Adopting Bamboo or TeamCity as native Windows C++ build automation/CI server?

Question

At the moment, we are running our automated (not CI as such) builds via FinalBuilder via a very simple homegrown Apache interface that just launches the FB scripts on our server. (I like FinalBuilder, and will keep it, but it's CI server, FinalBuilder Server just doesn't cut it IMHO -- especially it doesn't support any "agent" concept at the moment to distribute builds across machines.)

We are doing native C++ development on Windows with a bit .NET mixed in where it's needed and makes sense.

Our current FinalBuilder scripts do everything quite well, from creating nightly builds to full releases (build / automated translation / build / unit test / create setup / put created artifacts on a network share / ...), but our webinterface, queuing abilities, user traceability and reporting is pretty limited.

I have looked around and it seems that TeamCity and Bamboo tick similar boxes, but most descriptions I can find cover only Java and/or .NET simple builds.

So my specific question is, given

• several (20-30) complicated FinalBuilder Scripts that work to my satisfaction and that I will have to integrate into ("call" from) the new automation/"CI" server
• Native Windows C++ and .NET projects
• The actual build (= compiler invocation(s)) is done via a few Visual Studio solution files at the moment
• Currently one build server machine, wishing to scale to 2-3 atm.
• Using JIRA as issue tracker
• using AccuRev as SCM

which tool is better suited, and why: TeamCity (currently 6.5) or Bamboo (currently 3.1).

(Note that I also hope to get some highly subjective answers on the TeamCity and Bamboo forums.)

Tycho

Answer 1

For completeness' sake: I ended up using Jenkins + Finalbuilder. :-)

Tycho

Answer 2

For TeamCity side, it integrates with Jira, has AccuRev plugin, and has a good support for VisualStudio/C++ projects. It can also run arbitrary scripts.

You can trigger a build and obtain some build results via HTTP-based API. In the UI, you can see which changes have been built and in which build configurations. Easily integrate any custom HTML reports into TeamCity UI (no coding), publish artifacts.

Probably, you should try both solutions and see which one is more suitable for you (with Teamcity, you can use full-functional server for free, the only limit is number of build agents and number of build configurations).

Disclaimer: I'm a TeamCity developer

Hypoxanthine

Not to mention that TeamCity has support for pre-tested commits, which Bamboo still presently does not. – Apomict

Answer 3

I found Bamboo more credible than TeamCity. Here are my reasons:

• Those Jira plugins for VS or Eclipse are Bamboo plug-ins too. :) no extra add-ins needed.
• Better support for Jira integration.
• Nice user interface, like the one you used for Jira.
• Ability to better integration with other Atlassian tools, such as FishEye.
• Cheaper. A 10$ license will suffice your company.
• More add-ons on Bamboo than TeamCity, lots of plug-ins.

Anatolian

Well. Get started for $10. TeamCity also has a free edition that -- unlike the Atlassian product -- allows remote agents. – Tycho

@Martin: Yes, you are right. But, I still insist on bamboo for other reasons. I had to make the same decision weeks ago for my company, and I finally ended up with Bamboo. It is fabulous. – Anatolian

Answer 4

I worked in a similar environment using FinalBuilder for build automation, AccuRev for source control and a native windows projects.

I ended up selecting Electric Commander as the best CI solution for the job. It is possible to reuse parts of the FinalBuilder scripts and call them from Electric Commander but simply calling the FB script as one build step would result in you missing out on some of the key advantages of using Electric Commander - realtime log file processing, the ability to parallelize right down to individual step levels in Electric Commander and data collection and reporting.

Electric Commander has an API that exposes all product functionality which can be used in combination with AccuRev triggers to achieve a very flexible solution.

Disclaimer - I liked Electric Commander so much I joined the company and am currently employed by Electric Cloud.

You can try Electric Commander by going to www.electric-cloud.com and clicking on "Try It!"

Michelmichelangelo