Introduction
Welcome to the pulse™ 2.1 early access page! Here you will find new pulse™ 2.1 milestone releases, along with information about what is new in version 2.1.
 | EAP Complete
The pulse™ 2.1 early access program is now complete. The 2.1 release series is now in beta, please see the Zutubi website for more details. |
How To Participate
Would you like to try milestone releases of pulse™ 2.1? It's as simple as following these steps:
1. Download the latest milestone packages from below.
2. If you do not already have a license, you can download one from zutubi.com, or request one directly during the pulse™ setup wizard.
3. Refer to the Getting Started Guide for information about how to install and start using pulse™.
4. Enjoy!
Reporting Bugs/Feature Requests
During the early access program, we expect there to be some teething issues with the milestone builds. If you find such an issue, you can report it in our issue tracker.
This is also a great opportunity to suggest minor features and enhancements that you would like to make it in to version 2.1. Such suggestions can be discussed on the forums or reported directly in our issue tracker.
Our thanks to all who take the trouble to give feedback. You're helping make pulse™ a better product for everyone!
Upgrading
| Warning
If you are familiar with pulse™, you will know that pulse™ runs through an automated upgrade each time you install a new version. At the moment, upgrading to 2.1, or even between 2.1 milestone builds, is not supported. |
Current Release
The latest EAP build is 2.1.4, released on the 6th of August 2009. This release is an alpha build of 2.1, with major features having been started, but not yet completed. See from the release notes at the end of this page for more details.
Known Issues
The new features that have currently been added have complicated project configuration to some degree. We are actively working on ways to simplify the UI while keeping the full flexibility of the new features.
| Pulse 2.1 is tested primarily in Internet Explorer 7 and FireFox 3. Some testing has been done in Internet Explorer 6, Firefox 2 and Safari, although some further issues are anticipated. It is not yet tested in other browsers. |
What's new
Pulse 2.1 includes two major new features:
Build Dependency Support
We have added support for delivering artifacts between project builds on top of an embedded Apache Ivy repository. Projects can now publish artifacts to this repository, and declare dependencies on the artifacts published by other projects. These artifacts are delivered into the working directory of the build just after bootstrapping from the SCM.
We are also adding support for smarter triggering between dependent projects.
Multi-Recipe Projects Without a Custom Pulse File
Since version 1.0, pulse™ has included a flexible core that allows you to define an arbitrary number of build recipes each with an arbitrary number of commands. In previous versions, however, the only way to use this full flexibility was to write an XML "pulse file" by hand. In 2.1 it is now possible to leverage the full flexibility of the core all via the web UI. On top of this we are also able to open up plugability of commands, which makes adding project types for new build tools easy.
Personal Build Improvements
Several related improvements have been made to personal builds, giving developers more flexibility for testing outstanding changes.
Choose Build Revision
You may now specify the revision to run a personal build against, rather than having it forced as the latest revision at the time of the build request. The personal build client walks you through available options (including current, floating and last-known-good revisions), or you can specify a custom revision of your choice.
No Forced Update
In Pulse 2.0 and earlier, requesting a personal build forced an update of your working copy. Although we still recommend updating (to find conflicts early), you are now given the choice. Even if you do choose to update, you are not force to update to the latest revision (given you can also choose the revision as described above).
Pluggable Patch Formats
Pulse now supports multiple formats for the patches submitted as part of a personal build. Apart from the existing format, plugins have been added to read standard patch files (unified diffs) and git patches (including git binary diffs). Pulse will even try to guess the patch format for you when it is not explicit.
Submit Existing Patches
You can now submit patches from existing files, rather than based on the changes in a working copy. Along with pluggable patch formats, this opens up many new possibilities for submitting personal builds. With both the source and format of the patch being flexible, integration with other tools and workflows is possible.
Smarter Patch Creation and Application
The support for pluggable formats also led to improvements to our existing format and the application of patches. The existing format now uses unified diffs where possible. On application, unclean patching is detected and reported. This is especially important when building against a custom revision.
What's missing
We are still working on improving the pulse™ 2.1 UI and hoping to get to a host of smaller features. These will appear in the coming weeks in further builds!
Release Notes
Below are the changes between the EAP builds.
2.1.4
2.1.3
2.1.2
2.1.1
2.1.0
Resolved
