Novell’s openSUSE Build Service is among the useful online tools for Linux developers. It lets you build packages for multiple targets including other Linux distributions (Fedora, Debian, Mandriva and Ubuntu), as well as being the platform that SUSE developers use to build SUSE Linux.
The openSUSE Build Service is now getting a boost with the new 2.1 release which includes an enhanced web interface, access control and integration with online source code management tools.
The core of changes seems to be about workflow and enabling the Build Service to be a better platform to collaborate on the building of packages. The web interface now provides a history option to track changes and associated comments.
With the external source code management, the Build Service can now be better integrated into the existing workflow of a developer/project too. That’s where I see the access controls also being key, by providing (or restricting) access.
It’s all good stuff that is widely used now too with the public instance of Build Service at build.opensuse.org building approximately 100,000 packages. The service can also be deployed locally which is how the MeeGo project is currently using the Build Service.