VTK/Dashboard how to

This page documents how to use the VTK dashboard branch in Git. See our table of contents for more information.

Using the dashboard scripts

On Unix-like operating systems The dashboard branch contains a dashboard client helper script. Create a directory for dashboard builds, and inside that create a directory for dashboard scripts, where you'll track this branch. mkdir -p ~/Dashboards/VTKScripts cd ~/Dashboards/VTKScripts git init git remote add -t dashboard origin git://vtk.org/VTK.git git pull origin Update the dashboard branch to get the latest version of this script by simply running git pull Create a file for this machine's specific configuration, and name it accordingly. vim krsdashboard.cmake A sample can be found in the comments at the top of vtk_common.cmake, and might look like this: # Client maintainer: christopher.mullins@kitware.com set(CTEST_SITE "krsdashboard.Kitware") set(CTEST_BUILD_NAME "Release-gcc4.6.3") set(CTEST_CONFIGURATION_TYPE Release) set(CTEST_CMAKE_GENERATOR "Unix Makefiles") include(${CTEST_SCRIPT_DIRECTORY}/vtk_common.cmake)

On Windows We recommend using msysgit for a bash shell in a Windows environment. msysgit provides an msys shell that has the appropriate environment set up for using git and its tools. Once msysgit is installed, you can pretty much follow the same instructions as for Unix. Warning: Windows does not support paths longer than 260 characters so try to keep your dashboard directory close to the base file system. A popular choice is C:/D. There are some important changes in the cmake variables. You will have to change the CTEST_CMAKE_GENERATOR variable, and it is recommended to change the CTEST_BUILD_NAME. One example of such a file is: set(CTEST_SITE "krsdashboard-win.kitware") set(CTEST_BUILD_NAME "VS2010-Release") set(CTEST_CONFIGURATION_TYPE Release) set(CTEST_CMAKE_GENERATOR "Visual Studio 10 Win64") include(${CTEST_SCRIPT_DIRECTORY}/vtk_common.cmake)

Tip: When you're done, run the script with the ctest utility.

ctest -S krsdashboard.cmake -V

and find your build in the Nightly section of the VTK CDash page.

Making changes to the dashboard scripts

If you find bugs in the hooks themselves or would like to add new features, the can be edited in the usual Git manner.

$ git checkout -b my_topic_branch

Make your edits, test it, and commit the result. Create a patch file with:

$ git format-patch origin/dashboard

And email the results to the developer's mailing list.