Studying the Unfulfilled Promises of Continuous Integration
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Authors
Ghaleb, Taher Ahmed Mohammed
Date
Type
thesis
Language
eng
Keyword
Software Engineering , Continuous Integration , Mining Software Repositories , Empirical Software Engineering
Alternative Title
Abstract
Continuous Integration (CI) is a software practice that allows software developers to generate software builds automatically and more frequently. When adopting CI, developers anticipate quick and trustworthy feedback about software builds. However, due to configuration or environmental issues, CI might introduce an overhead to the software development process. For example, a misconfiguration of CI can make builds run for too long (i.e., long build durations). In addition, CI builds can undergo unexpected breakages (i.e., errors or failures) due to environmental factors that are outside the ability of developers to control. As a consequence, developers might need to wait for builds to pass before engaging in other development activities. This dissertation conducts four empirical studies to understand the reasons behind the unfulfilled CI promises: (1) a study of the factors associated with long CI build durations, (2) a study of noisy (development-unrelated) CI build breakages and their impact on observations of prior research, (3) a study of the interplay between the durations and breakages of CI builds, and (4) a study of the considerations for adopting caching in CI builds. Overall, the research conducted in this dissertation highlights the best practices that help mitigate the burden of adopting CI in software projects and, hence, acquire the prospective benefits of CI.
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Queen's University's Thesis/Dissertation Non-Exclusive License for Deposit to QSpace and Library and Archives Canada
ProQuest PhD and Master's Theses International Dissemination Agreement
Intellectual Property Guidelines at Queen's University
Copying and Preserving Your Thesis
This publication is made available by the authority of the copyright owner solely for the purpose of private study and research and may not be copied or reproduced except as permitted by the copyright laws without written authority from the copyright owner.
CC0 1.0 Universal
ProQuest PhD and Master's Theses International Dissemination Agreement
Intellectual Property Guidelines at Queen's University
Copying and Preserving Your Thesis
This publication is made available by the authority of the copyright owner solely for the purpose of private study and research and may not be copied or reproduced except as permitted by the copyright laws without written authority from the copyright owner.
CC0 1.0 Universal