Configuring CruiseControl.net project directory - cruisecontrol.net

Question

CruiseControl.net creates (by default) for each project a subdirectory under: c:\Program File\CruiseControl.NET\server
How can I change that? (it's such a bad idea to mix data with program files...)
I found a way to configure the artifacts directory per project, but that's not quite it (it's merely a subdirectory of the project directory).

Answer 1

Set the project's working and artifact directory and you're done. They default to:
[ccnet-install-dir]\[project-name]\WorkingDirectory
[ccnet-install-dir]\[project-name]\Artifacts.
If you e.g. set these directories to...
[projects-dir]\[project-name]\WorkingDirectory
[projects-dir]\[project-name]\Artifacts
... you can safely remove the [ccnet-install-dir]\[project-name] subtree (You will loose your project build history then).
So your configuration will look like this:
<project name="foo">
[...]
<workingDirectory>C:\projects\foo\WorkingDirectory</workingDirectory>
<artifactDirectory>C:\projects\foo\Artifacts</artifactDirectory>
[...]
</project>

Answer 2

I have CC.NEt not installed here, and I have atm no access to my build-server at work, but if I remember well, you should find 2 configuration files in your c:\Program Files\CruiseControl.NET folder.
ccnet.exe.config and ccservice.exe.config.
The first configuration file is used when you run CC.NET using the console app, the second one is used when you start CC.NET as a service.
In those files, you should find a configuration-setting which points to the location where the configuration-file(s) that describe the build-process for your projects can be found.
edit:
In the ccservice.exe.config file, you'll find a key in the appSettings section which is called ccnet.config. Change the value of this key to the path where you want to put the ccnet.config file.
If this key is not present, you can add it:
<appSettings>
<!-- Without this appSetting ccservice will look for ccnet.config in its own directory. -->
<add key="ccnet.config" value="D:\CCNetConfigFiles\ccnet.config"/>
</appSettings>
This is how I've done it:
I've changed the ccnet.config appSetting in the ccservice.exe.config file, so that CruiseControl.NET searches for the ccnet.config file in a different location instead of the standard location. (As described above). (I understand that you do not want to do this ?)
I've changed the ccnet.config file itself, so that it looks like this:
<!DOCTYPE cruisecontrol [
<!ENTITY project1 SYSTEM "file:D:\CCNETConfigFiles\project1\project1buildconfig.xml.config">
<!ENTITY project2 SYSTEM "file:D:\CCNETConfigFiles\project2\project2buildconfig.xml.config">
<!ENTITY project3 SYSTEM "file:D:\CCNETConfigFiles\project3\project3buildconfig.xml.config">
]>
<cruisecontrol>
&project1;
&project2;
&project3;
</cruisecontrol>
By doing this, I can have each project configuration in its own file, and I can put each project-configuration in its own directory.
Then, I just have to make sure that in each project config-file, I remove the cruisecontrol tags, because otherwise the ccnet.config file wouldn't validate against the schema.

Answer 3

Probably not the answer you're waiting for, but could still be interesting: we're using about twenty build machines with about fifty different builds. Because indeed it's not a good idea to mix data with program files, we decided to put our ccnet installation in source control. Each server has its own configuration file in that directory (also in source control) and a local batch file or short cut starting ccnet specifies which configuration file is used. This means that local data (the build logs) are mixed with data that is in perforce (ccnet binaries/configuration files), but we have accepted that situation. Hope this helps.
Regards,
Sebastiaan