Continuous Integration Scripts for EPICS Modules

The scripts inside this repository are intended to provide a common, easy-to-use and flexible way to add Continuous Integration to EPICS software modules, e.g. Device or Driver Support modules.

By including this repository as a Git Submodule, you will be able to use the same flexible, powerful CI setup that EPICS Bases uses, including a way to specify sets of dependent modules (with versions) that you want to compile your module against.

By using the submodule mechanism, your module will always use an explicit commit, i.e. a fixed version of the scripts. This ensures that any further development of the ci-scripts will never break existing use.

This Repository

In addition to the scripts themselves (in the subdirectories), this repository contains the test suite that is used to verify functionality and features of the ci-scripts.

You are welcome to use the test suite as a reference, but keep in mind that in your module the path to the scripts has one level more (e.g., ./travis/abc here would be ./.ci/travis/abc in your module). Also, a test suite might not show the same level of quality as an example.

Features

• Compile against different branches or releases of EPICS Base and additional dependencies (modules like asyn, std, etc.).

• Define settings files that declare sets of dependencies with their versions and locations.

• Define hook scripts for any dependency. Hooks are run on the dependency module before it is compiled, so the module can be patched or further configured.

• Define static or shared builds (executables, libraries).

• Run tests (using the EPICS unit test suite).

Supported CI Services

Travis-CI

• Use different compilers (gcc, clang)
• Use different gcc versions
• Cross-compile for Windows 32bit and 64bit using MinGW and WINE
• Cross-compile for RTEMS 4.9 and 4.10 (Base >= 3.16.2)
• Compile on MacOS
• Built dependencies are cached (for faster builds)

How to Use the CI-Scripts

1. Get an account on a supported CI service provider platform. (e.g. Travis-CI, AppVeyor, Azure Pipelines...)

   (More details in the specific README of the subdirectory.)

2. In your Support Module, add this ci-scripts repository as a Git Submodule (name suggestion: .ci).

   git submodule add https://github.com/epics-base/ci-scripts .ci

3. Create setup files for different sets of dependencies you want to compile against. (See below.)

   E.g., a setup file stable.set specifying

   MODULES=sncseq asyn
   
   BASE=3.15
   ASYN=R4-34
   SNCSEQ=R2-2-7
   

   will compile against the EPICS Base 3.15 branch, the Sequencer release 2.2.7 and release 4.34 of asyn. (Any settings can be overridden from the specific job configuration in e.g. .travis.yml.)

4. Create a configuration for the CI service by copying one of the examples provided in the service specific subdirectory and editing it to include the jobs you want the service to run. Use your setup by defining e.g. SET=stable in the environment of a job.

5. Push your changes and check the CI service for your build results.

Setup Files

Your module might depend on EPICS Base and a few other support modules. (E.g., a specific driver might need StreamDevice, ASYN and the Sequencer.) In that case, building against every possible combination of released versions of those dependencies is not possible: Base (37) x StreamDevice (50) x ASYN (40) x Sequencer (51) would produce more than 3.7 million different combinations, i.e. build jobs.

A more reasonable approach is to create a few setups, each being a combination of dependency releases, that do a few scans of the available "version space". One for the oldest versions you want to support, one or two for stable versions that many of your users have in production, one for the latest released versions and one for the development branches.

Setup File Syntax

Setup files are loaded by the build scripts. They are found by searching the locations in SETUP_PATH (space or colon separated list of directories, relative to your module's root directory).

Setup files can include other setup files by calling include <setup> (omitting the .set extension of the setup file). The configured SETUP_PATH is searched for the include.

Any VAR=value setting of a variable is only executed if VAR is unset or empty. That way any settings can be overridden by settings in the main configuration (e.g., .travis.yml).

Empty lines or lines starting with # are ignored.

MODULES=<list of names> should list the dependencies (software modules) by using their well-known slugs, separated by spaces. EPICS Base (slug: base) will always be a dependency and will be added and compiled first. The other dependencies are added and compiled in the order they are defined in MODULES. Modules needed only for specific jobs (e.g., on specific architectures) can be added in the main configuration file by setting ADD_MODULES for the specific job(s).

REPOOWNER=<name> sets the default GitHub owner (or organization) for all dependency modules. Useful if you want to compile against a complete set of dependencies forked into your private GitHub area.

For any module mentioned as foo in the MODULES setting (and for BASE), the following settings can be configured:

FOO=<version> Set version of the module that should be used. Must either be a tag name or a branch name. [default: master]

FOO_REPONAME=<name> Set the name of the remote repository as <name>.git. [default is the slug in lower case: foo]

FOO_REPOOWNER=<name> Set the name of the GitHub owner (or organization) that the module repository can be found under.

FOO_REPOURL="<url>" Set the complete URL of the remote repository. Useful for dependencies that are not hosted on GitHub.

The default URL for the repository is pointing to GitHub, under $FOO_REPOOWNER else $REPOOWNER else epics-modules, using $FOO_REPONAME else foo and the extension.git.

FOO_DEPTH=<number> Set the depth of the git clone operation. Use 0 for a full clone. [default: 5]

FOO_RECURSIVE=YES/NO Set to NO (or 0) for a flat clone without recursing into submodules. [default is including submodules: YES]

FOO_DIRNAME=<name> Set the local directory name for the checkout. This will be always be extended by the release or branch name as <name>-<version>. [default is the slug in lower case: foo]

FOO_HOOK=<script> Set the name of a script that will be run after cloning the module, before compiling it. Working directory when running the script is the root of the targeted module (e.g. .../.cache/foo-1.2). [default: no hooks are run]

FOO_VARNAME=<name> Set the name that is used for the module when creating the RELEASE.local files. [default is the slug in upper case: FOO]

The ci-scripts module contains default settings for widely used modules, so that usually it is sufficient to set FOO=<version>. You can find the list of supported (and tested) modules in defaults.set. Feel free to suggest more default settings using a Pull Request.

Debugging

Setting VV=1 in your .travis.yml configuration for a specific job will run the job with high verbosity, printing every command as it is being executed and switching the dependency builds to higher verbosity.

References: EPICS Modules Using ci-scripts

EPICS Base: pvData, pvAccess, pva2pva

EPICS Modules: PCAS

ESS: Motor driver (model 3) for EtherCAT Motion Controller

ITER: OPC UA Device Support

Frequently Asked Questions

How can I see what the dependency building jobs are actually doing?

Set VV=1 in the configuration line of the job you are interested in. This will make all builds (not just for your module) verbose.

How do I update my module to use a newer release of ci-scripts?

Update the submodule in .ci first, then change your CI configuration (if needed) and commit both to your module. E.g., to update your Travis setup to release 2.1.0 of ci-scripts:

cd .ci
git pull origin v2.1.0
cd -
git add .ci
  # if needed:
  edit .travis.yml
  git add .travis.yml
git commit -m "Update ci-scripts submodule to v2.1.0"

Check the example configuration files inside ci-scripts (and their changes) to see what might be needed and/or interesting to change in your configuration.

Release Numbering of this Module

The module tries to apply Semantic Versioning.

Major release numbers refer to the API, which is more or less defined by the full configuration examples in the service specific subdirectories. If one of these files has to be changed for the existing configuration options or important new options are being added, a new major release is created.

Minor release numbers refer to additions and enhancements that do not require the configuration inside an existing user module to be changed.

Again: using the git submodule mechanism to include these scripts means that user modules always work with a fixed, frozen version. I.e., developments in the ci-scripts repository will never break an existing application. These release numbering considerations are just a hint to assess the risks when updating the submodule.

License

This module is distributed subject to a Software License Agreement found in file LICENSE that is included with this distribution.