CI builds - Travis (Mac, Linux), AppVeyor (Win) and Shippable (ARM)

[cztomczak]

Travis runs only on Linux and Mac. Codeship seem to support only Linux. For Windows there is AppVeyor.

AppVeyor todo:

• We already have all automation build scripts in the tools/ directory
• Use CEF version from src/version/cef_version_win.h and download appropriate binaries from Spotify Automated Builds
• Build according to docs/Build-instructions.md. See also comments in the scripts in the tools/ directory
• Must run unit tests which are in the unittests/ directory
• Support at least Python 2.7 and one of Python 3 (preferably 3.5 or 3.6)

Shippable supports ARM platform for open source projects: http://blog.shippable.com/shippable-arm-packet-deliver-native-ci-cd-for-arm-architecture

Other alternatives:

• Semaphore CI: https://semaphoreci.com/ - runs Ubuntu 14.04 and claims to be 77% faster than Travis CI
• Jenkins? https://andrewshay.me/blog/quickly-setup-a-minimal-python-ci-system-using-jenkins-and-github/

Questions:

• Does Travis CI run Ubuntu/Debian or other kind of Linux flavor? For CEF it would be best to run Ubuntu, preferably 14.04

What needs to be done:

• Scripts for building CEF libraries/binaries
  • use CEF branch/revision from README.txt
  • obtain CEF sources and binaries
  • patches to Chromium are optional on Windows and Mac (https caching fix), so building Chromium from sources is not required for Continous Integration - we could use prebuilt CEF binaries, see next
  • on Linux download Chromium and CEF sources, apply patches from the BuildOnLinux wiki page and then build CEF/Chromium
  • on Windows/Mac download CEF sources and prebuilt binaries (unfortunately www.cefbuilds.com requires solving captcha before you can download)
  • build it - after CEF files are ready you can start building the cefpython module and then run unit tests.
• GUI unit tests support (Issue #59)

[cztomczak]

An example of CI using AppVeyor on Windows in CefSharp:

• output of a pull request: https://ci.appveyor.com/project/cefsharp/cefsharp/build/47.0.0-CI1721
• config file: https://github.com/cefsharp/CefSharp/blob/master/appveyor.yml
• build script: https://github.com/cefsharp/CefSharp/blob/master/build.ps1

[cztomczak]

We could host upstream CEF binaries using GitHub releases [1] [2] [3] or on www.bintray.com . GitHub releases are associated with source code packages, so this might be a bit confusing - maybe create an empty branch and tag such packages.

[guusdk]

I'm giving AppVeyor a try here: https://ci.appveyor.com/project/guusdk/cefpython

So far, without much luck:

• my initial attempt, that included building CEF, appeared to got stuck in a never ending CIPD-related loop: https://ci.appveyor.com/project/guusdk/cefpython/build/1.0.10
• my last attempt (which required me to hard-coded paths the pre-built binaries), failed with something that appears to be 'by design' (but messes up CI): https://ci.appveyor.com/project/guusdk/cefpython/build/1.0.14

[cztomczak]

@guusdk Thanks for taking on this task.

1. There is an "appveyor todo" list at the top, it states that prebuilt binaries from Spotify Automated Builds should be used. Do not build CEF from sources.

2. There seems to be an issue with appveyor logs, they are out of order. This is not the succession in which scripts were really executed, thus you do not see the real error at the end. See this SO question: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/230751/how-to-flush-output-of-python-print . This must be fixed in all scripts in tools/ , must support Python 2 and 3 and run on all OSes (Win, Linux, Mac). It seems that apply this to every python process in your environment with PYTHONUNBUFFERED=TRUE (and unset the variable to undo this). in one of answers is the best option. It should be applied in each script at the beginning of main() function. a) Apply PYTHONUNBUFFERED in each python script - because these tools may call other scripts with the python command b) Set PYTHONUNBUFFERED env variable in appveyor script

Edited.

[guusdk]

Some progress! The build starts progressing nicely, but stops all of a sudden. I think that this is the error that causes the problem (but I am unsure how to prevent it from occurring): https://ci.appveyor.com/project/guusdk/cefpython/build/1.0.26#L723

[guusdk]

I'm thoroughly stuck on the issue mentioned in my previous comment. I'll require help to move forward.

Another issue that I'm unsure how to fix is the dependency on the Spotify Automated Builds. I've no idea how I can read the desired CEF vesion identifier from src/version/cef_version_win.h, using AppVeyor tooling. The best I can do is hardcode the value.

[cztomczak]

@guusdk I will have to take on this task myself, thanks for the effort Guus.