A good build script should be self-contained, self-booting and portable. You should be able to check it out of source control and run it. No buts. Period. The rules (or tips) that follow should be self-evident and applied everywhere. Unfortunately, they are not. The following "rules" are based on issues I've encountered in existing real-world build scripts.

There are several Maven repository managers on the market, but the two most prominent and most powerful are without doubt Nexus and Artifactory. Both these products are open source, with commercial versions containing more advanced features. Both are fine products, with many similar features. In many cases, however, Nexus and Artifactory respond to similar user needs, but in quite different ways.

Most developers nowadays are familiar with the basic tenets of Continuous Integration, but arguably only a small proportion of these are fully benefiting from an optimized CI set up. Indeed, an effective Continuous Integration environment can save your team time, money and even existential angst. Continuous communication flow, effective build process, code quality, and automated deployment are the four issues covered in this article. Read John Smart's Where To Now With Build Automation? - The Future of CI Best Practices, to better understand this topic.

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