The Build Light is meant to monitor Continuous Integration Servers and changes its colour according to the status of the server. Usually the red colour means that the code is broken, green is fine and blue means that the server is currently building.
Besides being an expensive gadget, for some, a build light might also sounds like a silly and useless geek toy, but it is not.
Continuous Integration is all about communication, so you want to ensure that everyone can easily see the state of the system and the changes that have been made to it.
One of the most important things to communicate is the state of the mainline build. Many teams like to make this even more apparent by hooking up a continuous display to the build system – lights that glow green when the build works, or red if it fails are popular.
Martin Fowler about Continuous integration
As the text above states, Martin Fowler also suggests a build light as a good source of quick feedbacks.
Personally, I have experienced substantial benefits after adopting a build light or other types of visual build monitoring. The light is different from a Tray Icon or an automated e-mail, because it is shared by the team and is impossible to ignore. So, it is common to see team members making jokes on red lights and trying to find “who broke the build“. Also, no one wants to be blamed for breaking the build and it creates a race for fixing the build as soon as possible.
I have been using Delcom lights for a couple of years now, but it always felt that I could have some fun building my own with Arduino, so I did.
It is using Java and RXTX to consume Hudson/Jenkins feeds and communicate via serial port.
The Arduino code is pretty simple and uses the Colorduino library to change the colors of the LED matrix.
What do you need?
- Arduino (I am using a Seeduino) – $19.00
- 8×8 RGB LED Matrix – $15.00
- RGB LED Matrix driver shield – $14.80
- USB cable – $5
Total Cost: $53.80
How to install?
- Download arduino-build-light project from GitHub.
- Install Arduino IDE
- Install the Colorduino Library.
- Compile and upload the file “/arduino-build-light/ArduinoSerialListener/ArduinoSerialListener.pde” to Arduino.
- Install Gradle (You can alternatively use a Java IDE)
- Go to: cd arduino-build-light/java/build-light-feeder
- Execute: gradle run
Next steps
- Perform a code cleaning. It has been written in just one day, so keep in mind that the code is still the first version that works.
- Start the Ethernet version. I am already working in another board that will be completely independent and won’t require a Java app connected to the serial port.
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May 20th, 2011 at %I:%M %p
Looks interesting. We have been looking for an ethernet light as it saves us having spare pc’s located across the office for each team to have a build light.
May 30th, 2011 at %I:%M %p
If you find an ethernet board compatible with the LED Shield, please let me know. I still had no time to browse for one…