Continuous Integration Tutorial

Introduction

Continuous Integration (CI) is a software development practice where code changes are automatically built, tested, and merged into a shared repository several times a day. This practice helps to detect and fix bugs early in the development cycle, improving the overall quality of the software. In this tutorial, we will cover the fundamental concepts of CI and provide examples using the C programming language.

Setting Up a CI Environment

To get started with CI, you'll need a few tools:

• Version Control System (VCS): Git is the most commonly used VCS.
• CI Server: Jenkins, Travis CI, and GitHub Actions are popular choices.
• Build Tools: Make is a standard build tool for C projects.
• Testing Framework: For C, you can use frameworks like CUnit or Unity.

Example: Setting Up Git and GitHub

First, ensure you have Git installed on your machine. If not, download and install it from the official site.

git version 2.29.2

Create a new repository on GitHub and clone it to your local machine:

Example: Setting Up a CI Pipeline with GitHub Actions

GitHub Actions is a powerful CI/CD tool integrated directly into GitHub. To set it up, create a .github/workflows directory in your repository and add a YAML file for the workflow:

Edit the ci.yml file to define the CI pipeline:

name: C CI

on: [push, pull_request]

jobs:
  build:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
    - uses: actions/checkout@v2
    - name: Set up C compiler
      run: sudo apt-get install -y gcc make
    - name: Build
      run: make
    - name: Run tests
      run: make test
                

Building and Testing the C Project

In your C project, create a simple Makefile to automate the build and test process:

CC=gcc
CFLAGS=-I.
DEPS = header.h
OBJ = main.o file1.o file2.o

%.o: %.c $(DEPS)
    $(CC) -c -o $@ $< $(CFLAGS)

main: $(OBJ)
    $(CC) -o $@ $^ $(CFLAGS)

.PHONY: clean

clean:
    rm -f *.o main
                

To run tests, you can extend your Makefile:

test: main
    ./main
                

Commit your changes and push them to GitHub:

Monitoring CI Pipeline

After pushing your changes, GitHub Actions will automatically start the CI pipeline. You can monitor the progress and results in the "Actions" tab of your GitHub repository:

Conclusion

Continuous Integration is a crucial practice in modern software development. It helps catch bugs early, ensures code quality, and streamlines the development process. By following this tutorial, you should now have a basic CI pipeline set up for a C project using GitHub Actions.