Chapter 5. Setting Up a Continuous Integration Server with Continuum

An Introduction to Continuum

In this chapter, we look at Continuum (http://maven.apache.org/continuum/). Continuum[5] is a flexible, easy-to-use tool that can help you put Continuous Integration into action. It is fast, lightweight, and undemanding. It is also self-reliant. Like Maven, it is built on the Plexus component framework and comes bundled with its own Jetty application server. For its database needs, it uses Apache Derby, a 100 percent Java fully embedded database. As we will see, this makes Continuum particularly easy to install in almost any environment.

Installing a Continuum Server

Installing a Continuum server is easy. Make sure that you have a recent Java Development Kit (JDK) installed (and JAVA_HOME defined) and download the appropriate installation package from the Continuum web site. I used Java 5 for this chapter.

Continuum, like other Continuous Integration tools, uses locally installed tools to check out source code and build your project. So, if you are using Maven and Subversion on your projects, you will need to install these tools on your build machine.

Next, just extract the downloaded file into the directory where you want to install Continuum. Extracting the installation package is pretty much all you need to do to get a basic server up and running.

If you are installing Continuum onto an integration server, you will probably need to have Continuum starting automatically. Continuum comes ...

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