Buildbot vs Capistrano: What are the differences?
What is Buildbot? Python-based continuous integration testing framework. BuildBot is a system to automate the compile/test cycle required by most software projects to validate code changes. By automatically rebuilding and testing the tree each time something has changed, build problems are pinpointed quickly, before other developers are inconvenienced by the failure.
What is Capistrano? A remote server automation and deployment tool written in Ruby. Capistrano is a remote server automation tool. It supports the scripting and execution of arbitrary tasks, and includes a set of sane-default deployment workflows.
Buildbot and Capistrano are primarily classified as "Continuous Integration" and "Server Configuration and Automation" tools respectively.
Some of the features offered by Buildbot are:
- run builds on a variety of slave platforms
- arbitrary build process: handles projects using C, Python, whatever
- minimal host requirements: Python and Twisted
On the other hand, Capistrano provides the following key features:
- Reliably deploy web application to any number of machines simultaneously, in sequence or as a rolling set
- Automate audits of any number of machines (checking login logs, enumerating uptimes, and/or applying security patches)
- Script arbitrary workflows over SSH
"Highly configurable builds" is the top reason why over 8 developers like Buildbot, while over 122 developers mention "Automated deployment with several custom recipes" as the leading cause for choosing Capistrano.
Buildbot and Capistrano are both open source tools. Capistrano with 11.1K GitHub stars and 1.71K forks on GitHub appears to be more popular than Buildbot with 4K GitHub stars and 1.37K GitHub forks.
According to the StackShare community, Capistrano has a broader approval, being mentioned in 293 company stacks & 81 developers stacks; compared to Buildbot, which is listed in 7 company stacks and 6 developer stacks.
