Builds
A build is Cactus reading your connected code and writing or updating your help pages from it. While your team's plan is paused, no build starts. A page changes only after the build that covers the change finishes, and a GitHub push can wait up to a day for that build.
On this page
Before a build starts
Connecting a repository needs a started trial, and a build has nothing to read until one is connected. Connect repositories in Sources, and see Plans and billing for the trial.
Start a build
In Settings › Builds, select Rebuild to have Cactus read your code again.
Select Sync now to check GitHub for pushes. If GitHub has nothing new, no build starts; if it has, a build starts, or waits behind the build already running.
Build status lines
What you see | What it means |
|---|---|
Up to date with GitHub | What it means GitHub has no push waiting for a build. |
Pushed a time ago (a commit), waiting for the next build | What it means A push is waiting for its build. |
Pushed a time ago (a commit), building now | What it means A build is running with that push. |
Next build at a time UTC: a number pushes waiting | What it means The build that will take the waiting pushes, and how many there are. Shown only while no build runs. |
Last synced a time ago. GitHub pushed a time ago. | What it means When Cactus last checked GitHub, and when GitHub last got a push. |
A number of the last a number builds succeeded. | What it means The result of the most recent builds, up to twenty. |
What starts a build
- Setup: the first build, started when you save your repositories during setup.
- You: a build started by Rebuild or Sync now, or by saving a change to your repositories.
- GitHub push: a build started by a push to a connected repository.
When a GitHub push builds
A push starts a build at once when no build started by a push ran in the last 24 hours. Otherwise it waits until 24 hours after the last one started.
Every push that arrives before that time is built together in one run.
Runs
The Runs list groups runs under five filters, and the last twenty builds show as bars with a count of how many succeeded.
- Builds: runs that build your pages.
- Code updates: runs started by a push to your code.
- Writing rules: runs that apply your writing rules to pages.
- Investigations: runs started by a question or an investigation.
- Daily checks: the daily check of your code.
A run shows as running, ready, failed or skipped. A run that a rebuild from scratch shows is marked Rebuilt from scratch, and each writing rule that shaped a run is listed under it, linked to Settings › Writing.
Changelog entries
A build also writes the changelog entries for the commits it reads.
An entry waits until Cactus has read the repository's full history, which can finish after the pages have changed, so an entry can show after its pages.
If your plan is paused
While your team's plan is paused, no build starts, and Rebuild and Sync now stay off.
Pushes still arrive and wait until the plan is back, and the Builds section shows a line saying the plan is paused. An owner is pointed to a plan, see Plans and billing; once a plan is chosen, the controls work again.
Rebuild from scratch
Only an owner can rebuild from scratch, and a repository must be linked first.
The owner confirms with the product's exact name. A build still running is stopped before the rebuild starts.
If a build fails
What you see | What it means | What to do |
|---|---|---|
"Cactus could not finish your pages" | What it means The first build failed before any page was written. | What to do Select Try again to start it again. Select See why to read the cause on Settings › Builds. |
A run marked as "stopped before it finished" | What it means The run ended before it finished, such as when a rebuild from scratch stopped it. | What to do Select Rebuild to read the code again. |
A number of a number pages are missing (the reasons); the next build writes them | What it means Some pages the build planned were not written, so the run is marked failed | What to do Nothing to do: the next build writes the missing pages, even when your code has not changed. Select Rebuild to start it now. |
"Cactus could not confirm the build started. Press again: it will not start a second one." | What it means The press got no clear answer from the server. | What to do Press the same button again. A second build does not start. |