Special Thanks To LeslieAnn!

[JerryScript]

[INFO]I want everyone here to know something that is known and very much appreciated in the dev circles, but may not be well known by the entire OptimusV community. A few months ago, LeslieAnn offered one of her computers to be used by OptimusV devs to build ROMs. This is not just some left over piece of garbage, but a monster of a build server.
[/INFO]
What does this mean to the community? Have you noticed the rapid increase in development lately? This is in no small part thanks to LeslieAnn's build server.

For example, tonite I was working on some changes to the frameworks and CMParts settings that will allow you to show/hide various system icons as you choose. I had a few typos in my code (unfortunately a common thing for me when writing code ), and each typo gets picked up in the order it appears in, stopping the build process. So you fix the typo it found, and restart the build process. Then it finds the next typo, etc, etc, till you fix them all and finally get a complete build. Tonite my typos where in rare form, and it took 8 build attempts before I finished. My computer is no slouch, but it's nothing compared to this monster build server, and it would have taken me over 8 hours to accomplish what it took me about 2 hours to do thanks to LeslieAnn!

The mere fact we have such a great port of ICS by tdm right now is due in no small part to LeslieAnn's build server as well. And there are other projects being developed on there as well. And there's the added bonus of being able to do a complete build on LeslieAnn's server while working on something else on your own computer at the same time. Some are even building from their phones! I would go so far as to say this almost triples productivity in some cases!

The speed and ease of use from anywhere makes this the most valuable gift this community has ever received!
[TIP]

Thank you LeslieAnn!
For the build server, and your countless hours spent helping out this community!​

[/TIP]
Note- I wish I could make that lightbulb icon a trophy, because you deserve one!

 

[clodfelterac]

i was aware of this and figured thats why development ramped up so quickly... leslie you are an awesome person and obviously have a good heart to help your fellow devs out in this manner!.. not to mention the quick support you offer to any who ask... you too jerry... and tdm.... i think i can speak for the majority and say that we all extremely appreciate all the things that you do for us here and behind the curtain... i mean c'mon peeps, who amongst us would stay with the v if we didnt have such great developers like we do?... THANK YOU LESLIE! +1

 

[Badboytoast]

Thank-you leslieAnn +2

 

[Dave Begue]

Thank you Leslie - you've helped me a lot!

 

[sellers86]

Leslieann has helped me quite a bit to. All of the devs have. The build server is kick ass, much better than my laptop. On her server, sync and all, it takes about 35 minutes for a full iho build. My laptop takes at least 3 hours. Thanks leslieann

Sent from my LG-VM670 using Tapatalk 2 Beta-4

 

[EarthnFire78]

One of the most helpful people on the forum, if not thee most helpful.

 

[Paul627g]

More than overdue in my opinion.. Great job and keep up the great support and work for the entire android and Android Central community

 

[CloudBusterr]

Thank you, LeslieAnn for building the first ROM I ever flashed, Harmonia. That was the ROM that got me into customizing my phone. Thank you once again~

 

[HOD1234]

Thank you Leslie and all other dev's for everything you all do. +3 thanks

 

[Invincible Madness]

I only got into messing with development and haven't even successfully built one ROM. I did build from others but not my own until now. If it were not for the build server, I would have given up long back with the amount of time it takes to build once. If I ever successfully build a ROM, I will owe it to Leslie and other dev's here who patiently help with almost everything.
I express my heartfelt gratitude to Leslie for doing what she did, gifting us with a monster server and the dev community for their kind support.
and Jerry, thanks for making this post.

 

[LeslieAnn]

Awww, thank you guys, you are all very welcome.

I gotta go fix my makeup after that. lol.

 

[KingPenguin]

Yes, thank you very much. I'm a lurker running backside on two V's at the moment. I really appreciate all the great stuff going on here.

Leslie, I'd like to setup another build server for the community (and myself). If you have recommendations on distro and setup I'd love to hear them. I have access to a nice server that could drop your build times significantly. Just need to find some room for it and get it installed.

Can't PM you until I post a few more times.

Sent from my ICS Touchpad

 

[zero neck]

Great thread. Thank you LeslieAnn for the dedicated service!

 

[tdm]

Yes, thank you very much. I'm a lurker running backside on two V's at the moment. I really appreciate all the great stuff going on here.

Leslie, I'd like to setup another build server for the community (and myself). If you have recommendations on distro and setup I'd love to hear them. I have access to a nice server that could drop your build times significantly. Just need to find some room for it and get it installed.

Can't PM you until I post a few more times.

Sent from my ICS Touchpad

I am the one that setup the build system.

She's running Ubuntu Lucid x86_64. I personally run Debian Squeeze x86_64. Both work fine.

The biggest problem setting up the box is Java, especially since Ubuntu stopped redistributing it. But I can help you with building it if you like. Just PM me.

 

[LeslieAnn]

Thanks guys.

I am the one that setup the build system.

What he said.
I setup the box with Linux and gave it remote access, and he took it from there.
I used that version of Ubuntu because it was what Google recommended and I knew it worked well on that box. TDM probably would have preferred straight Debian, but it was fighting me. Slack (?) fought me even more.


As for a faster build box, that will take quite a bit based on what TDM has told me. I'm not saying it can't be done, just that increasing the speed much at all will take some very serious (and pricey) hardware. TDM has a much beefier system at work and this rivals it quite well he says, and after searching around at other peoples build times, I have to believe him. That box smokes systems with much higher end hardware in it. You may have a beefy server, but if it does anything else and isn't well set up, it won't compete with this. These high end Intel Quads are serious beasts, which is why at 3 years old, they still command more than a brand new I5 2500K and probably why it's so fast. Linux just seems to LOVE those processors.



A few things you really have to consider (from my end of this)...
Make sure you have enough drive space, last time we checked, this one was using 256gigs. Which brings us to something else...

It uses a lot of bandwidth. I don't have exact numbers but it is significant when you have people at all times of the day using it, that 256gigs was all downloaded, and I would bet that it probably does almost that much each month. I'm surprised my ISP hasn't complained sicne I download almost that on my own too. All of that bandwidth can bog down your network with so many requests coming through you really will want a router with at least 32megs of ram. Preferably 64megs or more. And it WILL tax your router, my Linksys after several years of being flawless has suddenly started having issues, so I get to replace that now if I can't fix it. It's one of the best Linksys wireless routers you could get until recently (e3000).

Another thing is that most ISP's do NOT allow you to host servers. Even if you do, you will need a dynamic DNS setup. Easy to get and setup, but more work to do. I'm planning on getting business broadband soon soon since I am going to dump my leased server and host my own here. That will give me a static IP and eliminate any bandwidth issues.

Make sure whoever owns the server is okay with it as it's all a huge security risk. Besides accessing the machine, you have to punch a hole in your firewall. This is all this box does and everything here is passworded, if someone crashes or hacks it, it won't effect anything. You have to be able to lose the system (and possibly anything connected) and not stress over it, if you can't do that, don't do it.

 

[Paul627g]

Thanks guys.




What he said.
I setup the box with Linux and gave it remote access, and he took it from there.
I used that version of Ubuntu because it was what Google recommended and I knew it worked well on that box. TDM probably would have preferred straight Debian, but it was fighting me. Slack (?) fought me even more.


As for a faster build box, that will take quite a bit based on what TDM has told me. I'm not saying it can't be done, just that increasing the speed much at all will take some very serious (and pricey) hardware. TDM has a much beefier system at work and this rivals it quite well he says, and after searching around at other peoples build times, I have to believe him. That box smokes systems with much higher end hardware in it. You may have a beefy server, but if it does anything else and isn't well set up, it won't compete with this. These high end Intel Quads are serious beasts, which is why at 3 years old, they still command more than a brand new I5 2500K and probably why it's so fast. Linux just seems to LOVE those processors.



A few things you really have to consider (from my end of this)...
Make sure you have enough drive space, last time we checked, this one was using 256gigs. Which brings us to something else...

It uses a lot of bandwidth. I don't have exact numbers but it is significant when you have people at all times of the day using it, that 256gigs was all downloaded, and I would bet that it probably does almost that much each month. I'm surprised my ISP hasn't complained sicne I download almost that on my own too. All of that bandwidth can bog down your network with so many requests coming through you really will want a router with at least 32megs of ram. Preferably 64megs or more. And it WILL tax your router, my Linksys after several years of being flawless has suddenly started having issues, so I get to replace that now if I can't fix it. It's one of the best Linksys wireless routers you could get until recently (e3000).

Another thing is that most ISP's do NOT allow you to host servers. Even if you do, you will need a dynamic DNS setup. Easy to get and setup, but more work to do. I'm planning on getting business broadband soon soon since I am going to dump my leased server and host my own here. That will give me a static IP and eliminate any bandwidth issues.

Make sure whoever owns the server is okay with it as it's all a huge security risk. Besides accessing the machine, you have to punch a hole in your firewall. This is all this box does and everything here is passworded, if someone crashes or hacks it, it won't effect anything. You have to be able to lose the system (and possibly anything connected) and not stress over it, if you can't do that, don't do it.

Um okay.. Throw all that back at me in English...lol... I thought a knew a lot about this stuff, well LeslieAnn you just blew my mind...

All I can say is go girl!

Glad your on our side

 

[LeslieAnn]

Um okay.. Throw all that back at me in English...lol... I thought a knew a lot about this stuff, well LeslieAnn you just blew my mind...

All I can say is go girl!

Glad your on our side

TLDR or Laymans version... ;P

I used Ubuntu Linux because Google recommended it.
To make a faster build box, you need server components ($$$) and it still may not be faster.

You need lots of hard drive space.
You need a good router (and you may fry it).
You need a good internet connection, and they may kick you off for downloading too much.
Your internet provider may kick you off for hosting a server.
It's a major security risk.



I should explain a bit more on the downloads...
Less than 5% of people use more than 200gigs a month for internet. I use 250+ gigs per month myself and the server doubled that.

 

[sellers86]

TLDR or Laymans version... ;P

I used Ubuntu Linux because Google recommended it.
To make a faster build box, you need server components ($$$) and it still may not be faster.

You need lots of hard drive space.
You need a good router (and you may fry it).
You need a good internet connection, and they may kick you off for downloading too much.
Your internet provider may kick you off for hosting a server.
It's a major security risk.



I should explain a bit more on the downloads...
Less than 5% of people use more than 200gigs a month for internet. I use 250+ gigs per month myself and the server doubled that.

All i know is that my family was getting really pissed when i was building from my laptop because the internet was so slow haha. Thanks LeslieAnn and tdm for the server. it runs great.

 

[Paul627g]

TLDR or Laymans version... ;P

I used Ubuntu Linux because Google recommended it.
To make a faster build box, you need server components ($$$) and it still may not be faster.

You need lots of hard drive space.
You need a good router (and you may fry it).
You need a good internet connection, and they may kick you off for downloading too much.
Your internet provider may kick you off for hosting a server.
It's a major security risk.



I should explain a bit more on the downloads...
Less than 5% of people use more than 200gigs a month for internet. I use 250+ gigs per month myself and the server doubled that.

LOL.. No need to explain, I understood 90% of what you said I just was floored never expecting to hear anything like that... Very impressive

 

[cammykool]

Awww, thank you guys, you are all very welcome.

I gotta go fix my makeup after that. lol.

show us a pic after you do! (always wanted to see the faces behind the user names of our devs)

but thanks Leslie!