Warning: please be aware that Travis CI, which is mentioned in this article, has a security issue with its Free Tier service. By design, “secret” data such as access credentials are exposed within historical clear-text logs which are accessible by anyone via the Travis CI API. Please see this article for more information.

By Mike Jackson.

At the Digital Social Research workshop, we asked researchers about what would help them to produce good code. One suggestion was that while repositories, such as SourceForge, GitHub and Launchpad, offer a rich infrastructure, they lack support for automated build-and-test or continuous integration. As one attendee put it, they wanted "SourceForge++".

Using a continuous integration server that is hosted by a third-party is more convenient than acquiring a server and setting up the software yourself (it can be cheaper too). This convenience should encourage more people to systematically test their software, and that's something that we're in favour of, because well tested software is more sustainable software.

A web search reveals that there are a number of providers that, thanks to the capabilities of cloud computing, now offer continuous integration services for projects. To help you choose a provide, I've listed the main details of the providers below.

Please remember that when choosing to rely on a third-party to host a continuous integration server, the reliability, longevity, cost, usability and sustainability of the provider's service should be considered. Our advice on choosing a repository for your software project is also relevant to choosing a continuous integration server.