coversheet

Coversheet is a CI system for TPS, which allows to run tests for each daily build of Firefox across all platforms.

Setup

Before you can start the system the following commands have to be performed:

git clone git://github.com/mozilla/coversheet.git
cd coversheet
./setup.sh

You will need to have the Python header files installed:

• Ubuntu: Install the package via: apt-get install python-dev
• OSX, Windows: Install the latest Python 2.7

Startup

To start Jenkins simply run ./start.py from the coversheet directory. You can tell when Jenkins is running by looking out for "Jenkins is fully up and running" in the console output. You will also be able to view the web dashboard by pointing your browser at http://localhost:8080/

Jenkins URL

If you intend to connect to this Jenkins instance from another machine (for example connecting additional nodes) you will need to update the Jenkins URL to the IP or DNS name. This can be found in http://localhost:8080/configure under the section headed "Jenkins Location".

Adding new Nodes

To add Jenkins slaves to your master you have to create new nodes. You can use one of the example nodes (Windows XP and Ubuntu) as a template. Once done the nodes have to be connected to the master. Therefore Java has to be installed on the node first.

Windows:

Go to www.java.com/download/ and install the latest version of Java JRE. Also make sure that the UAC is completely disabled, and the screensaver and any energy settings have been turned off.

Linux (Ubuntu):

Open the terminal or any other package manager and install the following packages:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:webupd8team/java
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install oracle-java7-installer

Also make sure that the screensaver and any energy settings have been turned off.

After Java has been installed open the appropriate node within Jenkins from the nodes web browser like:

http://IP:8080/computer/windows_xp_32_01/

Now click the Launch button and the node should automatically connect to the master. It will be used once a job for this type of platform has been requested by the Pulse consumer.

Using the Jenkins master as executor

If you want that the master node also executes jobs you will have to update its labels and add/modify the appropriate platforms, e.g. master mac 10.7 64bit for Mac OS X 10.7.

Testing changes

In order to check that patches will apply and no Jenkins configuration changes are missing from your changes you can run the run_tests.sh script. This uses Selenium and PhantomJS to save the configuration for each job and reports any unexpected changes. Note that you will need to download PhantomJS and put it in your path in order for these tests to run.

Merging branches

The main development on the coversheet code happens on the master branch. In not yet specified intervals we are merging changesets into the staging branch. It is used for testing all the new features before those go live on production. When running those merge tasks you will have to obey the following steps:

1. Select the appropriate target branch
2. Run 'git rebase master' for staging or 'git rebase staging' for production
3. Run 'git pull' for the remote branch you want to push to
4. Ensure the merged patches are on top of the branch
5. Ensure that the Jenkins patch can be applied by running 'patch --dry-run -p1 <config/%BRANCH%/jenkins.patch'
6. Run 'git push' for the remote branch

For emergency fixes we are using cherry-pick to port individual fixes to the staging and production branch:

1. Select the appropriate target branch
2. Run 'git cherry-pick %changeset%' to pick the specific changeset for the current branch
3. Run 'git push' for the remote branch

Once the changes have been landed you will have to update the staging or production machines. Run the following steps:

1. Run 'git reset --hard' to remove the locally applied patch
2. Pull the latest changes with 'git pull'
3. Apply the Jenkins patch with 'patch -p1 <config/%BRANCH%/jenkins.patch'
4. Restart Jenkins