We now have 7 active code lines!?!

In the last couple of weeks, Lukas has set up 2 new project branches (details here and here), and fill in some missing mobile builds in TraceMonkey. Our list of active-code-lines is now:

  • Firefox 3.0.x (aka cvs-trunk, mozilla-1.9.0)
  • Firefox 3.5.x (aka mozilla-1.9.1)
  • Firefox 3.next (aka mozilla-central)
  • TraceMonkey
  • Places
  • Electrolysis
  • Thunderbird 2.0.0.x (aka mozilla-1.8.1)

…with another two code-lines more coming soon. Amost all of these are doing the full set of builds (opt/debug/test), unittests and talos, across 6 different o.s. (Linux, linux-arm, Mac, Win32, WinMo, with WinCE on the way)… all per checkin.
These new project branches are important because:

  • they confirm that our infrastructure is designed to scale per-developer-checkins, not per-active-code-line.
  • moving bigger (scarier?) work to these project branches help the Mozilla project do more frequent releases, on a more predictable schedule, while still innovating significant new features each in their own more predictable environment. In theory, its the best of both worlds!!
  • it nice to see that we’re getting faster at spinning up each of these project branches. Our checklist really helps Developers and RelEng figure out all the gotchas before we start. Even though it looks like a really long list of questions, they are all things that have tripped us during setup of previous project branches. Figuring out this checklist before we start lets us avoid having to stop/redo work mid-way through the setup, less annoying and time-wasting for everyone!

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