Apache Gump - Frequently Asked Questions

Question: Which version of Apache Ant (or JUnit or Apache log4j or...) does Apache Gump use?

Answer: The latest from SCM (as of the instant of the Gump run).

Question: Gump is building the latest version of everything?

That could never work, could it? How can you debug anything when you have so many variables to deal with?

Answer: It isn't as hard as it seems. Getting it to work initially was done by incrementally adding one project at a time. Keeping it working is only requires a small amount of effort over a long period of time.

When builds are "mostly" clean and frequent, isolating problems is fairly easy. Rollback projects one by one until the problem disappears, and then reapply changes within that project one by one until the problem reappears. I've used this technique numerous times to produce test cases and patches to projects that I know virtually nothing about their internal design.

Question: I've just got a "nag" e-mail about a failure...what should I do about it?

Answer: This question deserves it's own page.

Question: I've got a fix, how do I get Gump to pick it up?

Answer: Check it into your source control.

Question: I checked in a fix, how do I know if Gump picked it up?

Answer: On the build log, click on the link marked update. It will tell you when the latest scm update or checkout was performed and what source files were obtained in the process.

Question: How do I get nagging to stop (or start)?

Answer: If there is consensus on your project, send an e-mail to general@gump.apache.org letting us know what the outcome was, and it will be respected.

Question: My project depends on a specific version of a dependency, how can I get Gump to use that version?

Answer: The combinatorics of building each project with distinct versions of its dependencies is a bit too much for me to track. If the dependent project is undergoing a major revision, and the prior version is still actively supported, exceptions may be made. Otherwise, feel free to set up your own builds, with or without using the codebase of Gump to track the set of dependencies that interest you.

Question: I've got a change I would like to make to the project definition for a project I'm a committer on...how do I get the change to be made?

Answer: The gump svn repository is open to all ASF committers. Simply check it out and commit your changes. It is highly recommended that you build the "gen" target first of the provided build.xml in order to verify that your changes are syntatically correct. Don't be scared... this takes only a minute and only requires that you have ant and JDK 1.4. (or ant + xerces + xalan + JDK 1.2 or later).

Question: How do I get a project to be added to Gump? Must it be an Apache project?

Answer: Send an e-mail (preferably a patch) to general@gump.apache.org. Being Apache related (i.e, used by or a consumer of other Apache projects) helps, but is not required. What is important is that your code be publicly accessible via a supported SCM and that it be buildable in an OS independent manner.

Question: Shouldn't the project definitions for a project be kept within the project itself?

Answer: That's supported too, as long as your project supports viewcvs or equivalent. Simply put the URL of the project definition in the gump profile. However, if you are an ASF committer, why not consider leaving it in the gump svn repository, that way others can also help out too?