Appcenter: Configuration as Code (CaC) for App Center Build

[alicejgibbons]

The ability to describe the Build definitions in a language like YAML or JSON would be hugely valuable for many reasons:

• Consistency across branches and distributions (Beta testers, etc)
• Ability to reproduce Build pipelines across apps
• Ability to view a complete history and change-log of the pipeline
• To ensure App Center is adhering to best DevOps practices
  ... (and all the other main benefits of CaC)

There is a similar solution in place for Azure Pipelines using YAML.

[matthiaswenz]

Thank you @alicejgibbons for your request. It is something we have been looking into. #437 is very similar in its nature. I think this request is more concrete with what we have been considering.

We don't have anything to announce at the moment. I would like to keep this discussion open to see what kind of solutions would help you and how you would want to see those integrated with App Center.

[dgobaud]

please!!

[hameno]

This is a requirement for any modern build infrastructure. I just started to migrate from Hockey and keep stumbling onto these blockers :/

[nilofer]

@hameno is there a specific scenario you are blocked on that you are unable to do with App Center's current UI approach to configuration?

[dgobaud]

@nrajpurkar we can't build every branch for example. makes it hard to detect configuration changes etc really not optimal...

[dgobaud]

creating new branch builds takes a lot of time too

[matthiaswenz]

@dgobaud Is the ability to clone existing configurations helping in this case? Or not enough? Not saying this solves all problems, but it has done for quite a few.

[dgobaud]

that might help a bit but it can't be automated right? the idea is build every branch like circleci

[joehanna]

I think having a YAML build script is essential, particularly one that is contained in the repo you are building. This way everything is together and you get source control on the build script. I used this with Bitrise.io before and it works well.

[Maverick1st]

Is there any news on this? Today I tried to build my app from AppCenter with the YAML Build script I have created in Azure DevOps, but there is no option for me to select that build script in AppCenter build process.

[nilofer]

@Maverick1st no update on this for App Center. Currently, Azure DevOps is a better option for CaC with the YAML build configuration

[msftbot[bot]]

This issue has been automatically marked as stale because it has not had any activity for 60 days. It will be closed if no further activity occurs within 15 days of this comment.

[msftbot[bot]]

This issue will now be closed because it hasn't had any activity for 15 days after stale. Please feel free to open a new issue if you still have a question/issue or suggestion.