Does CI need a CI-Server

Question

Is a CI server required for continous integration?

Answer 1

In order to facilitate continous integration you need to automate the build, distribution, and deploy processes. Each of these steps is possible without any specialized CI-Server. Coordinating these activities can be done through file notifications and other low level mechanisms; however, a database driven backend (a CI-Server) coordinating these steps greatly enhances the reliability, scalability, and maintainability of your systems.

Answer 2

You don't need a dedicated server, but a build machine of some kind is invaluable, otherwise there is no single central place where the code is always being built and tested. Although you can mimic this affect using a developer machine, there's the risk of overlap with the code that is being changed on that machine.

BTW I use Hudson, which is pretty light weight - doesn't need much to get it going.