Albacore

Derek Bailey, of Los Techies, came out to talk to the Central Texas Dot Net Users group about this tool named Albacore.  I will not even attempt to summarize the features and capabilities of Albacore.  It appears to be an awesome tool for a variety of reasons. 

  1. It does not use XML
  2. It uses Ruby and as such it is a first class citizen, unlike NAnt
  3. The syntax is extremely clean and readable.
  4. If you have to do any type of automated builds, it seems that this will save you tons of time if you use this instead of NAnt

Prior to the engagement I had read Derick's article, Building .Net Systems with Ruby, Rake and Albacore, about the subject in this month's CODE magazine.  Let me tell you that the article does do the Albacore libraries justice.  The article is well written but for someone who does not know Ruby, the article went over my head.

Derick did an outstanding job of taking us through all the steps in getting Albacore up an running from 0 to fully built solutions. Having Derick on site allowed me and the rest of the group to ask specific questions.  I really can't wait to start using Albacore.  Unfortunately this weekend is full for me, but hopefully I can get some scripts going later this week.  Whatever the outcome, plan on a blog from me on the experience.

If you are not using Albacore because you are not the one responsible for the builds then it's ok.  But if you are using NAnt or heaven forbid, some home grown system, you really need to check out Albacore. 

If you would like to attend the CTXDNUG please visit the website. http://www.ctxdnug.net/, for more information.

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