A Build Configuration is a "type of build" - a set of settings edited in the UI which are used to start a build and group the sequence of the builds in the UI. The settings include VCS settings (from where to checkout sources for the build), what build procedure to run (build steps and environment parameters), triggers (when to start a new build) and others. A build configurations belongs to a Project and contains builds. Examples of build configurations are distribution, integration tests, prepare release distribution, "nightly" build, deploy to QA.
The recommended way is not to merge builds which fall into different sets into a single build configuration, but rather have a separate build configuration for each build sequence (that is performing a specified task in a dedicated environment). This allows for proper features functioning, like detection of new problems/failed tests, first failed in/fixed in tests status, automatically removed investigations, etc. To tackle increased number of build configurations you can use Build Configuration Template and project-level Configuring Build Parameters.
BuildConfigurationState Build Configuration State
A build configuration is characterized by its state which can be paused or active. By default, when created all configurations are active.
If a build configuration is paused, its Configuring Build Triggers are disabled until the configuration is activated. Still, you can start a build of a paused configuration manually or automatically as a part of a build chain. Besides, information on paused build configurations is not displayed on the Viewing Your Changes page.
To pause or activate a build configuration, do one of the following:
On the Build Configuration Settings page: to pause the configuration, click the Actions button, select the Pause triggers, add your comment (optional) and click Pause. For a paused configuration, click the Activate button at the top of the settings page.
On the Build Configuration Home Page, click the Actions button, select Pause triggers in this configuration/Activate triggers in this configuration from the drop-down, add your comment (optional) and click Pause/Activate.
Build Configuration Status
In general, a build configuration status reflects the status of its last finished build.
Personal Build do not affect the build configuration status.
You can view the status of all build configurations for all/particular project on the Projects Overview page or Project Home Page, when the details are collapsed.
Build configuration status icons:
Icon
Description
The last build on default branch executed successfully.
The last build on default branch executed with errors or one of the currently running builds is failing. The build configuration status will change to "failed" when there's at least one currently running and failing build, even if the last finished build was successful.
There were no finished builds for this configuration, the status is unknown. If none of the build configurations in a project have finished builds, the is displayed next to a project name
The build configuration is paused; no builds are triggered for it. Click on the link next to the status to view by whom it was paused, and activate configuration, if needed.
Status Display for Set of Build Configurations
It is possible to filter out the build configurations whose status you want to be displayed in TeamCity or externally.
To display the status of selected build configurations in TeamCity:
configure visible projects on the Projects Overview page to display the status of build configurations belonging to these projects only
implement Developing TeamCity Plugins for TeamCity to make the page available as a part of TeamCity web application
To display the display status for a set of build configurations externally (e.g. on your company's website, wiki, Confluence or any other web page), you can:
is displayed next to a project name