Duplicating plans that differ by just a few variables
Asked by Lee Winder:

We're starting to build up a large number of plans that simply different by a few variables.

For example, we currently have 21+ plans (soon to double at least) where the only difference between them is the application name, a couple of paths and the git repository path.

Due to how this is set up (with 21 distinct plans all with the same steps) if one changes, I have to change 21 other plans, and the more we have, the more of a maintence nightmare this is going to becomes.

How can I simplify this? Is it possible to have a 'master' plan, which we deviate from by overridding variables or other properties?

If not, is there anything in the Bamboo pipeline that might make this possible in the future, because maintance of plans is going to start becoming a serious time sink for even little changes.

Thanks


Answers:
author: dustin_barnes
body: Lee, this problem (as well as code coverage metrics and code quality metrics) is why I'm switching everybody to TeamCity. It has plan templates, nested plan templates, built-in metrics tracking, etc. We're gonna keep bamboo around for the pipeline, but it's really disappointing.


author: cbenard1
body: Hi Lee,

I believe that you have two options here.

The first being branched plans in Bamboo: [](https://confluence.atlassian.com/display/BAMBOO/Using+plan+branches)<https://confluence.atlassian.com/display/BAMBOO/Using+plan+branches>

With a branched plan you'll be able to point the parent plan at a different repo and tweak it as you like. All under one parent plan.

The alternative would be custom, manual run builds: [](https://confluence.atlassian.com/display/BAMBOO/Running+a+plan+build+manually#Runningaplanbuildmanually-Runningacustomisedmanualbuild)<https://confluence.atlassian.com/display/BAMBOO/Running+a+plan+build+manually#Runningaplanbuildmanually-Runningacustomisedmanualbuild>

In Bamboo you can perform a manual run of a plan and change variables on the fly for each run. The only downside is that the runs must be manual and cannot be triggered.

Thanks

Turner

comments: author: Lee Winder
body: I don't belive either of those would solve my problem.

Plan branches wouldn't allow us to override variables (and I was under the impression it would need to be the same repository) and we need to trigger the builds automatically (we have repository and time triggered builds), plus I don't want people to have to manually enter the overridden variables everytime they wanted to create a build.

It's not possible to trigger overridden builds via a command line option is it?

It looks like I'm going to have to manually maintain all these plans :(


author: cbenard1
body: Hi Lee,

Variables can definitely be changed in the plan branches: [](https://confluence.atlassian.com/display/BAMBOO/Using+plan+branches#Usingplanbranches-configurebranch)<https://confluence.atlassian.com/display/BAMBOO/Using+plan+branches#Usingplanbranches-configurebranch>

As for the repository I believe you can use any branch of any repository defined in the initial/master build.

Another tool you may want to check out is Bob Swift's CLI: [](https://bobswift.atlassian.net/wiki/display/BCLI/Bamboo+Command+Line+Interface)<https://bobswift.atlassian.net/wiki/display/BCLI/Bamboo+Command+Line+Interface>

This should allow you to automate any processes externally of Bamboo, such as custom builds.

<br />

Thanks

Turner