I want to enable the gated check-in trigger for my TFS Build but also want to have a way to specify users who can commit their code directly without waiting to TFS to verify their code changes.
If you edit the "Security" of the build definition:
There is a permission you can control called "Override check-in validation by build" (or similar, I don't have TFS 2012 to hand, I'm using VSTS for the screen shots).
Grant certain people this permission and they can bypass the validation.
When they check-in code they will get the usual Gated Build prompt, but under "Show Options" there is a checkbox to bypass the validation:
By default Project Administrators and upwards have this permission.
For TFS 2015 Right click on the build definition, select security.Then change Override check-in validation by build to Allow
Related
I created a ci build in tfs 2015.3. On the trigger tab I set gated check in.
Is there a way to let the developer now in vs that the build failed. Currently there is no way, I do not want to use alerts, I would like for a message in vs.
In addition, when the build fails, the files are checked out on the build server, how can I cancel this behavior, this requires a tfs admin to release the files.
In TFS 2013 there used to be a tool called Team Foundation Build Notification that shipped with Visual Studio 2013. However this is no longer the case.
If you don't want to use e-mail notifications there are third party applications that you can run in your tray to receive build notifications. I have used catlight myself recently for the exact same problem. If you are using a chat application like Slack you can also integrate build notifications into your team's slack channel to be notified on build failure.
To answer the second part of your question it is important to understand what a gated check-in does exactly.
When you check-in and a gated check-in is triggerd your files are not checked in but TFS creates a shelveset instead. TFS will then perform a private build using the latest version of the sources in combination with the shelveset it just created. Only when the this private build passes the pending changes in your shelveset will be checked in by the build on behalf of the user who triggerd the gated check-in. This will create a new changeset.
Upon check-in all locks will be released so all files that have a check-in or check-out lock will be released when the build server checks in your changes on behalf of you.
When the build fails no the changes in the shelveset (created when the gated check-in build was triggerd) will not be checked-in by the build server thus the locks will not be released. In the source control explorer the files will still have pending changes (and be checked-out) because the changes in your workspace have not yet been checked-in. This is the intended beheaviour and should not cause any issues for you unless you have disabled multiple check-out and you are, by having these files checked-out, blocking other developers from making changes.
I would not advise you to use a gated check-in when also not allowing multiple check-outs. Furthermore I would not advise disallowing multiple check-outs if it can be avoided in any way.
A gated check-in is meant to safeguard the repository from receiving check-ins that would break the application (it no longer compiles or unit tests fail) or diminish the quality below your standards. However this also means you cannot check-in until all the rules and validations you have in your build process pass and thus means other developers will be locked out until you are able to get past the "gate".
I've defined several Build Definitions using the TFS vNext build system. These include use of the Gated Check-In feature.
Initially, when the builds are defined, check-ins that have files that fall within the path of any of the Include sections of the Gated Check-in filters cause the prompt for the Gated Check-In to appear, followed by (upon acceptance) the triggering of the build.
However, after some time (e.g. 1 day), check-ins from some developers no longer trigger the Gated Check-in (and submissions are committed immediately to source control), while check-ins from other developers continue to cause the Gated Check-In prompt to appear.
I'm unable to reset this by just unchecking;saving;re-checking the Gated Check-in checkbox.
As a work-around, I have been able to enable the gated check-in for the same paths on a different build, then undo it, and re-enable on the original build. This only works for a short time, however.
I've seen this in both the TFS Server 2015 Update 2 and Update 3.
This problem never occurred with the old XAML builds.
The server product/version is:
Microsoft Visual Studio Team Foundation Server Update 3
Version 14.95.25122.0
How can I configure TFS vNext check-ins so that they're always fired?
Keywords:-
Gated check-in failure; Gated check-in doesn't fire; Gated check-in skipped
This is a TFS bug.
After logging a support case with Microsoft, they confirmed that this is a TFS bug that occurs on TFS installations that have multiple TFS Application Tiers (ATs) configured through a load balancer.
In some cases, the TFS vNext Build Gated Check-Ins skip the verification and commit the changes immediately.
There is a hot-fix DLL available (for file Microsoft.TeamFoundation.Build2.Server.dll), but it requires contacting Microsoft to obtain it. Given that this is a bug, it shouldn't be a chargeable Microsoft Support incident. (I used one of my MSDN Microsoft support credits, but it wasn't deducted.)
We'd like to have a process like the following:
User submits code review with shelveset of changes they want to be in master branch.
If code passes review, select group of users can pull down the shelveset, and merge the changes into master using the original authors name for historical tracking.
I can use the tf checkin /author:{OriginalAuthor} command, but this doesn't work with our gated build. If I bypass the gated build, it will check in on the original authors behalf, but using the gated build it seems to pull the Author from the shelveset which is still marked as coming from my account/workspace and not the /author.
So I'm wondering, is there a way to have the gated build honor the /author argument for the final check-in that it performs?
I just tested in TFS 2015.3, and enable a Gated Check-in in new build system.
If I use tf checkin /author:A, I'll get a shelveset with message below:
Your check-in has been placed into shelveset
Gated_2016-10-27_01.53.28.8457;B and submitted for validation by build
definition \ScrumProject\Visual Studio.
Once user B request a review, user A re-run command tf checkin /author:A, you'll see the message below, and the change has been checked in by user A.
We have a team alert in TFS 2015 that sends an email out to all developers whenever one of our builds fails.
I'd like to modify it to not issue emails when someone fails a private build, or a private gated check-in fails (we don't use gated check-ins by default). In these cases, a separate alert will issue to just the individual developer.
Below is the current criteria
However, when I tried to run a manual gated check-in just now, the build failure issued an email to the entire team.
What additional conditions are required to ensure that these emails are not generated when I create a build using a shelveset - whether or not I choose to automatically commit the changes on success.
There is no private gated check-in build, "gated check-in build" is not Private build.
You queue a private build if you want to build the changes that you
have put into a shelveset.
More detail info with private build in TFS, please refer this MSDN link:
Queue a build
When you are going to use the private build and not issue emails when someone fails, you can add a build reason not contain check in shelvest as a workaroud.
The part above your screen shot is the part that identifies if the alert is being configured for a Team (sends to everyone) or a personal alert (just to you).
I'm trying to set up our TFS 2008 instance to require that projects build before they can be checked in.
I have created a check-in policy using the out of the box "Builds" policy, but I'm still able to check broken projects in after mangling the code and attempting to build the project.
We're a small shop, and TFS was originally set up with our team's Active Directory group listed as TFS admins. Is this the problem? Do check-in policies apply to TFS admins?
Any other suggestions?
Check-in policies are a client-side check only. If the client does not have the check-in policy available, the check will not run. Instead, they will get a generic policy failure saying that not all policies were run. Additionally, any user (there's no special permission for it) can override a check-in policy failure with a comment.
The "Builds" check-in policy does the following:
Request from the server a list of build definitions affected by this check in
For each build definition returned where the last build was not "good," create a checkin policy error message containing the build definition's name and the user that triggered the build.
If the policy detects a broken CI build, show an error when you attempt to check in. "The last build failed.."
It sounds like you're trying to make sure that people don't break the build with their check-ins. TFS2010 includes a new feature called Gated Check-In that validates changes before they are committed to source control.
If you are using TFS2008 and can't upgrade, you'll need to look at something like OpenGauntlet - however the user experience is much improved with TFS2010.
TFS was originally set up with our
team's Active Directory group listed
as TFS admins. Is this the problem?
This is probably not the best idea. Team Foundation Server Administrators can do destructive things like destroy files+history and delete projects. If there's any chance that somebody might become disgruntled, you might want to reduce the number of admins or ensure that you have good backups.
As a middle-ground, you could have 1 or 2 people as TFS Admins, and everybody else as a Team Project Administrator. Most people only need Contributor access though.
In TFS2010, there is a new concept called "Project Collections". Typically, organizations have 1 or 2 people as "Project Collection Administrators" so they can add new projects and build controllers.
Check-in policies apply to everyone. Did you verify that your deployment of the policy is active on all machines?