Development mode¶

Development mode provides a way for a user to request to process packages against development versions of sources rather than using fixed versions. A package will typically target a stable release, either pointing to a specific archive to download or a specific tag to clone from. However, for some builds, a user may wish to build a specific package against their main development branch (e.g. the main branch of a Git repository) or a long-term stable release branch. Packages can be defined to target these specific revisions if running in development mode.

To enable development mode, invoking releng-tool with the --development (or -D) argument will enable the mode. Future calls to releng-tool for the project will use a development revision for packages where appropriate. For example:

$ releng-tool --development [<mode>]
(success) configured root for development mode
$ releng-tool
~building against development sources~
...

Development mode is persisted through the use of a file flag in the root directory.

Consider the following example: a package defines multiple revisions to fetch sources from:

LIBFOO_SITE = 'https://example.com/libfoo.git'
LIBFOO_REVISION = {
    DEFAULT_REVISION: '1.2',
    'develop': 'main',
    'lts': '1.1.x',
}

A build would normally use the 1.2 tag for this package. However, if an environment is configured to use the develop development mode:

$ releng-tool --development develop

This package would use the main branch instead.

Projects can also target specific sites based off the development mode. This can be useful if a package uses a built archive for a stable release, but having development sources fetched from a repository. For example:

LIBFOO_SITE = {
    DEFAULT_SITE: 'https://pkgs.example.com/releases/libfoo-${LIBFOO_VERSION}.tar.gz',
    'test': 'https://git.example.com/libfoo.git',
}

LIBFOO_REVISION = {
    'test': 'main',
}

In a normal execution, a tar.gz archive would be downloaded for the package. However, if an environment is configured to use the test development mode, sources will be fetched from the Git repository on the main branch.

Simple development modes are also supported. Packages can use the LIBFOO_DEVMODE_REVISION option to hint at a development revision to pull.

LIBFOO_DEVMODE_REVISION = 'main'
LIBFOO_REVISION = 'v3.0'

A build would normally use the v3.0 tag for this package. However, if an environment is configured a non-explicit development mode:

$ releng-tool --development

This package would use the main branch instead.

A user can either disable development sources mode by:

Providing a development mode of - or unset;
Invoking mrproper; or,
By manually removing the file flag found at the root of the project.