Upgrading to BuildMaster 6.1

BuildMaster 6.1 is the last stop for BuildMaster's Legacy Features, as they were all removed in BuildMaster 6.2. While we plan to support BuildMaster 6.1 for the foreseeable future, we will retire support for older versions.  

Change Summary

The following table summarizes all of the changes introduced in v6.0 and v6.1.

Upgrade Process

You can only upgrade from BuildMaster v5 or BuildMaster v6.1. To upgrade from one of these versions:

1. Download and run the Inedo Hub from my.inedo.com/downloads or use the latest traditional installer
2. Remove old (5.x) extensions as appropriate
   • Reasons why you need to remove extensions:
     • If the extension shows an error message, stating it failed to load for any reason. Remove it and reinstall {ExtensionName}Legacy or {ExtensionName}.
     • If the extension shows a higher installed version than the available version. Remove it and reinstall {ExtensionName}Legacy or {ExtensionName}.
   • See upgrading extensions for more information.
3. Install the 6.1 extensions

Risk Mitigation

Although the risks vary depending on the version you're upgrading from, you should take the following precautions to avoid downtime:

• Make sure your BuildMaster database has been backed up before upgrading
• Make sure your Encryption Key is backed up before upgrading
• Ensure that the installation's \Extensions directory is backed up before upgrading

Rollback

Because there are database changes, a roll back will require uninstalling BuildMaster, and then restoring your BuildMaster instance.

Upgrading Extensions

Extensions in BuildMaster v6 can now be compiled against the Inedo.SDK. This also means that existing extensions need to be recompiled against the Inedo.BuildMaster.SDK 6.0, or if no legacy features are used, the latest Inedo.SDK package from NuGet. If the intent is to upgrade to v6.2, the Inedo.SDK must be referenced as the Inedo.BuildMaster.SDK will be removed.

• TFSLegacy
• JiraLegacy
• TeamCityLegacy
• MercurialLegacy
• JenkinsLegacy
• FTPLegacy
• AzureLegacy
• AmazonLegacy
• YouTrackLegacy
• NuGetLegacy
• WindowsLegacy
• InedoCoreLegacy

Any {ExtensionName}Legacy extensions will be removed in v6.2.

Which NuGet Package Should I Choose?

Extensions that implement legacy features (e.g. legacy plan actions, source control providers, issue tracker connections, database connections) must use v6 of the Inedo.BuildMaster.SDK. Database calls (i.e. DB.) or references to strongly-typed tables names (i.e. Tables.) are also not available in the Inedo.SDK since it is shared between multiple products. Support for shared/common objects (e.g. servers, roles) is supported via the SDK class.

If no legacy features are used and no specific database calls are required, the extension should use the latest Inedo.SDK NuGet package. The complete list of Inedo.SDK supported classes can be found in the Inedo SDK Reference.

Upgrading Extensions

Upgrading a pre-v6 extension (whether using the Inedo.BuildMaster.SDK or Inedo.SDK) requires the following:

• The target framework must be set to .NET 4.5.2 at a minimum
• For Inedo.BuildMaster.SDK: Upgrade the SDK NuGet package to v6.0.0 (this will also install Inedo.SDK as a dependency)
• For Inedo.BuildMaster.SDK or Inedo.SDK: Upgrade the Inedo.SDK to the latest version
• NuGet will automatically reference the following packages, ensure they are set to CopyLocal=false and SpecificVersion=falsein the project properties:
  • BuildMaster.Web.Controls(Inedo.BuildMaster.SDK only)
  • BuildMasterCore(Inedo.BuildMaster.SDK only)
  • Inedo.Agents.Client
  • Inedo.ExecutionEngine
  • Inedo.SDK
  • InedoLib
• To resolve most compiler errors that you will receive on NuGet package upgrade, the ALT+SHIFT+F10 keyboard shortcut that brings up the Light Bulb will quickly apply the appropriate using statements

Class & Namespace Changes

• PromotionContext no longer implements IGenericBuildMasterContext. While never documented as doing so, explicit casts to this interface must be removed
• All helper classes marked with System.ObsoleteAttribute in the pre-v6 SDK have been removed in v6. Most replacements to InedoLib.Util. are found in InedoLib.AH
• ILogger.Log() extensions (e.g. LogDebug, LogError) accepted a format string in v4.X which was deprecated in v5.0, and now removed in v6.0; use string.Format() inside the Log() call instead

Legacy SDK Change in BuildMaster 6.1

There is one possible breaking change between v6.0 and v6.1 of the BuildMaster SDK: ExecutionsFailedEvent was renamed to ExecutionFailedEvent. In the unlikely event that this event code was consumed by an extension, it must be updated to drop the "s", and reference the newly added ExecutionId event detail.

BuildMaster 6.1 Change Details

BuildMaster 6.1 Behavior Change: Resource Credentials' Environment Usage

In this version, when a Resource Credential is assigned to an environment, all deployment targets that reference the credential must be associated with that environment, otherwise a runtime error occurs.

BuildMaster 6.1 Behavior Change: Hiding Legacy Features

In this version, legacy features are hidden from the UI unless configured to be shown on the Advanced Settings page via the Legacy.{FeatureName} settings. In this version, legacy features are hidden from UI unless configured to be shown on the Advanced Settings page via the Legacy.{FeatureName} settings. Also, the configuration values are automatically set when you access the Administration dashboard > Legacy Features and run the detection mechanism.

BuildMaster 6.1 Free Edition Licensing Changes

Prior to version 6.0, BuildMaster Free included 5 users, 10 applications, and 5 servers. As of v6.0, BuildMaster Free is now unlimited in terms of users, applications, and servers, but all anonymous users are granted "view-only" privileges, and all authenticated users act as full administrators (i.e. all users have all privileges granted to them, and restrictions are ignored).

Existing free users who are negatively affected by this change can use the contact form to have a new key sent to them, which will effectively be a 5-user key with no server or application restrictions.

BuildMaster 6.1 Multiple License Key Support Removed

Multiple license key support is removed in this version. When upgrading, BuildMaster will use the most recently added and activated license key as the single license key, and references to all others will be removed. If the wrong key is selected as the only key, you will need to log into MyInedo if you have not made a note of the current key. 

BuildMaster 6.1 Feature: Rename "Release Packages" to "Builds"

This is effectively a UI-only change. While API arguments or properties that reference packages should be considered deprecated, any non-native endpoint that references them (e.g. /packages/deploy, packageId or packageNumber) will still accept and return those properties. In the future, buildId and buildNumber should be used.

Compatibility with the Native API may break in this case, however, most endpoints referenced builds originally.

For a word from Inedo's founder on the reasoning behind this change, check out his latest blog article.

BuildMaster 6.1 Feature: Repository Monitors & Hooks

Support for monitoring Git repository changes at custom intervals and custom plans to be executed as soon as they are detected, providing far more than was possible in the existing legacy build triggers. In addition, support for accepting incoming webhook events from GitHub and GitLab has been added. See the documentation for more information, examples, and the Git extension wiki for hook configuration of a specific host.

BuildMaster 6.1 Feature: Custom Variable Value Rendering

Support for rendering a release or build configuration variable with custom HTML. See the documentation for more information and examples.

BuildMaster 6.1 Feature: CI Badges

Support for generating CI badges and links using the CI Badge API. See the API documentation for more information and examples.

BuildMaster 6.1 Feature: Customer Experience & Improvement Program

Inedo has partnered with Gibraltar Software to integrate Loupe into our products as part of our customer success initiative. This program is known as the Customer Experience Improvement Program (CEIP) and provides several benefits to both Inedo and our customers.

This feature is disabled by default in all existing and new installations. Visit the documentation to learn how to opt-in and more about what kind of data is collected and how Inedo uses it.