editor's blog
Subscribe Now

Better Software Builds

I got introduced to Electric Cloud at ESC. They make software automation tools, with a focus on build automation and build acceleration.

The build flow is managed by ElectricCommander, which ties into the IDE and has hooks for the actual tools being summoned during the build process. The idea is that it’s easier and faster to manage the flow this way than by managing complex scripts. They have recently added the ability to define the flows graphically rather than through a form, making the process easier and more intuitive.

ElectricAccelerator can be used to spread the build process over a server farm. While that sounds like a simple load-sharing process, the important step that they manage is dependencies. Ordinarily, the developer has to specify which files get built in which order to make sure that anything needed to compile a particular file is already complete. This can be hard to manage as dependencies morph with the evolution of the project.

This gets to the differentiating value that Electric Cloud touts: automatic dependency management. Essentially, when sending a file off to a server to build, if it detects that dependencies for that file haven’t been met, it aborts and places the file back at the end of the queue. They claim to be able to detect all dependencies, so nothing will get missed. The tool also remembers the ordering so that, for the next build, it has to do less on-the-fly shuffling; it orders things correctly to begin with.

They’ve recently announced a version that runs on a desktop having 4-32 cores.

You can find more on their website

Leave a Reply

featured blogs
May 25, 2023
Register only once to get access to all Cadence on-demand webinars. Unstructured meshing can be automated for much of the mesh generation process, saving significant engineering time and cost. However, controlling numerical errors resulting from the discrete mesh requires ada...
May 24, 2023
Accelerate vision transformer models and convolutional neural networks for AI vision systems with the ARC NPX6 NPU IP, the best processor for edge AI devices. The post Designing Smarter Edge AI Devices with the Award-Winning Synopsys ARC NPX6 NPU IP appeared first on New Hor...
May 8, 2023
If you are planning on traveling to Turkey in the not-so-distant future, then I have a favor to ask....

featured video

Automate PCB P&R Tasks for Designs in Minutes

Sponsored by Cadence Design Systems

Discover how to get a dramatic reduction in design turnaround time by automating your placement, power plane generation, and critical net routing with Cadence® Allegro® X AI technology. Built on and accessed through the Allegro X Design Platform, Allegro X AI reduces P&R tasks from days to minutes with equivalent or higher quality compared with manually designed boards.

Click here for more information

featured contest

Join the AI Generated Open-Source Silicon Design Challenge

Sponsored by Efabless

Get your AI-generated design manufactured ($9,750 value)! Enter the E-fabless open-source silicon design challenge. Use generative AI to create Verilog from natural language prompts, then implement your design using the Efabless chipIgnite platform - including an SoC template (Caravel) providing rapid chip-level integration, and an open-source RTL-to-GDS digital design flow (OpenLane). The winner gets their design manufactured by eFabless. Hurry, though - deadline is June 2!

Click here to enter!

featured chalk talk

Industry 4.0: From Conception to Value Generation
Industry 4.0 has brought a lot of exciting innovation to the manufacturing and industrial factories throughout the world, but getting your next IIoT design from concept to reality can be a challenging process. In this episode of Chalk Talk, Adithya Madanahalli from Würth Elektronik and Amelia Dalton explore how Würth Elektronik can help you jump start your next IIoT design.
Apr 17, 2023
5,430 views