Build management is a long-overlooked area of software development. As is often the case with underserved areas, the open source community has several good solutions. Maven is among the most interesting and functional solutions for Java developers. I had the chance to take the AccuRev-Maven m2eclipse integration out for a test drive recently. This is a recently announced integration (read the press release here if you are interested, and see my video demo here).
The integration follows the pattern of other software configuration management (SCM) integrations with m2eclipse. A backend provider interface was written to support AccuRev, and the provider was integrated into the m2eclipse environment via the SCMHandler mechanism. I used m2eclipse in conjunction with AccuBridge for Eclipse (the AccuRev-provided Team plugin) to materialize Maven projects into a new AccuRev workspace from within Eclipse, and then did some basic Maven build and AccuRev SCM operations.
To get started, I needed to install m2eclipse from Sonatype. I used the Eclipse Update Manager to do this, by creating a new remote site in Update Manager for Sonatype (http://m2eclipse.sonatype.org/update/). I already had the AccuBridge for Eclipse plugin installed, also obtained via Update Manager (http://www.accurev.com/download/eclipseupdate/32/). After restarting Eclipse, I was ready to test.
In my test environment, I had an AccuRev stream called maven_int that I had pre-loaded with (of all things) the source and test code for the Maven integration itself. My goal was to create a new AccuRev workspace based on this stream from within Eclipse that was Maven- and AccuRev-aware. To do this, I used the Eclipse Import functionality and selected the “Checkout Maven Projects from SCM” option. Since I was using AccuRev, I chose the AccuRev provider from the drop down list box. Like other integrations with Maven, AccuRev supports a URL format for specifying where to obtain code. The URL lets you specify the AccuRev user and login credentials, as well as the exact depot and stream from which to import the code. I also chose the make workspace checkout option, which tells the plugin to create an actual AccuRev workspace in a specified location.
After pressing the Finish button on the Import wizard, m2eclipse called out to AccuRev, created a new AccuRev workspace, and created new Eclipse projects (based on whatever Maven POM files were found in the maven_int stream) containing the source code. I then associated the Eclipse projects with AccuRev using the Team Share option so that I would have full access to AccuRev functionality.
Since the projects were all Maven-based, building was done by right clicking on the POM file and selecting one of the build options. To convince myself that the AccuRev functionality worked, I did some edits to a few files, saved the changes, and then used the AccuRev promote option to version that file in the AccuRev repository.
Overall, the integration worked as I expected. The installation of the plugins was fast, it was easy to materialize Maven-based projects from AccuRev, and all of the important Maven and AccuRev functionality was available in the respective plugins. If you are an AccuRev user and want to use Maven, then the combination of m2eclipse and AccuRev integrated inside of the Eclipse environment is a practical desktop tool for managing your local builds.
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