Windows Build Machine

This page describes how to create a build machine to build the windows components of OpenXT.

The Making of a Build Machine

Install Windows

Simple, either set up a native install or VM. In addition, currently all build machines run windows 7 32 bit so deviate from this at your own risk. The setup and build scripts should work on 32 and 64 bit Windows7 and on Windows 2008 R2 according to the previous author, but personally writing this right now I only guarantee Win 7 32 bit.

Before You Start

All of the scripts to create a build machine (bare metal or VM) are stored in https://github.com/OpenXT/openxt/tree/master/windows/mkbuildmachine. Consider the following before starting the process of making a build machine:

Any Machine

• The installation process should be done logged in as the Administrator or with an account that has administrative access ('''and UAC turned off'''). To turn off UAC, hit start, type UAC, select "Change User Account Control Settings" and set slider to "never notify".
• To be on the safe side, '''disable''' Power Management features like Sleep after a certain period. (A '''must''' for build-slaves)
• The C: drive should be at least '''60G''' just to handle all the tools that need to be installed.
• '''Turn off''' Automatic Windows Updates as they can cause automatic reboots of the system. Suggest selecting the option "Download but let me choose when to install".
• The system should be Activated with a valid windows licence to allow the various software packages to install and update correctly. This should have been done when you installed Windows but if you haven't this is just a reminder...
• As the setup script will cause multiple reboots it is a good idea to setup autologon for the account used to run the setup scripts. From an administrator command prompt type "control userpasswords2" select the account and uncheck "Users must enter name and password" or use SysInternals' Autologon.exe.
• Run powershell as an Administrator and enter the command "Set-ExecutionPolicy Unrestricted"

VM

• If a build machine is being installed on a OpenXT VM, it is recommended that you install the OpenXT tools. It will make the VM faster.

Before You Start

• Check the UAC is turned off
• Check that no login screen shows after reboot

Ready To Start

Install http://msysgit.github.io/, then use the git bash shell to git clone openxt:

git clone https://github.com/OpenXT/openxt.git 

Now, use a administrator cmd window and from the directory you cloned openxt run:

cd openxt\windows\mkbuildmachine
powershell .\winbuild-setup.ps1 config.xml

This will cause the Machine to reboot several times. Wait until all is finished. You will see a cmd window with the message "Completed Installation of Tools - Press enter to exit" if everything worked out. Note that the config.xml contains the working state of the install during reboot, and updated versions of the config.xml are written to disk during the installation, for instance to track the state of the install during the reboots involved.

Further Setup

Now all the software required by the build system is installed, there is however still yet more to do. For example:

• Windows update should be run to pick up all the security updates for the newly installed build tools and Windows itself. Either do this manually or set updates to self-install again.
• Consider disabling the auto-logon.

Certificates

To run windows builds requires the signing of drivers and executables in several places, as such you need a signing certificate. Depending what you'll be using your new build machine for, use one of the two following guides:

Development

Being a developer, you should not have access to machines with official signing certificates installed on them - if you do you better have good reasons for why. Regardless, you still need to be able to actually create test builds for your new shiny code, meaning you first need to create a test certificate for your machine. This whole process has been scripted for you in the script makecert.bat. So, if you cloned openxt.git earlier, run "makecert.bat " at an Administrator command prompt, e.g. from an administrator cmd window:

cd openxt\windows\mkbuildmachine
makecert developer

You will be prompted for a certificate protection password several times; for scratch development certificates we typically leave this blank, and say yes when asked to create private key without password protection. You will also be prompted to install the certificate and should answer yes. Note that there seems to be a problem importing the certificate if you do supply a pasword.

What this script actually does is simple. First it creates the bits needed to sign code, wraps them into a pfx file and then adds this file to the User's personal certificate store. To test that everything went okay either run certmgr.msc or add the certificates snap in to mmc.exe. Either example should show the newly created signing key under "Certificates (Current User) -> Personal -> Certificates".

Official Builds

An official signing certificate and key will need to be installed on the new build machine for release signed builds. This key should be installed on production build machines only by authorised Administrators.

NOTE:

The signing step in the build uses the Issuer Id of the certificate to locate the cert/key in the store. This name is sometimes the same for older and newer certificates - e.g. "John Doe, Inc". This can lead to a name collision if older expired certificates have the same Issuer Id and cause signing to fail. It is recommended that you remove expired certificates first before installing a new one.

Windows Build Process

A separate page has all the details on how to perform the windows build after the Machine has been setted up. [Windows Build Process](Windows Build Process)