Re: What Problem does BuildStream Resolve ?

[Paul Sherwood <paul sherwood codethink co uk>]

Hi folks,

I'm attempting to establish some fundamental truths about software for 
the trustable.io project, and have taken a shot there [1] at defining 
what are the typical/fundamental problems with software construction. 
I'd be interested to know

a) if BuildStream is attempting to address the problems I've documented, 
i.e.

- builds take too long
- build process/tooling is complex and/or involves multiple approaches
- build tools misbehave in unexpected ways
- build tools generate different outputs on different machines, or 
between runs
- builds are affected/modified by dependencies/inputs/upstream changes

b) if there are other problems the BuildStream community is aware of, 
that BuildStream is also attempting to address

br
Paul

[1] 
https://gitlab.com/trustable/trustable-mustard/blob/master/markdown/construction-problems.md

On 2018-01-25 08:36, edmund sutcliffe+buildstream codethink com wrote:
> I've been re-reading the documentation and thinking about how to
> explain what problem the Buildstream tooling resolves.
>    * it recursively maintains the dependencies between repositories of
> source code
>    * it is a system that is constructed to build software using build 
> software
>      [one could say that it is a Meta-Build system]
>    * it provides isolation between builds and attempts to ensure
> builds are reproducible
>    * it is capable of creation of filesystems which are capable of
> being consumed for
>      instantiation of software.
>
> However,
>     * Is it a schedule for the execution of the builds ?
>     * It doesn't appear to be possible for it to account for who
> caused the build
>       to be initialised and the consumption of resources used in the 
> build
>
>
> For someone coming to buildstream for the first time, the questions
> which arise is why should I change my tooling ? What problems does it
> solve better than anything else currently available.. ?
>
> The questions which sort of arise are for example, are why can't I
> used http://packer.io to provided reproducible isolated construction
> of filesystems ? Why is isolation of builds important ? Why yet
> another dependency management systems.. Shouldn't we just use what the
> Version Control Systems offer us.
>
> Thanks in advance
> Edmund
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