote:
>
>> [windows buildfarm machines run irregularly]
>
> For my part the difficulty is scheduling. As a primarily unix user I
> understand cron, but have no idea what the windows equivalent is. For
> my cygwin buildfarm member I setup cron, but the make step failed for
> every build for unknown reasons while succeeding if not run from cron.
> That further demotivated me from scheduling mingw builds. Perhaps
> snake's maintainer could share his configuration?

There is job schedulers for Windows. I have no idea how good or bad they
are.

Joshua D. Drake

>
> Kris Jurka
>
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On 7/16/06, Joshua D. Drake <jd(at)commandprompt(dot)com> wrote:
>
> Kris Jurka wrote:
> >
> >
> > On Sun, 16 Jul 2006, Tom Lane wrote:
> >
> >> [windows buildfarm machines run irregularly]
> >
> > For my part the difficulty is scheduling. As a primarily unix user I
> > understand cron, but have no idea what the windows equivalent is. For
> > my cygwin buildfarm member I setup cron, but the make step failed for
> > every build for unknown reasons while succeeding if not run from cron.
> > That further demotivated me from scheduling mingw builds. Perhaps
> > snake's maintainer could share his configuration?
>
> There is job schedulers for Windows. I have no idea how good or bad they
> are.

This might help:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;308569&sd=tech The
windows scheduler is ok. I think Dave is doing it the best way.

Nathan

Joshua D. Drake
>
>
> >
> > Kris Jurka
> >
> > ---------------------------(end of broadcast)---------------------------
> > TIP 1: if posting/reading through Usenet, please send an appropriate
> > subscribe-nomail command to majordomo(at)postgresql(dot)org so that your
> > message can get through to the mailing list cleanly
> >
>
>
> --
>
> === The PostgreSQL Company: Command Prompt, Inc. ===
> Sales/Support: +1.503.667.4564 || 24x7/Emergency: +1.800.492.2240
> Providing the most comprehensive PostgreSQL solutions since 1997
> http://www.commandprompt.com/
>
>
>
> ---------------------------(end of broadcast)---------------------------
> TIP 5: don't forget to increase your free space map settings
>

Dave Page wrote:
>
> I have spare licences for most versions of Windows as well, so if Microsoft's virtual server product is not too expensive for us I can probably add a few platform variations to that box. I'll look into it.

In fact MS released Virtual PC 2004 for free a couple days ago
(http://www.microsoft.com/windows/virtualpc/default.mspx)

--
Regards
Petr Jelinek (PJMODOS)

Dave Page wrote:
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: pgsql-hackers-owner(at)postgresql(dot)org on behalf of Tom Lane
> Sent: Sun 7/16/2006 3:29 PM
> To: pgsql-hackers(at)postgresql(dot)org
> Subject: [HACKERS] Windows buildfarm support, or lack of it
>
>
>> AFAICT, snake is the only Windows machine that
>> actually runs the buildfarm on a regular schedule, and even it is just
>> running once a day.
>>
>
> I can bump that up as high as you'd like within reason. 4? 6 times a day?
>
>

Let's go for 6, at least for HEAD. Under normal use buildfarm doesn't
actually do anything unless it detects a change in the source, and it
makes sure there isn't a collision by using a lockfile. That means it is
safe to schedule builds fairly frequently.

cheers

andrew

Andrew Dunstan <andrew(at)dunslane(dot)net> writes:
> Dave Page wrote:
>> I can bump that up as high as you'd like within reason. 4? 6 times a day?

> Let's go for 6, at least for HEAD.

There's probably no need to check the back branches oftener than once a
day, but if you can do HEAD every 4 hours that'd be great ...

regards, tom lane

Andrew, Tom:

I'm putting a solicitation in this week's PWN for more Windows buildfarm
members. With 250,000 Windows+PostgreSQL users out there, you'd think a few
people would step up.

Dave, I think you may need to give Andrew Windows buildfarm instructions to
put up at www.pgbuildfarm.org.

--
Josh Berkus
PostgreSQL @ Sun
San Francisco

Tom Lane wrote:
> Andrew Dunstan <andrew(at)dunslane(dot)net> writes:
>> Dave Page wrote:
>>> I can bump that up as high as you'd like within reason. 4? 6 times a day?
>
>> Let's go for 6, at least for HEAD.
>
> There's probably no need to check the back branches oftener than once a
> day, but if you can do HEAD every 4 hours that'd be great ...

I will have seahorse doing Windows builds at the same rate then ...

Stefan

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Tom Lane [mailto:tgl(at)sss(dot)pgh(dot)pa(dot)us]
> Sent: 16 July 2006 18:47
> To: Andrew Dunstan
> Cc: Dave Page; pgsql-hackers(at)postgresql(dot)org
> Subject: Re: [HACKERS] Windows buildfarm support, or lack of it
>
> Andrew Dunstan <andrew(at)dunslane(dot)net> writes:
> > Dave Page wrote:
> >> I can bump that up as high as you'd like within reason. 4?
> 6 times a day?
>
> > Let's go for 6, at least for HEAD.
>
> There's probably no need to check the back branches oftener
> than once a
> day, but if you can do HEAD every 4 hours that'd be great ...

NP - next run is at 2200BST.

Regards, Dave.

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Josh Berkus [mailto:josh(at)agliodbs(dot)com]
> Sent: 16 July 2006 19:04
> To: pgsql-hackers(at)postgresql(dot)org
> Cc: Tom Lane; Andrew Dunstan; Dave Page
> Subject: Re: [HACKERS] Windows buildfarm support, or lack of it
>
> Andrew, Tom:
>
> I'm putting a solicitation in this week's PWN for more
> Windows buildfarm
> members. With 250,000 Windows+PostgreSQL users out there,
> you'd think a few
> people would step up.
>
> Dave, I think you may need to give Andrew Windows buildfarm
> instructions to
> put up at www.pgbuildfarm.org.

<grin>It was Andrew that gave me instructions! I'll see if I can write
up the important points though.

/D

Kris Jurka wrote:
> For my cygwin buildfarm member I setup cron, but the make step
> failed for every build for unknown reasons while succeeding if not run
> from cron.

Is this still happening? We should try to get to the bottom of it.

cheers

andrew

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Petr Jelinek [mailto:pjmodos(at)pjmodos(dot)net]
> Sent: 16 July 2006 18:05
> To: Dave Page
> Cc: PostgreSQL-development
> Subject: Re: Windows buildfarm support, or lack of it
>
> Dave Page wrote:
> >
> > I have spare licences for most versions of Windows as well,
> so if Microsoft's virtual server product is not too expensive
> for us I can probably add a few platform variations to that
> box. I'll look into it.
>
> In fact MS released Virtual PC 2004 for free a couple days ago
> (http://www.microsoft.com/windows/virtualpc/default.mspx)

It seems that VMWare are following suit - their entry level VMWare
Server is now free for Windows and Linux :-)

http://www.vmware.com/products/server/

Regards, Dave.

Dave Page wrote:

>
>
>It seems that VMWare are following suit - their entry level VMWare
>Server is now free for Windows and Linux :-)
>
>http://www.vmware.com/products/server/
>
>
>

It has been for some time, at least in Beta, so I'm not sure who really
went first.

We should be supplying a sample applicance for VMware server that
showcases our stuff - maybe the LiveCD project guys could do that?

cheers

andrew

On Jul 16, 2006, at 3:08 PM, Andrew Dunstan wrote:
> Kris Jurka wrote:
>> For my cygwin buildfarm member I setup cron, but the make step
>> failed for every build for unknown reasons while succeeding if not
>> run from cron.
>
>
> Is this still happening? We should try to get to the bottom of it.

Try setting a more complete $PATH; there's a good chance that make
isn't able to find something it needs.
--
Jim C. Nasby, Sr. Engineering Consultant jnasby(at)pervasive(dot)com
Pervasive Software http://pervasive.com work: 512-231-6117
vcard: http://jim.nasby.net/pervasive.vcf cell: 512-569-9461

> > I have spare licences for most versions of Windows as well, so if
> Microsoft's virtual server product is not too expensive for us I
> can probably add a few platform variations to that box. I'll look
> into it.
>
> In fact MS released Virtual PC 2004 for free a couple days ago
> (http://www.microsoft.com/windows/virtualpc/default.mspx)

FWIW, Virtual Server 2005 R2 Enterprise Edition (how's that for a
product name) is also a free download from MS (provided you have a
license for the underlying OS, but since it runs only on Win2k3, what'd
they expect..)

//Magnus