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Modules

The Programmers' Canvas Toolkit consists of many scripts packaged into the following modules:

• PCTK, which contains the Build Robot, the Packager, dgscript, many of the FileTools, and all ComUtils (includes all source code)
• CVS Notify consists of full-featured CVS notification scripts for loginfo, notify, and taginfo, packaged together in one convenient download (formerly shipped with PCTK)
• FileTools, which are a collection of file utilities (grep, regexp-based file find and replace, etc.), most with source code
• ComUtils, which consists of "dgregall.exe" which registers DLLs recursively, and "dgreglib" which registers type libraries (includes source)
• IRCBot, which writes IRC conversations to a log file for later viewing

Platforms

Most Perl scripts are cross platform.  The Build Robot has been tested on Linux.

Authors and Contributors

• Eugene tested the crud out of the Java build tools
• Alex Feygin wrote the IIS application
• Gyula Faller wrote the initial CVS loginfo script that generates HTML
• Victor Pavlov wrote reglib.exe
• John Peacock wrote CVSNTUpd
• Corey (cmo) wrote the NANT filter (dgnantfilter)
• Eugene Rimsky (ecu) submitted a patch for the HTML-based CVS log notifier for ViewCVS
• DevGuy wrote almost everything else

Background Information

DevGuy has made available, via the GPL, scripts and a how-to guide for building a development environment that manages source code and performs automated builds.  The development environment has many evolved features such as:

• Source code repository provided by CVS
• Email and newsgroup notification of CVS events
• Website synchronization with CVS
• Command-line helper scripts make CVS usage simpler
• Configuration via XML documents
• Copies files from CVS to another location e.g., to update web servers
• A feature-rich automated build system
• A cross-platform makefile infrastructure for building Java projects

More Information:

• This is a do-it-yourself kit.  A bulletin board is available for support needs.  There are no guarantees of responsiveness, but DevGuy will do their best to assist you.
• Bug tracking software not included.  DevGuy recommends the open-source Bugzilla.
• Includes detailed instructions for setting up CVS in client-server mode (pserver or sspi)
• Tools written in Perl for portability and customizability
• Only runs on Win32 but, because the toolkit is mostly written in Perl, it can be converted to UNIX by someone who is willing to roll up their sleeves.
• Requires Microsoft Internet Server (IIS) but, because the display is XML-driven, it can be converted to Apache by someone who is XSLT-savvy.

Quotes

BuildRobot greatly simplifies development process and further support. And the best thing is your attention to users and responsiveness

I think the packager is one of the best features in this whole project. The ability to run the build, have test cases run after build completes, and package the build into a ready to deliver format with one command is extremely powerful. Plus, it is very easy for anyone to create a package and be confident in its status without having to know the details of how to do so themselves.

I would like to thank You for the marvelous toolkit .. It has got everything .. And the best part is that it is in Perl ...

Screen Shots

Here's some sample web pages that the kit outputs.  The web server builds HTML on the fly from XML.  It's ASP code so it's easy to customize.  Click on the images to zoom in.

If you click on a build, a build detail page appears:

(c) 2003 DevGuy.com