Build Environment

The build environment would consist of a set of servers with different operating systems like Solaris, AIX, Linux etc. The number of servers for each o/s would depend on the volume of concurrent builds expected. Also, multiple servers would be needed to support multiple versions of any operating system. A central Engineering Team with root privileges on all the servers should manage this build environment and access should be given out to individual projects on the basis of a specific build requests from the project manager.

Separate Unix users should be created for every build request and these users should be able to modify only their own environment. Further the meta-information on the build should be captured and saved as a simple XML file, say build365.xml so that it can be utilized later for categorization.

Here is a sample XML file.

Shared Publish Area

The builds should be then published into a shared publish area where it can be made available to all projects. The publish process would essentially mean doing an ftp of the build from the build environment to the shared publish area. The convention could be as simple as build 365 goes into a folder build365.
Click here for more details on the Shard Publish Area

Process
The process would be as follows:
Access --> Request for Build --> Build --> Publish --> Document and Categorize