What are source control and configuration management best practices?

Question

I am thinking of a list that I could refer other developers to with things like:

1. One build script, such as makefile, will build and test entire project
2. All components to needed build the system need to be source controlled

Anybody have such a list? In priority order?

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UPDATE - added some fyi detail

System in question consists of C++ and makefiles, Java with ant that results in WARs, as well as powerbuilder and C# gui components. All code is in perforce.

So I am looking for both generic as well as language specific best practices.

Answer 1

To me, the #1 rule is this:

The main branch is sacred - it must always be buildable, capable of passing BVT's, and be basically usable.

Any code that is allowed to go into the main branch that causes a build or BVT break exposes a bug in the process. The process should allow buddy builds/tests for single branch systems, or require child branches to build and pass BVT's before mergining into the main branch, or other such safeguards.

Answer 2

Take a look at High-level Best Practices in Software Configuration Management.

Answer 3

This is highly dependent on what environment are you building in?

• Is it C/MakeFile?
• Is it Java/JUnit/Ant?
• Is it .NET/NUnit/NAnt?
• Is it .NET/MSUnit/MSBuild?
• Is it Ruby...
• Is it Python...
• Is it PHP

Each of these differ in approach and setup. So we need to know your setup before you can be helped.

Answer 4

My number one item:

• Update often, commit often,

or, as Jeff puts is: Check In Early, Check In Often.

Answer 5

The system must build by itself, test by itself, and download+build dependencies by itself. I have a makefile downloading, building and deploying a runtime environment which is "certified" for my trunk version. This makefile is committed as well into the repository.

Remember to commit another, very important, and mostly overlooked thing (comes in a bundle of three):

• The SQL code that creates your database layout (put a version on it!).
• The SQL code that brings up your database layout version (to upgrade)
• The SQL code that bring down your database layout version (to downgrade)